If anyone has read 'The Influential Factor' - on sale in Johns - they may have come across John talking about the Don Richards brand, as well as Lion of Troy shirts etc. I bought a really old Don Richards coat last year, but it really has to be worn on selected occasions only - it isn't gaudy but it is a trifle unusual! I'd imagine it's slightly akin to wearing a raccoon coat - which would almost certainly draw hostile comments in my neck of the woods (although the idea of toting a hip flask filled with orange juice and standing on the touchline at Yale has a certain appeal - they are making a comeback, I hear). Anyone know anything about DR?
I only know the name from that book & would love to know more too.
Perhaps one of our older American friends might be able to shed some light?
Mornin' Chet -
You not left for church yet?
Jim
I shall indeed be preachin' the word, accordin' to the Lord which is called Ahvy...
i like Lord Kitchener... sometimes i think i can find hidden meanings in his songs about medical procedures...
Mentioned in Big John's conversation with JS. Austin's. The overcoat I have someone described as looking like a dressing gown (the odd flecking). I still know no more.
Where is the American to tell us?
I think it was a brand name rather than an actual feller; lost in the mists of time by the look of it. From the era of Truval Career Club perhaps. I once had a Truval shirt - wore out very quickly.
Esquire, June 1960. TVs 'Peter Gunn' wearing Don Richards. Bit of Googling around, and someone asking much the same question on another forum.
There's a Don Richards jacket currently on Ebay.
This is a message John Simons just sent to me on the subject of Don Richards :
"i first came across DR suits when i worked for Austins around 1957 - very ivy a California
brand "TOP OF THE RANGE" 39gns (own make 25gns) i could not buy one too expensive for a
working class IVY BOY i went there last week to finally buy one but to my surprise the shop had closed A DREAM HA HA
AUSTINS was a magical spot in 55 -59 hallowed turf i remember as yesterday i would stare
up at the upper right hand part of the window where the DR suits were displayed yearning the nearest i ever got to meditation"
Thank you very much for that, GG; much appreciated. I started digging around for stuff Austins had stocked and eventually came up with this distinctly individualistic coat - as mentioned above. Never seen anything remotely like it before, but it demands a pale blue or white tab collar and black Rooster knitted tie - plus a bit of bottle!!
Fantastic to hear from JS. I'm going to call myself an Ivy Boy from now on. Who's to stop me?
Oh, that yearning. I last saw it in a shop over in Nottingham about three summers ago. I was buying a cotton Smedley v-neck and this posse of young black kids were ogling Gucci leather bucket hats, which were locked inside a glass cabinet. The young Asian salesman looked a tad nervous as they passed one between them. To my way of thinking, those kids were 'mods' or something like it.
Some vintage ads to be seen online.
Newer posters can see what was being discussed (albeit not at great length) back in 2009.
I still find that bit of information from The Guv'Nor a delight to read (on an overcast afternoon, coffee to hand, Jelly Roll Morton playing in the background for that authentic Woody/Dave Frishberg 'mouldy fygge' vibe).
I made the mistake of sporting that overcoat at a Glaswegian funeral. A good many heads were turned in my direction.
'Refining my tastes', I gave it away to a charity shop in Hockley, Nottingham. Silly of me really. But subtle it was not and might well have been seen on the back of some dude strolling down Central Avenue in search of Wardell Gray and that ten spot that was owing.
There are some Don Richards bits and pieces on Ebay at this very moment - including a Dacron polyester Madras jacket. Ulp.
Then we have 'Marc Richards' - any relation? - a kind of Eisenhower jacket. That would have appealed to me fifteen or twenty years ago.
Another Ebay offering.