I don't know, but it makes "sense" to me as well, when you think about the "clean lines" of certain collegiate or Ivy-inspired American clothing.  The Corbin trouser, basic Brooks BD (even if you keep in mind the "paradox" of the BD collar and "traditional cut"), the weejun, the plain blucher, the "sack" coat, etc.  All those proportions of lapel, collar, and tie of the "ideal" period seem to me to have a certain stripped-down minimalism to them.  It can almost be austere.  Austere without being freakish, which is what I think happens with some minimalist clothing design.

On the other hand, I could be full of shit, in which case, perhaps the architect's style provides some of notion of a traditional "grounding" or "anchor" for the "high flights" of modernism. Though high-flights might be the wrong word to express the idea.  After all, it's not like it's Baroque architecture.

This passage from Michael Gross's bio of RL, posted originally in the Meledandri thread, merits re-posting here...

http://books.google.com/books?id=uNQ7v3aHBqQC&pg=PA135&lpg=PA135&dq=roland+meledandri&source=web&ots=b-lQc4y0iz&sig=tHP7aHtnwKXUzAQULIjOgPFRLi8