Dan Brown is far from beige

ONCE UPON A time, men loved to dress up. In fact, like peacocks, their garb often exceeded the beauty of their female counterparts — until the mid-18th century, when what psychoanalyst John Carl Flügel later called ‘The Great Male Renunciation’ hit the Western world. In this time, Flügel says, men “abandoned their claim to be considered beautiful,” and “henceforth aimed at being only useful” (note: the jury is out on whether they achieved the latter aim). Read more at Harper’s Bazaar (Australia).