I'm not saying they were fearful of declaring Americanness, but rather that they were perhaps fearful about frankly stating departures from English taste and norms in their approach to tailoring, because the English norms were thought not merely to be norms for the English, but norms in general. American and Italian tailoring are both similarly situated in this regard, even though the latter arguably excelled American tailoring (and, for that matter, British) from a technical standpoint.
I don't think it is the case that the majority of prep school or ivy students had access to real English tailoring; as Bruce Boyer has noted someplace, British clothes were highly prized items that your uncle or a family friend might bring you from a trip abroad that made you special among your peers on a prep or ivy campus in this period.
Last edited by Bulldog (2019-02-18 01:47:13)
Can this ongoing debate be held in another thread?
Is there any more brooks or other prewar advertising copy on another thread or is this it?
http://theivyleaguelook.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2012-02-05T10:01:00-05:00&max-results=25&start=75&by-date=false
In 1932 Brooks traveling to 46 cities.
/\ the only time I have ever seen everybody in a restaurant spontaneously stand up and give an ovation to a person randomly walking in the front door was in Beverly Hills one night in the '80s when Ahmet Ertegun showed up at a famous Japanese place ... place was full of record people obviously and they instantly recognized the guy and stood up and clapped en masse for him ... won't see anything exactly like that again .....
never forgot the tale (from George Frazier's classic 1960 Esquire article "The Art of Wearing Clothes") of Ahmet Ertegun taking his J. Press suits to the Algonquin to be reshaped:
AHMET M. ERTEGUN — A jazz authority and president of prospering Atlantic Records, Ertegun was born in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1923 and was educated abroad and at St. John’s College in Annapolis. Dedicated to chic living, he has a chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce. He buys ready-made suits at J. Press (around $100 each and has them recut for around $50) by Martin Kalaydjian, the legendary valet of the Algonquin Hotel in New York.
Last edited by Yuca (2019-03-17 19:01:36)
^ Hitting every city in Ohio seems like a waste of time. Interesting a) that they spend the most time in Cincinnati while in Ohio and b) that they go to Cleveland at the start of the month and Columbus, Cincinnati, and Dayton at the end.
idk. i understand from a former yale provost originally from that region that historically the cincinnati yale alumni have been among the most active (collectively) in the country outside new york. must've been all the soap.
Just bumping this thread, because along with the surf and the nasa one's, it might just be my favourite!
Last edited by Tommy (2019-12-03 11:33:18)
Beebs, thanks for posting this article about the glory that was Brooks Brothers, I enjoyed it and will always be thankful that they were able to get me my pith helmet in time lo those many years ago, Class Day would have been a flop without them
also, thank you eBay for keeping Brooks Brothers alive for me
although I did buy a couple of pairs of boxer briefs from the Bros a couple of months ago so there's that
actually going to call them later in the day with a country of origin question about some items of sleepwear, having been motivated by this article
one of my best friends is a Lawrenceville guy, he won't touch the stuff, but his brother, also a friend of mine, wears it with ease ....
I do miss the days of made in the USA and loose, traditional fit clothes from Brooks, I cannot use any slimmed-down stuff from them and in light of the burgeoning alliance between Russia and China I'm even less inclined than I was before to accept Chinese-made goods from anybody
and the omissions by J. Press of country of origin information negatively affects the likelihood of my buying from them, whereas good old O'Connell's doesn't try to hide the info because their clothing is nearly all from the USA, England, Scotland, and sometimes from Canada, Ireland, and Italy, which keeps me interested
Absolutely superb BB - one of the best things I've read for a very long time. Some of it I think I've seen previously but I don't think the whole thing has been up before, in which case you've definitely shared one of the most important historical records of the kings of ivy. Many thanks.
Last edited by Yuca (2019-12-04 17:00:18)
It's a good read for sure and thanks BB for the effort involved in posting it up. Excellent to hear about those old company stalwarts going on into their eighties. Reading of your daily Ivy wear at work makes me reflect on how much I miss choosing a jacket, shirt and tie for the office each day. At present I cycle part way to work so that's cycling kit, then uniform at work all day. So Ivy is for evenings out and weekends.. Evenings at home I'm usually relaxing in vintage college tees and sweats, or on cold nights maybe a thick Black Sheep shawl neck cardigan that I'm particularly fond of. For evenings out, well the cold weather brings the opportunity to wear a couple of suits I own that can be dressed down a bit with a check shirt or a knit tie. To whit, an old corduroy navy blue piece that came from John Simons and a vintage Brooks brown tweed.