JS's Vintage range may be for you: All one-offs, but you may well be lucky...

Beyond that you are looking at a standard modern Ivy lapel - 3" to 3.5". Most are probably nearer the 3.5" mark, which is what Press & Brooks have used in my proper-American-Ivy aware lifetime from '85 onwards (I'm discounting Brook's adventures into overpriced twatwear...).

You'll see slightly darted items with minimal waist suppression amongst the dartless offerings, but don't let that freak you out.
JS isn't a 'Trad' shop - It sells the reality of these clothes, not stuff to match the internet rules made up by lying little you-know-who based on the OPH.

Whatcha after, Bro?

j.

We had this guy in England called Norman Wisdom who did that BF look first...

http://www.normanwisdom.co.uk/pics/norman3.jpg

... ... .. ...

It kinda puts me off the aesthetic.


j.

heikki k wrote:

Alex Roest wrote:

I've got this book "Cool Cats" I think contains a pic where PW is sporting loafers w/a nice sheen and a bunch of revival moddy boys looking at him in awe. I'm positive I've seen this pic on the net not too long ago, Modculture forums very likely.... on second thought it may also have been some mag doing a piece on Mods, but the pic is pretty well known among the Modernist crowd.

alex if i remember correctly the pic was in Q magazine 1999-2000ish. i've got the rag stashed somewhere, must find and check out!

--hmm, stupid me, wrote this before reading all the topic through, the picture is the black and white one in here. typical me, always do everything in a hurry! d'oh

Wonder if 'Q' had it before 'The Face'?

(Not important tho', is it?)

j.

Jack_The_Lad wrote:

... The boys at JS have always been welcoming, never elitist. They got the balance just right. There was none of that cultivated aloofness other fashionable London shops had (and, in the 80s, J.Simons was fashionable - I remember serving Sade, Weller and a few film stars in there..."

That`s absolutely right.I`ve shopped at J.Simons and it`s always been a really nice personal and special experience. The boys at JS are all gentlemen of the old school.They`re all very affable and amiable low-key guys but if you want to they will very happily enjoy talking to you for ages about the clothes.

It`s just a very nice and special environment.Not like a typical modern day clothes store AT ALL...When you walk into the open door of J.S. you feel like you`ve been privileged to enter and be welcomed into this unique world...You can feel and see and soak in the heart and soul of the place.It feels even just a little bit ...well..sacred...(!) J.S. is a homage to the very best in Classic Ivy clothing.Ultimately i suppose it all flows down from J.Simons who really does appear to live and breathe Ivy style .

The J.S. boys will always give you a nice honest answer if you wanna solicit their opinion on any of the stuff you might try on.(That sort of honesty in itself can be rare these days).In fact it feels like it`s not really like a `shop` as such at all. They really do genuinely value their customers and you can be sure  they`ll always look after you.Well you really do notice and remember all this stuff.I know i did...

When i`d first shopped at Paul Smith as a very young man i`d in fact been wearing Ivy style and hadn`t even known it(!) I was instictively seeking out black rollneck sweaters, and  very soft and comfortable heavy and thick cotton chinos, thick flannel style shirts,slouchy cotton cardigans,hefty dirty-buck style shoes (a little similar to Johnston & Murphy dirty bucks), 501`s, slack jackets.It was just great classic and cool pared down clothing.


Over the years i tried other styles and looks which never felt as right as those clothes i`d first worn as a young man.So i started to seek out classic clothing again.Clothing which was timeless, stylish, and well made. It`s funny because the first time i entered J.Simons i was instictively looking for classic American style clothing. The thing with J.S is that all the clothing there is beautifully subtle.It can be REALLY subversive stuff.(And THAT can be really exciting...).It`s how you choose to employ all this stuff that is really fascinating.

I took in everything visually as i walked slowly around the store and though i was aware that this stuff wasn`t screaming at me (like so much other stuff in the plethora of`trendy` stores). I could see that all the items were of high quality, and were beautfully pared down and were classic and subtle .I can actually remember wondering if some of this stuff wasn`t actually `old man style` clothing funnily enough when i look back...

