Coolidge,

re: Peter Huber.  Knockoff may not be a such good word. Re-issue may be better.  Someone mentioned a while back that Huber had acquired the old WalkOver patterns.  Don't know if it's true, but it is a comforting thought.

I was an undergrad 76-80. Stuck around NO until '82.  Maybe I was there while you were being born?

Late to the table.

We appreciate ya'lls condescending comments about nascar and Church. Reinforces the snide, ignorant yankee stereotype, bagel boys. Res ipsa loquitur.

Southern Trad has about the same ancient history as "Trad".  It is a recent construct devolved from the mid 20th century Southern interpretation of Ivy. Southern Trad is Southern good ol' boy Preppy. Period. ( www.mccallie.org )

The Southern interpretation of Ivy League, mid 20th, was heavily influenced by the wares of the traveling Brooks Brothers representative to Southern cities. Much as with Savile Row tailors to NYC, etc.  Orders from samples. Customers may, or may not, have had Ivy connections.  Southern prepsters, at the least.  It was considered more a collegiate look than having a particularly Ivy reference.

In lieu of BB, Southwick and Norman Hilton were mainstays of better quality traditional menswear stores (there was no Euro influence) in mid to larger size cities.  College Shoppes stocked the same, or private label knockoffs from various makers, mostly northern.  The Southern private label knockoff king was Meritt Clothiers of Georgia, now apparently defunct or offshore. Same standard colors as the yankee cousins. The more sartorially adventurous wore lavender OCBD shirts with olive tinted tan, or light olive, suits. Typical odd jackets were more often relatively subdued Glen Urquhart than h-bone.

In the late '60s Norman Hilton financed Ralph Lauren as a foot into the door of the Updated Traditional trend that RL had initiated. NH saw the writing on the wall.  Southwick made its first darted suit circa 1977.  Goin with the flow.

Back to what I'm most familiar with, mid '60s mid South collegiate:

Head-wear: An occasional Boater worn by a frat boy as a lark. No baseball caps. No Brit flat caps. No trilbys or fedoras. A tennis hat as needed.

Mostly BD collar shirts, long sleeve all year, by Brooks, Gant, Sero, Eagle. Miltons of Chapel Hill proffered an Eagle with pocket flap a la Press. We knew which NE merchant offered flapped pockets, no pocket, mitered pockets.  Mostly blue oxford. An occasional straight point, tab, or pinned rounded golf collar.  Knit shirts could be Lacoste or, more likely, Smedley type knits made domestically of BanLon (yes BanLon, an orlon) buttoned at the top.

Ties: striped and foulard, some paisley.  Woven emblematic with college symbol or seal, seldom humorous. Sometimes your dog, if you could find one.

Sweaters: more likely colorful golf links-knit alpaca with billowed sleeves at the cuffs, than shetlands.

Eyeglasses:  tortoise Wayfarer or P3s.

Belts: Alligator/crocodile, simple calf, equestrian buckled surcingle. Some grosgrain, not much.  Hickock, Canterbury, Danbury....a plethora of brands.

Wallets: Full length "pocket secretary", often real crocogator, peeking out of the top of a hip pocket.

Odd trousers: No pleats. Cuffs optional, but mostly. About 17 inches ankle circumference. Corbin (WV) or Berle (Charleston, SC). Ranged in color from "burnt" orange to charcoal. I preferred a blue OCBD with some shade of green trousers, non-engine turned buckled brown alligator belt and tan tassel loafers.

Socks: Gold Cup fuzzy ribbed. Dudes used suspenders. OTC was somewhat advanced.

Footwear. Weejuns, or Weejun wannabes (Chapel Hill is said, even outside the South, to have originated the sock-less Weejun look in the '50s, Don't know.). Alden tassel loafers were rare, but available at the type of stores that stocked Southwick/Hilton. Tassel loafers were most often seen in shades of brown or tan from Johnston & Murphy, Nettleton, Footjoy, Keith Highlander, Bostonian, Cole-Haan and less expensive knockoffs thereof. Classic tassels were rendered in crocagator and worn by shag dancers ( www.beachshag.com & www.shagthebook.com ) Bucks may have been around in the '50s, not the '60s. Walkovers may have been made by Walker Shoe Co. of Asheboro, NC.

There was also a short-lived trend of American style heavy long wing tips worn by teens and collegians.

Post collegiate junior partnership required double-soled bluchers or Peal type cap toes in addition to the ubiquitous Alden/J&M/Bostonian, etc. tassel/tassle loafer.

Outerwear: Not usually needed. London Fog balmacaan raincoat or G-9 styled London Fog golf jacket. M65 if in college. Various "car" coats. Top coats ranged from plain SB Melton top coat, the same in cashmere, grey herringbone with black velvet collar Chesterfield or even a camel polo. The latter being rare.

Not particularly colorful.

It all began going down-hill with the advent of V-N and the hippies.  Chapel Hill became as boho as New Haven.

To coin a phrase, Cheers!

Last edited by Howard (2007-06-05 15:55:20)

Howard,

First, excellent post.  A great contributions

Second, an apology.  This thread was created in a moment of churlishness that has long since passed.  I was content to see this thread slip into obscurity, but it is back.  At the time this thread was created, the Southern Trad conversation had become about how to work Confederate motifs into one's wardrobe. I'm affraid that I lack the imagination to understand this love of all things Confederate, even though I am Southern born and raised. Still, it obviously exists and perhaps it would be better to just scratch my head and keep my mouth shut.