stanshall wrote:

Horace wrote:

Miles Away wrote:

So funny -
I was checking on details while you must have been posting this D.
Certainly imported Levis Sta-Prest featured in the 'Ivy Shop' & 'Squire' in 60's Ivy London. Sta-Prest were especially 'Squire' from what I can gather.
I've worn re-issued Sta-Prest & heard stories of the originals but never seen them. Certainly I've seen and worn my share of Sta-Prest look-a-likes in my time (When? '77 to '80?). I dropped them when I could get my hands on nice chinos.
They have their place & are a nice memory for me.
M.

I wonder if you can find Sta-Press in the US still?

Only really small-waisted NOS ... I bought a pair of the reissues in 2000 in LA, they are indestructible, but by the time I realized I should get another pair or two they were all gone .... Walker's on Boylston Street in Boston this used to be a great place for NOS Sta-Prest and other fab gear:

"Landmark store hanging up its boots - Rising rent forces out Western wear retailer Walker's, by Thomas Grillo, BG, D1.
After providing bikers, equestrians, and rock stars with Western wear for 70 years, Walker's Riding Apparel on Boylston Street will close its doors May 31.... The landmark store, whose regulars have included entertainers Willie Nelson, Eric Clapton, Aerosmith, Elvis Costello, Peter Wolf, and Boston's legendary Rex Trailer, has fallen victim to Boston's hot real estate market. The landlord, Emerson College, plans to raise the rent for the 2,500-sq-ft space from $5,000 to $9,083 per month, according to Walker's own Peter Gordon... as the opening of the mixed-use Millennium Place - with a Ritz-Carlton hotel, luxury condominiums and a 19-screen cinema - has driven up property values in the neighborhood."

(May 2002)

Schnieder's on Boyleston was another good place to find basic American made hunting and work gear.  There was also Harry the Greek near South Station I think.

I think Levis had a limited re-release of Sta-Press a couple years ago but the cut was more of a modern bootcut which I didnt like.  The last time I was able to find NOS Sta-Press was in the early 90s at obscure thirft/vintage stores in non-metropolitan cities (Oxnard etc)

H.,

Thanks for reminding me of Harry the Greek, he used to have great NOS Brooks Brothers shirts too.

Tel,

It's Sta-Prest, a trademarked term of Levi's.

Get Smart,

You're right about the different cut of the Sta-Prest Levi's put out in the late '90s, they were cut like chinos rather than jeans (although the latter-day Sta-Prest did have horizontal, jean-like pockets rather than vertical slanted chinos-like pockets..

Here's a Brooks tweed from the entry-level "University Shop" line.  Saw it on E-Bay a while back, but it wasn't my size.  Dig the the slim lapel and cut:





edit:  for some reason, can't get the images to appear larger via imageshack.  Will give it another go later.

Last edited by Horace (2007-01-03 04:25:52)

[thought this would be interesting to show the spread of the Ivy in the 50's.  Ivy for Everyone! --H]

[From a 1955 announcement - for brevity, I've excised the dates and left the cities & hotels]:

Chipp Travellers on the Road from coast to coast

Periodically, during the year, Chipp respresentatives visit many cities to exhibit distinctive Custom Tailored and Special Cut Clothing to Men and Custom Made Clothing for Women.  Also, at this time, Chipp carries a complete
sample range of exclusive accessories for men....

Atlanta:  Dinkler Plaza Hotel
Baltimore: Southern Hotel
Boston:  Parker House
Buffalo:  Statler Hotel
Charleston, WVa:  Daniel Boone Hotel
Charlotte, NC:  Hotel Charlotte
Chicago:  LaSalle Hotel
Cincinnati:  Netherland Plaza Hotel
Cleveland:  Satler Hotel
Columbia, SC:  Jeffferson Hotel
Dallas:  Adolphus Hotel
Denver:  Albany Hotel
Detroit:  Sheraton Cadillac Hotel
Evansville:  McCurdy Hotel
Greensboro:  O'Henry Hotel
Houston:  Rice Hotel
Indianapolis:"  Lincoln Hotel
Kansas City, MO:  Meuhlebach Hotel
Los Angeles:  Biltmore Hotel
Louisville:  Brown Hotel
Lynchburg, Va:  Hotel Virginian
Memphis:  Peabody Hotel
Midland:  Scharbaur Hotel
Minneapolis:  Radisson Hotel
New Orleans:  Roosevelt Hotel
Oklahoma City:  Biltmore Hotel
Omaha:  Fontonelle Hotel
Phildadelphia:  Bellevue-Stratford Hotel
Pittsburgh:  William Penn Hotel
Princeton:  Princeton Inn
Rochestor:  Sheraton Hotel
St. Louis:  Chase Hotel
San Antonio:  Gunter Hotel
San Francisco:  St. Francis Hotel
Savannah:  DeSoto Hotel
Toledo:  Commodore Perry Hotel
Tulsa:  Mayo Hotel
Univ. of Virginia:  Jameson College Book Store
Washington, D.C:  Willard Hotel
Wilmington:  Hotel DuPont
Winston-Salem:  Robert E. Lee Hotel.

