Film Noir Buff Style Forum / New Press Catalogue

Matt · 2009-01-27 06:40:54

Just arrived yesterday. For those of us that have been JP customers for decades, it is always welcome, and the first thing in the mail that is opened.
You can argue whether the new larger four color version is better than the old subdued black and white version. Doesn't much matter. The arrival of the catalogue brings back good memories of JP, that will differ with each of us.

My fond memories come from the New Haven store, a bit musty, full of treasures, and staffed by the most knowing people in the industry.

The catalogue this year brings on a bit of sadness, for entirely different reasons. In the past, we could rant on for a long time about the shoulder width of the jackets, or the fact that the 3/2 gorge has been replaced with the Southwick Douglas higher gorge. But this year, things are different.

The cover has blazer patches from 5 of the 8 Ivies. Yesterday, it was announced that the average endowment of these old institutions had decreased by @30%. It will take years for this damage to be repaired.

Also, in the same vein, graduates of these institutions cheerfully left academia in recent years,with the choice of high paying jobs, if they wanted them. Now, many are faced with prospective employers in law, or finance, for example, that are rapidly shedding existing employees, rather than hiring recent graduates. Where will it end?

I was at a cocktail party Sunday, where some old men were sitting around talking about this being the bottom, because it has always worked out that way, in their long lives. I didn't enter into the conversation, but I have serious doubts, that the bottom will be reached during the life expectancy of those present.

I hate to be morose, but if you have any interest in where we are, you might find "Atlas Shrugged", written by Ayn Rand in 1957 to be a blinding glimpse of the obvious. She came from Russia to the US, in the 40s, and used fiction to describe where we are today in chilling detail.

Or so it seems.

Last edited by Matt (2009-01-27 06:44:28)

Tom Rath · 2009-01-27 07:00:19

Hard for me to feel bad for the state of Ivy College endowments:

From an article off the net (from Jan of 2008):

Paced by Harvard University's staggering $34 billion stockpile, 76 colleges now boast endowments over $1 billion after robust returns on their investments over the past year, according to an annual study being released today.

Harvard's endowment rose by nearly $6 billion over the past year, a nearly 20 percent increase. Yale University's endowment, the nation's second largest, rose to $22.5 billion, a 25 percent increase.

Ok, so the endowments are down 30%, but lets not forget the run up they had prior to the meltdown.

Last edited by Tom Rath (2009-01-27 07:00:55)

Matt · 2009-01-27 09:27:32

You are correct, to be sure, Mr Rath. The only point is that the cover brings to mind the 60 year olds that have had a 50% drop in 401K since September, the 20,000 people that Cat terminated yesterday, the people that have lost jobs in the financial world that have no place to turn, because their industry has evaporated, etc.

Horace · 2009-01-27 22:53:45

Horace · 2009-01-27 22:55:10

longwing · 2009-01-28 16:51:44

It took our best and brightest, those Ivy League graduates, to completely eff up our financial system. I'm shedding many tears for them.

Perhaps they will now find something more productive to do with their prodigious talents.

Coolidge · 2009-01-28 18:48:56

Libertarianism vs. Statism aside, because I think we've just developed into a greedy, entitled culture regardless of background...a combination of Gekko-ism and the prole drift Fussell sneeringly described...I'll go back to the original topic of this thread:

I like the new catalog...although it seems even bigger each time I get it...I remember the 2003 was paperback novel sized, then an intermediate-sized period, now it's coffee-table book sized.

I anticipate that next fall I shall receive a "J. Press Fall-Winter Poster" all rolled up.

I like the crests, I honestly do, but I don't know in what situation anyone would wear them. It's almost like something that looks great but is also too pretentious for one to want anyone to actually SEE. It would seem limited exclusively to alumni functions...I suppose some people out there buy a blazer just for these...and I shouldn't talk as I wear my red one only about 4 times every December at holiday parties...so maybe they do have a sensible, in a relative aspect of the term, use.

I very much want one of those tan seersucker suits. I'd never seen a man out and about in them, oddly, until I saw a commercial recently while watching an old episode of the Alfred Hitchcock Hour on hulu.com...the commercial was for that website about saving "feedthepig.org" I think, and the pig himself wears the same suit with an overlarge madras bow.

But the suit looks great.

Ed. Note: The 3 seasons of the Hitchcock Hour, which ran from 1962-1965, provide some incredible vintage views on men's fashion of the era. One of the lesser (in plot) episodes also features an extremely young Robert Redford, but it is chock full of many B-stars and the occasional A-actor from the era.

Last edited by Coolidge (2009-01-28 18:53:24)

Decline & Fall · 2009-01-28 20:10:08

Horace · 2009-01-28 21:58:50

Sorry to ol' Matt for my snarkiness....

