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#1 2006-10-15 02:15:29
- Miles Away
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The Secret Vice. Tom Wolfe
An essay from The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby. 1966. But New York Herald Tribune Inc first.
I intend quoting from this essay so much that by the time I'm done I will pretty much have copied it out. It's a perfect take on menswear perfectly taken by the master at the peak of his form.
A little Ivy style first (Historians will like to know that in this essay what I call Ivy is called 'The Ivy League Look' by Wolfe):
"At Yale and Harvard, boys think nothing of going over and picking up a copy of Leer, Poke, Feel, Prod, Tickle, Hot Whips, Modern Mammaries, and other such magazines and reading them right out in the open. Sex is not taboo. But when the catalogue comes from Brooks Brothers or J. Press, that's something they whip out only in private. And they can hardly wait. They're in the old room there pouring over all that tweedy, thatchy language about 'Our Exclusive Shirtings', the 'Finest Lairdsmoor Heather Hopsacking', 'Clearspun Rocking Druid Worsteds', and searching like detectives for the marginal differences, the shirt with a flap over the breast pocket (J.Press), the shirt with no breast pocket (Brooks), the pants with military pockets, the polo coat with welted seams - and so on and on, through study and disasterous miscalculations, until they learn, at last, the business of marginal differentiations almost as perfectly as those teen-agers who make their mothers buy them button-down shirts and then make the poor old weepies sit up all night punching a buttonhole and sewing on a button in the back of the collar because they bought the wrong damn shirt, one of those hinkty ones without the button in the back."
The boys are all enjoying The Secret Vice!
More to come when the boys grow up, hit Wall Street, and get into Custom Tailoring & have to learn a whole new sartorial language. Fantastic stuff.
I'll add to this thread as & when over time -
Miles
Last edited by Miles Away (2006-10-15 02:20:25)
" ... Ubi bene, ibi patria, which being roughly translated means, 'Wherever there's a handout, that's for me, man.' "
Alistair Cooke. 1968.
#2 2006-10-15 05:52:57
- Miles Away
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Re: The Secret Vice. Tom Wolfe
A interesting point here is that this is around '66 and the boys get into English-style custom tailoring when they get to Wall Street. Ivy is already not the correct wear for those on the up at this point.
I think the big Ivy boom must be something like '55 to '65.
Olddog/Oldtrix will know best.
I like this form of social history.
" ... Ubi bene, ibi patria, which being roughly translated means, 'Wherever there's a handout, that's for me, man.' "
Alistair Cooke. 1968.
#3 2006-10-15 23:11:20
- Horace
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Re: The Secret Vice. Tom Wolfe
""This is probably the last Deb season...because of the stock market, the economy, Everything..." - W. Stillman.
#4 2006-10-16 05:47:48
- Miles Away
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Re: The Secret Vice. Tom Wolfe
More...
Wall Street style in '66.
('Ross' is Wolfe's protagonist in this Sartorial Journey.)
" And after four years of Daddy bleeding to pay the tabs, Yale, Harvard, and the rest of these schools turn out young gentlemen who are confident that they have at last mastered the secret vice, marginal differentiations, and they go right down to Wall Street or wherever and - blam! - they get it like old Ross right between the eyes. A whole new universe to learn! Buttonholes! A whole new set of clothing firms to know about - places like Bernard Weatherill, probably the New York custom tailor with the biggest reputation, very English, Frank Brothers and Dunhill's, Dunhill the tailor, which are slightly more - how can one say it? - flamboyant - places like that, or the even more esoteric world of London tailors, Poole, Hicks, Wells, and God knows how many more, and people knock themselves out to get to London to get to these places, or else they order straight from the men the firms send through New York on regular circuits and put up in hotels, like the Biltmore, with big books of swatches, samples of cloths, piled up on the desk-table."
Plenty more to come!
" ... Ubi bene, ibi patria, which being roughly translated means, 'Wherever there's a handout, that's for me, man.' "
Alistair Cooke. 1968.
#6 2006-10-16 13:58:58
- Miles Away
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Re: The Secret Vice. Tom Wolfe
Many thanks for that.
I think you have just defined the real Southern 'Trad'.
My interest here is mainly historical. No points to prove.
It's just good to get to the real story of the old Ivy style,
Many thanks again.
" ... Ubi bene, ibi patria, which being roughly translated means, 'Wherever there's a handout, that's for me, man.' "
Alistair Cooke. 1968.
#7 2006-10-21 07:55:11
- Miles Away
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Re: The Secret Vice. Tom Wolfe
More Wall Street style from 1966 -
" In Ross's league, Wall Street, practically all of these details follow the lead of English tailoring.