"Shoulders that are natural not overstuffed.  Construction that is soft, without heavy canvas stiffening.  Lines that are easy, with no "pinch" at the waistline."

Winter, 1950:

Last edited by Horace (2007-01-19 13:50:43)

Horace wrote:

You gots to love it.  1973 rolls around and Cable Car Clothiers out of San Francisco is still selling the old-school kit:

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/4526/cablecar736aq.jpg


Back to 1965:

Here's a nice shoulder from Deansgate, a company that made (relatively) inexpensive, yet serviceable suits.  I recall the poplin and seersucker, but heard somewhere that they made some of the lower end Brooks stuff to specifications.

http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/3198 … 2ej.th.jpg


Here's something from Norm Hilton, maker of great natural shoulder suits until relatively recentl times:

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/8128/n … 4dg.th.jpg


And one more for you guys who like the light weight fabrics:


http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/5485/t … 7wj.th.jpg

Very cool. Thanks for posting them, Horace. Foulard lining. Yeah.

Paul Stuart, c. Spring 1950:

Last edited by Horace (2007-01-19 13:45:19)

Horace wrote:

From 1959.  With what looks to be a slightly more "built up" shoulder then the Brooks shoulder.

http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/1991 … eu3.th.jpg

Dunhill Tailors was a terrific shop for ready to wear and bespoke, with a modified British cut, run by the brothers Block.

Last edited by rsmeyer (2007-03-04 07:12:14)

stylestudent wrote:

Dunhill Tailors was a fine but expensive shop. I remember it from the '80s, just before it was acquired by Alfred Dunhill. The wool/orlon(!) blazer was less than trad (no navy color available and no patch pockets) and cost twice as much as the Paul Stuart navy blazer from the late '50s also shown on this thread. Maybe the "Antibes Blue" color was based on Cary Grant's blazer in "To Catch A Thief".

Regards,

Steven

Dunhill was indeed expensive, and more Brit than Trad, but its suits, shirts and ties were all excellent.

Horace wrote:

From Deansgate.  2 page ad.  Compare to the earlier years of Deansgate in this thread.  Note too the language of the ad.  At once both updated and still harkening to the TNSIL tradition

Something weird about these.  Too nipped in the wrong places.  Not a harmony among all elements?  Or is it just the yuppie with disproportionate tie, collar, or what?


http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/6186 … 0jy.th.jpg

and

http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/6059 … 9lb.th.jpg

edit: for all I know, this lapel width may indeed be the same as an Andover jacket -- but something in the composition or perspective looks different.  Someone with a more nuanced eye might be able to catch it.  The less tolerant may be more unsparing.

Having authored a much critiqued article on the Andover Shop, I will attempt to atone for my sins by pointing out the difference between this jacket and the Andover (which I assume is what you mean by the term, as I have never heard it applied in any other context.  Humblest apologies for my ignorance if this is not the case.)  Anyway, while the lapel width seems to be in the same proportion to the jacket, the roll extends further down, almost covering the top button.  On all of my two-button Andover jackets, however, the roll clearly stops about an inch above the top button.  Second, the lapel notches seem to be set somewhat higher on this jacket than on the Andovers.  So although the width is the same, these two alterations combine to create the appearance of a much "longer" lapel and v, hence the skewed perspective...I think.

Coolidge wrote:

Horace wrote:

That Rosenberg suit that Collidge posted on AA&AAC is da shizzle.  Beautiful lapels and fabric and shoulder.  Maybe needs a bit of a taking in on the side panels (to my taste) but simply a matter of taste.  My Press suit (similar but not quite) is somewhat like that.    Almost same cut and color.  Coolidge appears lucky enough to have inherited that Stackpole and Moore stuff from his grandfather.  I never had been to A. Rosenberg.  They were a New Haven Clothier right?  Any other branches?  Camb or NYC?