Matt · 2009-01-29 03:54:13

Taylor McIntyre · 2009-01-29 04:56:47

Got my new Press cat. this morning. All very samey, but then Press always was... But in the past it was samey in a different way...
A few things I'll buy... But there's more in the old Press catalogues that I'd buy. I think it's the presentation that largely makes the difference.

... I'm turning Trad!

(Shoot me)

Taylor McIntyre · 2009-01-29 05:01:34

... Actually I'm not turning Trad as I want the pre-Trad world back.

What's that called?

Taylor McIntyre · 2009-01-29 05:02:54

Maybe I'm a Matt-ist?

Coolidge · 2009-01-29 06:35:36

Last edited by Coolidge (2009-01-29 06:36:42)

Taylor McIntyre · 2009-01-30 01:35:29

Things you'd like to see in the next JP catalogue?

For me:

1) The Trad Twinset.
2) Some kind of joint venture between JP & Hanes Beefy T.
3) A collection themed 'Harvard Yardies' - Rude Boy Ivy blending Tweed with weed.

How 'bout you?

Last edited by Russell_Street (2009-01-30 01:36:05)

Matt · 2009-01-30 03:54:45

I'm mistaken about there being no 3/2 shown. Desk jockey, who works in the DC store, posed on AA that the poplins, and others are indeed 3/2.
I stand corrected.

Matt · 2009-01-30 04:04:23

Last edited by Matt (2009-01-30 04:05:06)

Matt · 2009-01-30 04:11:12

Shuman's thread reminded me that a lambswool sweater (jumper) with a saddle shoulder would be a great addition. If you like the Shaggy Dog, OK.

However, the true Ivy style seems to be the saddle shoulder. A wide selection with some lime greens, pink, etc (ala Andover), in addition to the subdued colors would seem to be a big hit.

Hard Bop Hank · 2009-02-06 19:28:11

Taylor McIntyre · 2009-02-07 01:34:26

Candy was the old name for the Uni. The Candy above aint no Candy, it's more like a Pencil Stripe. A Bengal Stripe would be wider.

Hard Bop Hank · 2009-02-07 02:59:03

^That's how I learned it here as well...

You had mentioned something along those lines earlier...

However, before I had read the MBs, I always thought that candy stripes were all about the colour, not the width of the stripe... you know sky blue, pink, lime, cream, butter... somewhere between pastel and candy sweets...
So when I heard the term "university stripe", I thought it was a specific type of candy stripe, typical for American college style...

One of my skinhead mates refers to really broad (butcher? awning? whatever...) stripes as Candy Stripes...

I remember all this stuff about shirts and stripes and the "correct terminology" about 4 months ago...

It seems, there were differences in the US and the UK...*

Over here, most people wouldn't talk about this stuff at all... They just buy shirts, and if they get them made, they would simplify specify, how wide the stripes should be, or just look in the book... (Oh God- I sound like Cruiser 8))... But "over here" doesn't count! It's a sartorial wasteland...

*The problem is that language changes with time and space... It's all about the arbitrariness of the relation between the signifier and the signified... The "linguistic turn" changed the course of all the "humanities"...
Sidenote to myself: don't start bullshitting.... that's creepy...post-structuralist piffle! pah!...relativism... college sucks... you should write about reefer, erm, reefer jackets... instead of being self reeferential...

Taylor McIntyre · 2009-02-07 04:45:15

The old Brooks Cats. called the Uni. the Candy. The colours were the basics too.

Butcher stripes are much wider.

The Yanks are also sloppy about talking about loafers often calling Beefrolls Pennies I've found on the MBs. - You'd get looked at in London for a basic error like that.

This why I see us as the keepers of the flame when compared to the sloppy fantasist 'Trads' in the U.S.

Hard Bop Hank · 2009-02-07 04:51:39

And I thought it was beefrolls vs weejun styles, and that they were both in the PL family, as long as they didn't have tassels and/or fringes...

Over here, people just say "college slippers"...

HBH, you have to learn a lot!

Taylor McIntyre · 2009-02-07 05:13:01

Last edited by Russell_Street (2009-02-07 06:15:01)

Hard Bop Hank · 2009-02-07 05:47:13

Maybe, it's just this "taking every day objects out of their context" aspect...

I don't think that's "hair-splitting"...

It's just an honest love of design and a genuine attention to details!

Harringtons, Sta Prest trousers, beefrolls, candy stripes...

My world!

It's not about class and aspirations...

It's all about style and suss!

Yrs,

Herzog Heinrich IV von Hartbopp

Last edited by Hard Bop Hank (2009-02-07 05:50:27)

#1 2009-01-27 06:40:54

New Press Catalogue

#2 2009-01-27 07:00:19

Re: New Press Catalogue

#3 2009-01-27 09:27:32

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