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Jacob Gallagher is a fashion writer and journalist, born in Maryland, US. He is currently the men's fashion columnist for The Wall Street Journal, writing for the "Off Duty" portion of the magazine. He is also the co-author of The Men's Fashion Book, a Phaidon hardcover cataloging the 500 most influential brands, photographers, icons, retailers, and others who have shaped men’s style". Before his tenure at The Wall Street Journal, he worked as a freelance writer for GQ, Esquire, Complex, Four Pins, and Vice.

Early life
Gallagher was raised in Bethesda, Maryland. He grew up "reading Thrasher Magazine everyday" throughout middle school and high school. Gallagher cites his dad and his formal attire as an inspiration for his interest in fashion. However, in opposition to his father and his future career path, during his teens he could normally be found in ripped clothes and hoodies. Gallagher's father was supportive when he eventually gained his interest in fashion, being the one who encouraged Gallagher to start writing and pursue a career in fashion journalism.

Career and Journalism
Gallagher started working at clothing stores in the city whilst completing his degree. Whilst working, he started writing a fashion blog. He met Sean Hotchkiss, GQ Writer, who one day came into the store. After visiting the store a number of times and learning more about Gallagher, he offered Gallagher to write a column on GQ. This was during the heavy "sartorial" and traditional menswear focus of GQ. He wrote his first column explaining "esoteric" terms and fashion jargon which evolved into a series called "Dropping Knowledge." The series lasted from April 2012 to December 2013. From his first article, Gallagher started gaining, writing for other publications as a freelance writer and building up to his position at The Wall Street Journal.

Jacob Gallagher began his career working in clothing stores in the city while completing his degree. During this time, he also started a fashion blog. It was through his work in retail that he met Sean Hotchkiss, a then writer for GQ. After several visits to the store and getting to know Gallagher, Hotchkiss invited him to contribute a column to GQ, which was then heavily focused on "sartorial" and traditional menswear. Gallagher's first column aimed to demystify "esoteric" fashion terms and jargon, which led to the creation of the series "Dropping Knowledge." This series ran from April 2012 to December 2013. Following his initial success, Gallagher began writing for other publications as a freelance writer, eventually securing a position at The Wall Street Journal.

The Wall Street Journal
Although Gallagher works as a fashion writer and has a personal interest in fashion outside of career, he has spoken on how his writing does not reflect his personal perspective, but that of the Journal. Instead he has commented that he is writing for a hypothetical reader who may not only search out Gallagher's section in the magazine, but is also reading about politics, cooking, sports before "com[ing] to a page about fashion." With this in mind, Gallagher's work aims not to cater to exclusively fashion fanatics, but to make any Journal reader "the best dressed guy in his friend group."

The Men's Fashion Book
The Men's Fashion Book was published in 2021 with Phaidon. Gallagher describes the process through which the book was developed: "'I got in touch with Phaidon and through my wife’s mother who owns an antique store just about an hour outside of [New York City]. One thing led to another, and I met with them. I think they had this idea for The Men’s Fashion Book. The Fashion Book has been part of their catalog for many, many years; I think bordering on two decades now. The book comes from a perspective that kind of assumes that womenswear is the driving force of fashion, and they’ve updated it a few times incorporating more male names in there. But they really wanted to do a book that was primarily focused on men’s fashion. In the past several years the conversation within fashion has really been guided by menswear in a lot of ways... I went home and started putting together a list of names and that list, at one point, was up towards 800 names. We went back and forth and got it down to somewhere [around] 300, and then we beefed it back up to the 500 names that it is today.'"Although the book is encyclopaedic in nature, the style and approach of the book has been praised: "the method used by Gallagher starts from the relationship between the individual and the fashion object within a social context".

Quotes "I got in touch with Phaidon and through my wife’s mother who owns an antique store just about an hour outside of [New York City]. One thing led to another, and I met with them. I think they had this idea for The Men’s Fashion Book. The Fashion Book has been part of their catalog for many, many years; I think bordering on two decades now. The book comes from a perspective that kind of assumes that womenswear is the driving force of fashion, and they’ve updated it a few times incorporating more male names in there. But they really wanted to do a book that was primarily focused on men’s fashion. In the past several years the conversation within fashion has really been guided by menswear in a lot of ways... I went home and started putting together a list of names and that list, at one point, was up towards 800 names. We went back and forth and got it down to somewhere [around] 300, and then we beefed it back up to the 500 names that it is today."

cataloging 500 fashion "legends" and "innovative creatives" of the last one hundred years.

"The language of menswear, those things that once were thought of as rote are now really being reassessed and appreciated as things that are quite creative. Today, men’s fashion is getting its due now in a lot of ways, whereas previously it was just viewed as a commodity that you purchase."

OLDER

Gallagher started working at clothing stores in the city whilst completing his degree. Whilst working, he started writing a fashion blog. He met Sean Hotchkiss, GQ Writer, who one day came into the store. After visiting the store a number of times and learning more about Gallagher, he offered Gallagher to write a column on GQ. This was during the heavy "sartorial" and traditional menswear focus of GQ. He wrote his first column explaining "esoteric" terms and fashion jargon which evolved into a series called "Dropping Knowledge." The series lasted from April 2012 to December 2013. From his first article, Gallagher started gaining, writing for other publications as a freelance writer and building up to his position at The Wall Street Journal.