Thank you sir. And, in accordance with your request, I here repost:

http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/8453/andypic2oh.jpg

http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/7035/andy21iv.jpg

Stackpole and Moore was from my grandfather, but the pictured Rosenberg was a $6 thrift store find at the Middletown Goodwill!

Arthur Rosenberg, according to a discussion I had in Andyland with Tom22, was big player in the New Haven trad scene. It also had a store in New York, and Rosenthal-Maretz Co. (also in New Haven and New York) was a splitoff from it when employees left Rosenberg, which explains the reason why their label is nearly identical to Rosenberg's on the herringbone topcoat my Dad has passed on to me.

Tom22, a New Haven native, said:

"Rosenberg's was located at the corner of York and Elm St. in New Haven in the same building that Barries shoe store moved into and is
now occupied by a shoe store run by former Barrie employees.
I think Rosenberg's went out of business in the late 80s. I bought my first adult suit their in the very early 1970s. In the end it was going down hill. For most of its life it competed with JPress and several other noted New haven men's stores like White's, Gentree and even a men's store branch of Saks Fifth Avenue. The Yale Co-op
also had a quite decent men's shop dedicated to the college trade. McGeorge sweaters and Sero shirts were part of their stock in trade.
These days only Enson's and JPress survive from that earlier time"

Another poster noted, quoting from a 1960 Esquire article

"Chronologically, Lord of New York is a branch of a genealogy that goes all the way back to 1835 and Brooks Brothers' natural-shoulder—or, as it is precisely known, No. 1—sack suit. Around the turn of the century, Arthur Rosenberg, then the foremost tailor in New Haven, began to exploit this style among Yale undergraduates, and, not long afterwards, J. Press, also of New Haven, fell into line. Eventually, two Rosenberg employees, Sam Rosenthal and Moe Maretz, went out on their own as Rosenthal-Maretz; then Bill Fenn and Jack Feinstein left David T. Langrock to form Fenn-Feinstein (now associated with Frank Brothers). Somewhat later on, Mort Sill and (a year later) Jonas Arnold quit Press and opened a shop in Harvard Square, Cambridge, which they called Chipp. Then, with his partner's departure to form Sill (New York and Harvard Square), Jonas Arnold entered into an agreement whereby two former Press employees—Sid Winston and the late Lou Prager—were permitted to use Chipp as the name of the shop they were about to open in New York. Arnold, who closed his Cambridge store several years ago, is still a partner in the New York Chipp's."

All of this was from my thread on the suit in 10/2005

So clearly Rosenberg was New Haven's Trad Godfather of sorts

Thank you Mr. C.

I was last in New Haven in the Autumn of 1987, about the time "Mystic Pizza" was filmed over in the Mystic area. Rosenbergs's was still on the corner to the right of Press. Visited both. Rosenberg's seemed to be a bit more Eurofied at the time. I recall a featured dinner jacket with Hermes type equestrian themed scarf silk lapels. As I recall,  Barrie Bootery was to the left of Press. Barrie sold private labelled traditional shoes made in the US and England. I've wondered if the Alden "Barrie" last has some connection to Barrie Bootery. There should be some Barrie ads in the old New Yorker mags. Apparently Barrie subsequently moved into the Rosenberg location on the corner and eventually became Paul Richards.

www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/15892

I also visited the New Haven T J Maxx during that visit. Polo velvet smoking jackets with frog closures @ $99.

Morty Sill's smaller custom shop can be seen as the location of Walter Matthau's tailor in the non-noir film titled "A New Leaf" (71), with Elaine May. In the movie "Wall Street" (87) Gordon Gekko advises the Sheen boy to visit Morty Sill for wardrobe improvement and use Gekko as a reference. Apparently Gekko was embarassed by "Bud's" attire while chompping tartar in/at 21.

You might be interested in researching....Whitehouse & Hardy....&....Frank Brothers, Fenn-Feinstein.....Langrock...if you haven't already.

Whipcord is Covert on steroids. Then comes an even beefier Russian Twill. Usually marled colours.  All diagonal weaves in the same family as gaberdine and cavalry twill.

Is Tangent an affluent male of Mediterranean residency?

Last edited by Howard (2007-11-14 22:47:31)