But something inside me was simultaneously and instictively intrigued by this store and these unseen items.I bought some Playboy shoes , and some Baracuta jackets from John.(Remember i had no knowledge whatsoever of `Ivy` style when i first entered J.S.).As time went on i saw John Simons name referenced alot whenever anyone spoke of this `Ivy` style.I became more intrigued and eager to learn more about this style.

The funny thing with Ivy style is that the more you learn about it the more it has potential to reward you with your informed choices..


I began to take an interest in online fora regarding traditional ivy style clothing.I used to follow AAAC , modculture, and latterly  FNB.I realised that there had been certain precepts for putting all this stuff together and i just became more and more hooked into classic ivy style.Once you knew what the `rulebook` was you could adopt it, modify it or chuck it out .Whatever you wanted!

With J.S. the clothes themselves can give you all the `attitude` you`d ever need or want.Indeed the clothes he stocks speak for themselves.I think that`s that`s just another reason why the guys there are so cool.It must be fun for them to check out virgins to the store as they peruse the wears on offer.Really fascinating stuff because those people who do indeed have that deep instinctive voice inside their head saying `Well i don`t know it doesn`t SEEM fashionable as i know it, but there does SEEM to be something about all this stuff..` will be the ones with the potential to get really hooked on it all.


Thank you J.Simons


Amen   

sirs jack and jesmond, you've put it just right here. living in finland, i've only visited j. simons once, during a brief visit to london 2004-ish. the shop certainly has a unique atmosphere which i've never encountered before or since - the clothes shops where i live being either chain-stores or 'designer' outlets with mostly unfriendly and / or clueless staff with no real interst in style, merely a shallow interest for fashion.

to put this in brief, a good read, this topic.

heikki k wrote:

sirs jack and jesmond, you've put it just right here. living in finland, i've only visited j. simons once, during a brief visit to london 2004-ish. the shop certainly has a unique atmosphere which i've never encountered before or since - the clothes shops where i live being either chain-stores or 'designer' outlets with mostly unfriendly and / or clueless staff with no real interst in style, merely a shallow interest for fashion.

to put this in brief, a good read, this topic.

Hi heikki.That`s very kind of you ...It  sounds like all of this discussion strikes a chord with you too and that in itself is very interesting. Please don`t ever be shy about posting yourself though and about sharing your own very personal thoughts on all this stuff, it`s meaning to you and what it stirs up for you.The more discussion and stimulus out there the better as far as i personally am concerned.
It`s only cloth & soul but i like it! 

A bit of nostalia posted here by the great 'Toffeeman' back in Jan. of this year remembering JS:


"The great man used to sell Alden cordovan plain caps, wing-tips and the classic penny I recall. £200 in 1988. Wish I'd bought 2 pairs of each and gone without food for a month.

Troy Guild shirts were phenomenal. The best. It's almost unbearable to think that an Oxford cloth US button-down has never and almost certainly will never be made like that again.

I loved the Walkover buckle-boots. Not strictly Ivy, but weirdly compelling, and great with proper Levis.

Halrin chinos and cords. The perfect Ivy silhouette.

Haspel poplins and wash n'wears. So so American. They were actually almost unwearable even in London. They just looked strange because the cut was so uncompromisingly different.

He was the first to get in BD Baggies when they were Made in USA. Along with Ian in the Ivy Shop. I remember they hated them because of the two lines of stitching on the collar which they thought broke all of the Ivy rules regarding softness and subtlety. Looking back they produced some nice stuff, particularly in madras.

Those fabulous, absolutely perfect Ivy sports jackets and blazers made by Linett, with the U.S. Union stamp inside. All half-lined and so soft. Very sophisticated clothing for a prole from Liverpool like yours truly. Discovering this stuff was a heady experience. Talking of blazers, can you? I mean haven't they become a little naff? In the 80s when I was in my 20s I used to live in them but now people would point in the street I think. Maybe they did back then.

