Three cheers to David James Frost Mellor aka Russell Street/ Terry Lean/ Miles Away/ Chiltern Street/ Just Jim and many other nicknames I cannot remember.

He might not have invented >>Ivy on the net<<  or ‘trolled the Trad Forum’  as much as he liked to think but we owe a lot to him.

The quote function does not seem to work yet, so let me quote one of his answers on the wardrobe to Brownshoe:

“ Sorry I missed all this yesterday - I was at J. Simons buying a tie & having an all too quick chat with the great man re: The old Brooks & the old Haspel (I'll post on it later).

I think in a nutshell what we all like is the American Traditional Natural Shoulder Ivy League style (TNSIL) - if we like these clothes at all.
Because we like these clothes we call them by their proper and historically correct name: The Ivy League Style. This is the name that you will find the style called by in pre '04 writings on the subject. It is the name that everybody understands.

"Trad" is an internet lifestyle game. An update on the "Preppy" lifestyle spoof.

If we are serious about this style we should be concentrating on it seriously in my book and not playing "Curriculums" and all those other games which have no basis in reality.

I'd like the impact & influence of the Classic American Ivy style appreciated and discussed properly on the Net. in all it's aspects - even including the Brooks natural shouldered double-breasted style.

"Trad" can be played out elsewhere as a game for lightweights, spoofsters and trolls. Why not? It's all internet fun.

But nobody who is serious about this style has any place buying into it or calling Ivy League by this new made up name "Trad".

"Trad" as a game has been going on for far too long now and there are fools out there who believe that it and it's rules of dress are real. They are not. They are an ill-informed interpretation of Ivy League style only, and a very limited and limiting interpretation at that. A pale and very silly echo.

We should leave it behind and let the nebbishes play their game in their ill-fitting and garish clothes. They simply do not know what they are talking about when it comes to discussing this style and I deeply resent their assumed ownership of what classic American style is all about. It's as if a bunch of morons had latched on to Savile Row style and were playing around calling themselves "Rowers", making up silly rules as they went along.

Time to move on.

IMVHO.

David

Let’s not forget him and let’s remember him in a good way.