http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/22/fashion/22CRITIC.html?_r=3&ref=fashion&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Brooks is better than it was in the 1990s. Different from what it was in the 1980s. I think at this point it is a good store. It bothers me that they don't offer the stuff I remember but looking at the new catalog: they are better than most stores in my opinion and they offer pretty decent value for those old customers who still remember the concept of Yankee thrift: decent stuff that will last and never be out of fashion, or maybe never be in fashion. Actually fashion in mens clothing never existed until the early 1980s.....but that is a story that has yet to be told.
I dont even go in there anymore.
I just saw the new Madras jackets. Made in Thailand, unfortch. But bugger me if it ain't the most perfect natural Makers-style shoulder I've seen from them in a long time.
That cool cord sack from last season was made in Thailand...
Thailand the home of true Trad.
I wasn't in the market but they were offering an off the rack white tie and tail outfit along with a cutaway coat. Maybe only AT Harris does that now in NYC. Their English shoes are good. The Aldens seem high to me but they are a little cheaper than the name Aldens. Nice shetlands. some decent RTW stuff, on sale, at a good price. I do have to buy that English wool robe. Anyone catch the Italian made cashmere lined gloves for half price on the website. A loooooooooooong time staple at a giveaway price. don't think they be making a better pair any where for any price. The store is still worth a look. not what it was, but worth a look.
Horace: do tell us how it works out. I'm thinking of replacing a couple of classic coats I don't fit into anymore that these days are hard to find: a polo coat in a more durable camel hair and lamb's wool blend, and a chesterfield in a light herringbone tweed. Tell me what the pricing is like on a coat.
San Francisco has a Brooks Brother shop and I enquired on whether they had any white-tie and the sales-help replied that they did not have anything of that variety.
Last edited by Incroyable (2007-03-10 02:00:36)
By the bye, I was disappointed to note that their pique front shirts for detachable colloar are no longer made in England. Collars now are made in USA, and not England. They used to be made by Luke Eyres, as I recall.