If a man spends more than seven minutes getting dressed, I don't need to know about it. There is nothing more attractive than a guy who looks like he hasn't tried too hard. I love the idea of a man getting out of the shower, throwing on an expensive suit, and leaving the house without ever looking in the mirror. Equally exciting: someone wearing beautifully made Italian tassel loafers that have been worn and scuffed to the point that they look like they could never belong to anyone else.

In contrast to most women, men can get away with wearing the same thing over and over again--for years! A quick inventory of the closet of my friend Charles Thompson (pictured at right)--a very sharp dresser indeed--reveals a dedication to classic clothes and a passion for old-school collectibles. As a photographer and father of two, he sticks to a daily uniform of baggy Wrangler jeans with either a vintage denim cowboy button-down or an American Apparel four-button polo shirt, topped off with his signature Belstaff motorcycle jacket, an Italian take on the old British brand. He's been wearing the same basic look since he was a teenager and doesn't have any plans to change.

Cool guys I know tend to have role models. One friend is obsessed with collecting the foldable Persol sunglasses that Steve McQueen made famous; another matches--or should I say clashes--his tuxedo and black tie with a black and white printed shirt a la Jack Nicholson in the seventies (see below).

I fantasize that my husband, an artist who throws on a T-shirt, cargo pants, and New Balance running shoes most days, will model his post-midlife crisis years after my favorite photo of Gregory Peck from 1966 (left). An older man looking understated and sincerely at home in a suit and tie really does it for me. I am sure my husband will resist my plea, because he doesn't like being told what to wear, but if I indirectly tell him it's a look I particularly admire, by way of Gregory Peck, maybe I'll stand a shot.

Starting this month, I'll be looking all around me for guys who are doing their own thing--not what some magazine or designer trend tells them to do--and doing it so well and for so long that they barely think about it anymore. And I don't mean show dogs, attention hogs, or clothes-horses. The men who catch my eye (and that of many women I know) have a strong sense of who they are and what they want to show the world about themselves. So I'll be bringing my camera with me everyplace I go in Manhattan, and even to my hometown of Palm Beach and my husband's family farm in England--wherever men may cross my path. And you might keep that in mind when you're getting dressed--in under seven minutes, that is.

Jack Nicholson with Michelle Phillips (left) and Sally Kellerman at the 1972 Oscars. Peck and Nicholson: Getty Images.