Well done Unseen for getting this place moving again.

I was at JS today and picked up a lovely Alan Paine long sleeve polo shirt in silk cashmere and cotton.

What took my eye was a stunning peach coloured AP short sleeve polo shirt. Yes, you read correctly Peach.It reminded me of that mid Eighties preppy look. Possibly a bit stronger than pastel

Stock wise they're still in sale mode with remnants of their Autumn collection.

Thinking back I think they nailed it with their knitwear, Paraboots, Vetra cord jackets as well as thei new buggy lined jackets.

I also visited Valesca across the street to look at the unlined OST loafers as potential Summer option. Sadly not in my size but they're on the list.

Lunch was from the recently opened Rubins cafe on Baker Street - smoked salmon, poached eggs on rye bagel. Superb.

As you leave Chiltern Street look right towards the Firehouse roof you can clearly see how damaged the building is. Really sad to see it. Although not a patron I felt it added to the vibe of the street. Hope they manage to reopen.

The seam of old LE shirts appearing on the USA site briefly has been excellent for me recently. Their formal shirt range and the few NOS items appearing have me stocked up now on. Ordering from USA didn't incur any charges and takes a week or two to arrive. Latest is a light blue with white stipes that is particularly nice (especially for the price). These shirts all have 'proper' 3-finger plus rolled collars too. In a world where I go to meetings with CEOs in sweatshirts and I'm the only person in the room in a shirt most of the time, they are absolutely fine. I've probably had about six shirts since Autumn rooting through their site. The days of me paying £150+ for a shirt seem to be passed between RL/Gant found at TK Maxx, long lasting ones pre-2017 from Viyella/Austin Reed, Jaeger etc and these.  I easily must have 50+ shirts in different fabrics, patterns etc so no point getting more at this stage.

Robbie - I’ve sent you a PM about a sheepskin I’ve seen for sale - it’s not me selling it.

FlatSixC- that's roughly what I'm looking for but I might need to size up. I'm going to wait and see what my friends who deal in second hand clothes come up with. They supplied a girlfriend with an Afghan coat the other day and it looked superb on her. She got it for a bottle of wine! They buy clothes in Essex and travel to West London where they can get better prices for their gear

Del Boy & John's Motson & Bond ruined the Sheepskin IMO, which is another reason it hasn't been aired in an age.

Would like to visit Madeira and spend the week drinking various Blandys offerings. I only see Duke of Clarence in this country outside of places like Berry Brothers (too dear).

That said other places are warmer at this time of year(Canaries).

If we could get this website updated it’d be easier to share!

Bought a pair of boat shoes from Rancourt.  Fantastic.

Also some shirts from Press.  The NY shop was good. 

Also a new pair of Alden loafers.  They had some of the old school Chipp ties. 

All good stuff. 

One of these days got to get up to Buffalo for some O’Connells.   

Hard to get my head around pricing these days.  Everything seems so expensive. 
But I continue. 

Have my old early 90’s Barbour back in rotation this past season for urban and hunting wear.

Horace you lucky man. Sounds like a really good trip.

What's the width of the Chipps ties?

My last trip to New York was about 4 years ago. Kamakura at the time was around the corner from Press. You could do 346, Press, Alden and Kama in a morning.

I was surprised how small the NY Press store was compared to Washington and the old New Haven store - but was full of goodies so still managed to fill my boots.

My daughter turns 18 this year and wants to go back to NY to see family so I'm hoping I can get a morning off shopping

AUS- Disappointing that no Ivy on display in Boston. I went there in the 1970s with my girlfriend who became my wife. I have a great photo of her wearing my Harrington in a local park. I nearly went to MIT to study for a Masters degree but played safe,saved money and  chose Imperial College. I seem to remember OCBD, a poster on here, used to post photos of himself in full Ivy clothes in Boston. I wonder if he is still there? I also wonder who now buys the clothes sold by O'Connells in Buffalo?

I visited Boston about 16 years ago.
The big thing, clothes wise, was  the opening of the new Ralph concept store - Rugby.
I went and was unimpressed but found a stand alone Polo store that was superb.All pastels and gingham. Nautical prints on the walls and a Sinatra soundtrack.
I ended up with an unlined baby cord sack but with 2 vents in a pastel blue.
We were staying up the coast with friends of my wife at lovely coastal village called Higgins Beach.
When I picked up my hire car I got talking to a well dressed chap in patch madras. He asked if I planned to go to Freeport to visit LL Bean as it was close to Higgins.
In my ignorance I hadn’t heard of it but ended there a few days later.
I also visited Harvard. That was packed with older chaps in formal attire even though it was the height of Summer. Poplin suits, rep ties and butcher stripe shirts in bright colours.
I found the Andover shop but it was closed as it was Sunday.
My main memory was of how natural, relaxed yet elegant the clothes worn at Higgins were - khaki shorts, sun faded polo shirts and Sperry Bullfish shoes. Possibly a jazzier belt.

We went to Boston in the late Naughties.  It was cold and snowy when we Harvard, but I did see one student wearing loafers with no socks and a Letterman sweater. This Take Ivy’like vision went someway to compensate for the general lack of Ivy on display.
I bought some Bills Khakis in The Andover Shop and was served by Charlie Davidson. Brooks Brothers was still quite traditional and staffed by old boys. There was a great vintage store called Bobby’s of Boston, but I didn’t buy anything.

RobbieB - Buffalo University is right across the road from O’Connell’s and doubtless at one time its student and staff were the mainstay of their business. I don’t suppose they get much trade from the campus today. Buffalo is a slightly out of the way place itself and O’Connell’s is well out of the centre of town. I guess at least 95% of their sales are online, but for traditional American clothing they can’t be beat, if you can afford their prices!

Last edited by FlatSixC (2025-04-23 07:07:52)

Up until 2006 my brother in-law was living in Darien near Greenwich CT

My aunt and uncle lived there late 70s early 80s, we went for a couple of weeks as kids, obviously I wasn't into Ivy or even knew what it was back then, but I did get a fabulous Yankees cap and Baseball jacket (can only assume these went to my cousins when I grew out of them like all my old clothes), I like to think these were still US made items, seem to have a memory of the jacket having flock print across the back and an embroidered NY on the chest.

Was also my first experience of McD's which as a kid was very exciting – parents hated it hahaha