There was a wonderful Walkover suede chukka with red buck style soles that I though just reeked of a certain kind of 1962 Flamingo cool. JS tells me he may be getting in a similar kind of thing again soon. Made in England rather than US but, hey, that's fine. Better than Vietnam or El Salvador, fine though their shoe-making traditions are."


http://www.filmnoirbuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1051

j.

I really do LOVE all of this stuff Jack...I do find it all fascinating.I think you`ve already said in the past that `context` is so very  important with all of this. Ivy really can be `Ivy for Everyone` and indeed whatever you want it to be.

J.Simons was the first clothing retailer who really picked up on this whole style of clothing called `Ivy style`.I think J.S. is the only clothes store in the U.K. that i`m aware of which is dedicated purely to classic Ivy clothing.(If there IS indeed another store in the U.K. purely devoted to classic Ivy style clothing names i would be very grateful to know...!).
To my mind the boom years and the heyday for the classic Ivy style were the late fifties and early sixties.So many of the Ivy style clothing options that were available during that time remain available today and can be and are as valid (if not more so..) today.This really is timeless, classic style...Quite simply this is pared down, classic clothing which will never date and which can by and large be of a decent quality.(Much of the stuff from the the wider Ivy wardrobe is indeed pure natural made clothing. I think that this in itself (the fact that much of these materials and products within Ivy style are timeless `Natural Made` items) affords the clothes (and thus by turns the wearer) an integrity.

Ostensibly and in one sense this might appear to be something of an esoteric and `niche` style.When we look a little closer we can see that most if not all of the original and classic Ivy style clothing options and sartorial possibilities that were available  then and during that boom-time are still available today within the wider Ivy wardrobe. `Ivy` style  clothing really is make a phenomenonally rich `mix`.That`s why this `mix` and original Ivy style clothing options can thus be incorporated by American tourists,modernists, skinheads, suedeheads, stylists, Punks, and everyday joes`s....I love to dress smart but i realised after time that it was also vitally important to me that i felt easy, and that i felt right and comfortable too.My ideal is in fact to be smart/casual...

In my opinion you can`t really truly BE yourself and you can`t truly express yourself freely untill you can really feel FREE to be yourself and you can really feel free and `unencumbered` by clothes that you`re wearing.(What`s going on inside and internally affects what is seen and is perceived on the outside...)Pared down Ivy style clothing can be that blank canvas which allows you to express yourself very, very freely, singularly and personally .It`s a limitless palette of stylistic possibilities.The sartorial scope is endless.To me personally learning all about Ivy style and about the endless classic Ivy style clothing options is akin to learning the vocabulary and the grammar of a new language.The more you learn the language the more eloquently and articulately you can put across what you want to say sartorially and visually...

It`s a style that i really believe can be truly democratic and suit everyone.( Very few howevever will have that wish or inclination to really find out and discover what they can about the style choices and  about it`s background .)It`s classic, cool and easy on the eye...I really love that this is everyday clothing for REAL LIFE.That`s what`s great about it to me.You can dress it up, you can dress it down.I love that it encompasses slack and softly constructed overcoats, jackets and cardigans.There are so many subversive possibilities with this style.It`s a very COOL look.I love the relaxed and more informal nature of original American Ivy style clothing.There is nothing cooler than seeming not to try to hard...

The possibilities within the Ivy wardrobe really are endless...If you think of any article of clothing for any time of the year there will always be a corresponding and classic `Ivy style` clothing option and choice.If you still want to stand out and be a dandy you surely still can be!

What i can personally increasingly feel on this `journey` of discovery of the wider Ivy style is that i instictively want to `tone down` the look, `tone it down`, `tone it down... `Make it deliciously subtle...I find i can want to make the `Ivy look` more and more subtle the more i learn about the myriad of Ivy style choices available.It just seems more gratifying and subversive somehow to put across a sartorial statement very subtly.I think it really can be all the more powerful because of that subtlety.

