A New York Times obit for a recently deceased Borscht Belt social director described his job title, “tummler,” a Yiddish word for someone who stirs up tumult or excitement, a jack of all trades. J. Press salesman George Feen (above left), known around New Haven as “Little Georgie Feen”, was a tummler on York Street …
Yesterday I stopped by J. Press’ location in the West Village to visit DCG and see the latest displays and merchandise. Let’s have a look. Above, collar pin with fastened buttondown and skull and bones lapel pin. Below, braces and ball cap: And speaking of ball caps, the one on the right spells out “got …
Today J. Press sent out an email blast promoting its new spring collection. When I landed on the site, I saw that York Street was no longer there. Previously Press had operated two sites, one for York Street and one for the main collection. The site is now integrated, which makes a lot more sense. …
Hot on the heels of Brooks Brothers‘ announcement that it will pull the plug on Black Fleece comes the news that the lights are going down on York Street, J. Press’ attempt to court younger guys with money. The news actually came out last month — apparently while we were all on vacation. The story …
As mentioned in the last post, on Friday I attended a preview of the fall collection by York Street, the youthful line by J. Press. Here are some items, along with a few atmospheric store shots with current items and memorabilia, to succour J. Press fans anxiously awaiting a new Manhattan retail location.
J. Press sent out a mailer today introducing its new spring items. It’s business-as-usual with the main brand — for better or worse. The jacket above looks straight from a vintage catalog. Tough to tell what the shoulders are like, however, without in-person inspection. But certainly what you’re most interested in, you anonymous hate-reading snarkers, …
On Tuesday Jon Caramanica of the New York Times wrote a piece on J. Press’ York Street store. Here’s our play-by-play. Caramanica starts by suggesting that the Ivy/prep revival of the past several years “became not just a look, but a form of commentary.” On what he doesn’t say. Next, orthodox trads who can’t stand …
Uptown met Downtown Tuesday night at the grand opening party for J. Press’ York Street store in the West Village, where Yalie and Madison Avenue J. Press stalwart David Wilder joined this Dartmouth man and Ivy Style cheerleader in a chorus of “The Whiffenpoof Song.” Sadly no one commented on “the magic of their singing.” …
Following a particularly gluttonous holiday season I reigned in my appetite and lost a spot of weight. Feeling healthy and trim, yesterday I set out in the blizzard’s aftermath to visit the newly opened J. Press York Street store and see if I could squeeze into anything. I had fairly low expectations based on the …
One thing’s for certain: You can’t accuse J. Press of being a sartorial mausoleum run by dinosaurs anymore. Like or dislike its new direction (and you can like it on Facebook), today J. Press took a bold step towards recapturing cultural and fashion relevance with the unveiling of a slick new website. In addition to …
In our recent post on the rise and fall of Ivy, we noted how since the fall of the Ivy League Look J. Press has gradually gone from a young man’s brand to an old man’s, while the clothes have remained largely the same. Well as we’ve reported previously, J. Press is going after a …
The concept of age was the recurring topic of conversation at the J. Press York Street presentation yesterday. Held at the Yale Club and in conjunction with New York Fashion Week, the event drew a surprisingly large crowd of fashion and media types likely more familiar with York Street’s creative directors — Ariel and Shimon …
Yesterday GQ unveiled a first look at J. Press’ new collection under the stewardship of the brothers behind Ovadia & Sons. The collection is entitled York Street and will debut next spring. While the above outfit is perfectly reasonable (ignore, if you can, the hairy model), others leave us scratching our heads. The one below …
Updated 5/26 at 2:15 PM Today J. Press made it official on its website: It will reopen a New York store this fall in the most ideal of locations. Not only will J. Press return to 44th Street, the historic epicenter of Ivy in New York during the heyday, it will take over a ground …
In 2012, and in part because of Ivy-Style.com, which helped bring Richard Press back onto the stage of life, the former J. Press president once again became a citizen of Manhattan, leaving the suburbs of Connecticut for an Upper East Side apartment. Since then Richard has become a part of his family’s firm once again, …
Lord Of New York may sound like a comic-book villain, but it’s actually a lesser-known Ivy haberdasher. It came up in conversation at a Paul Stuart event recently with a fellow who sells menswear on eBay under the username mack11211. Mack told me about a few bespoke Lord suits made in 1963 he has for …
During the Eisenhower years, Manhattan was an island of social, economic and cultural equanimity. The legal drinking age was 18, the bars stayed open until four in the morning, and the Biltmore Hotel advertised special student rates for Seven Sisters and Ivy Leaguers. Here are some memories from those days of my misspent youth. The …
Last Thursday, to a standing-room-only crowd at the Town Stages venue in Tribeca, Simon Crompton of Permanent Style, in partnership with menswear company Thomas Mason, kicked off their New York stop in a series of talks on menswear they have been running called the symposiums. This event had a focus on the distinctly American Ivy …
Our last post looked at a Main Street clothier during the Ivy heyday. Today we revisit an historic piece on the brand that started it all, and spread its look from Madison Avenue to Main Streets across the US. This document, originally posted in summer of 2013, helped cement 1954 as the starting date of …