The waist: the suits go in at the waist, they're fitted, instead of having a straight line, like the Ivy League look. This Ivy League look was great for the ready-made manufacturers. They just turned out simple bags and everybody was wearing them.
The lapels: in the custom-made suits they're wider and have more 'belly', meaning more of a curve or flared-out look along the outer edge.
The collar: the collar of the coat fits close to the neck - half the time in ready-made suits it sits away from the neck, because it was made big to fit all kinds. The tailor-made suit fits closer and the collar itself will have a curve in it where it comes up to the notch.
The sleeves: the sleeves are narrower and are slightly tapered down to the wrists. Usually, there are four buttons, sometimes three, and they really button and unbutton.
The shoulders are padded to give the coat shape: "natural shoulders" are for turkeys and wet smacks.
The vents: often the coat will have side vents or no vents, instead of centre vents, and the vents will be deeper than in a ready made suit."
Ouch! "Turkeys & wet smacks"? But clearly by '66 on Wall Street mass market Ivy was over...
Was it ever THE look, though, up there?
I suspect not so much.
I think on Wall Street when you had reached a certain point, or were aiming for a certain point, you very quickly left the youthful Ivy style behind.
IMVHO.
By '66 Ivy would be a very middle-class, middle-brow, middle-income look. Not one for a proto-Master of The Universe.
Miles.
Last edited by Miles Away (2006-10-21 08:03:47)
" ... Ubi bene, ibi patria, which being roughly translated means, 'Wherever there's a handout, that's for me, man.' "
Alistair Cooke. 1968.
#9 2006-10-21 10:48:11
- Miles Away
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Re: The Secret Vice. Tom Wolfe
" ... Ubi bene, ibi patria, which being roughly translated means, 'Wherever there's a handout, that's for me, man.' "
Alistair Cooke. 1968.
#10 2006-10-21 10:50:26
- Film Noir Buff
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Re: The Secret Vice. Tom Wolfe
What I never understood was the insistence of button down shirts with suits. It was done but I always imagined this crowd slavered over Jermyn Street goodies.
#11 2006-10-21 11:15:13
- Miles Away
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Re: The Secret Vice. Tom Wolfe
" ... Ubi bene, ibi patria, which being roughly translated means, 'Wherever there's a handout, that's for me, man.' "
Alistair Cooke. 1968.
#13 2006-10-21 13:13:47
- Miles Away
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Re: The Secret Vice. Tom Wolfe
Last edited by Miles Away (2006-10-21 13:24:21)
" ... Ubi bene, ibi patria, which being roughly translated means, 'Wherever there's a handout, that's for me, man.' "
Alistair Cooke. 1968.
#14 2007-04-16 22:30:01
- Patrick Bateman
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Re: The Secret Vice. Tom Wolfe
He's still got it:
http://www.dealbreaker.com/2007/04/dana_vachons_kia_spread_tk.php#more
http://www.portfolio.com/executives/features/2007/04/16/The-Pirate-Pose
Last edited by Patrick Bateman (2007-04-16 22:30:51)
女性の鑑定家
#15 2007-04-16 22:44:23
- Horace
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Re: The Secret Vice. Tom Wolfe
""This is probably the last Deb season...because of the stock market, the economy, Everything..." - W. Stillman.
#16 2007-04-19 07:35:42
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Re: The Secret Vice. Tom Wolfe
One of my favorite articles.
But what's this business about?
"The shoulders are padded to give the coat shape; 'natural shoulders' are for turkeys and wet smacks."
It's the only line that doesn't work -- padding stinks, the natural shoulder is the key!!
Oh well, otherwise a work of art...
Cheers.
#20 2007-04-19 19:33:00
- Marc Grayson
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Re: The Secret Vice. Tom Wolfe
Last edited by Marc Grayson (2007-04-19 19:43:22)
"‘The sense of being perfectly well dressed gives a feeling of inner tranquility which even religion is powerless to bestow." Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Looking good and dressing well is a necessity. Having a purpose in life is not." Oscar Wilde
#23 2007-04-21 14:35:28
- Horace
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Re: The Secret Vice. Tom Wolfe
""This is probably the last Deb season...because of the stock market, the economy, Everything..." - W. Stillman.
#24 2007-04-21 14:39:18
- Horace
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Re: The Secret Vice. Tom Wolfe
Last edited by Horace (2007-04-21 14:46:06)
""This is probably the last Deb season...because of the stock market, the economy, Everything..." - W. Stillman.
#25 2007-04-21 14:45:23
- Marc Grayson
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Re: The Secret Vice. Tom Wolfe
"‘The sense of being perfectly well dressed gives a feeling of inner tranquility which even religion is powerless to bestow." Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Looking good and dressing well is a necessity. Having a purpose in life is not." Oscar Wilde