Maybe it`s also the Englishman in me but i also love how there is so much massive scope for irony in some of those classic and seemingly staid Ivy style choices(!). Mixing it all up to create a unique and very personal overall look that can become much more powerful than the sum of the individual and respective Ivy style clothing items... It really can be about turning things on their head.Cocking a snoop at pomposity, bursting bubbles subversively and sometimes very subtly.

Jack_The_Lad wrote:

I'm really with you all on this, Brother Jesmond.


(Wonder if the 'Trads' are all doing Ebay searches on Halrin & Linett now...)


http://www.vintagedesignerclothing.com/6753342.html

j.

Ghastly aint the word Brother Jack...!   

And the website is updated with even more fantastic stuff thanks to Big John Gall -

http://j.simons.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/page1.html

Madras Memories!

j.

Jack_The_Lad wrote:

And the website is updated with even more fantastic stuff thanks to Big John Gall -

http://j.simons.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/page1.html

Madras Memories!

j.

Amazing! Amazing! Amazing !!! 


Fucking hell i seriously haven`t felt as visually EXCITED and as Stimulated by a clothes store as i`ve been just now seeing that current updated J.S link...

THIS is what it`s all about! Feels TOTALLY FRESH! What`s old is new and all that.Full of heart and soul.Indeed just a little bit `funky` too perhaps...Just letting the respective clothing choices do all the talking. Letting those clothing choices visually and cogently speak for themselves far more eloquently than i ever could ...

You can palpably pick up that J.S ireally is `Buzzing` right now..

It`s my own belief that it is THE best mens clothing store in London bar none.The thing with J.S. is that all the names and old labels on offer are the `Original`s`.In my very humble opinion and experience you`re invariably hard pushed to beat an `Original` item of it`s type.These items by and large go back to a time before rampant consumerism.Much of the stuff is utilitarian and functional clothing.Much of the stuff made today was made 50 years ago and is still of very good quality.Much of the stuff was manufactured to last the wearer much longer than alot of the stuff made today.There were thoughts of aesthetics or practicalities but no thoughts of fashion with alot of this classic original clothing.It thus has inherent integrity.(It`s very important i might add here however that i can fully appreciate that an increasing reality is that we live in an ever more globalist world where increased profit margins have become more and more sacrosanct and older traditional ways and of manufacture and adoptions of practise can be relinquished and  indeed discarded.Old manufacturing names can move manufacture abroad and can even regrettably at times `modify` and tamper with tried and trusted old aesthetics).

This is the sort of place you`ll find modern day professional `stylist`s.It`s a totally sussed place.For anyone who`s even just mildly interested in clothes it`s a great place to check out because you don`t have to `get it` and understand or know about the deeper Ivy league style and you don`t even have to think through wether all this stuff works and looks good..That`s because John himself has done all that work for you...

I can totally see J.S. as a place where people can take their love of quality beautiful easy to wear classic clothing UP to the next level...It`s also a great place to come to for anyone who feels just a little bit bolder and more confident about their own clothing style aswell.Once you`ve worn items from a contrived or  co-ordinated wardrobe dress style conceived by a canny modern day `designer`  (or  design team) , or once you`ve worn the offerings from a modern day `designer` label you can go to a store like J.S. (hard to find another J.S. though...) and put together your OWN personal and singular stylistic wardrobe drawing on those timeless and very classic trusty clothing options on offer.I really believe that your own very personal sartorial ensemble will never ever look compromised or watered down and it can be all the more salient , powerful and cogent for the very reasons i`ve outlined above.


In awe...

It blew me away all over again too.

Ever new, always full of life & interest.

This isn't "Trad", Dad.

Tie your bow ties tight, lads - The tighter the better!

j.

Last edited by Jack_The_Lad (2007-11-30 05:53:42)