In last month’s issue of GQ, the magazine managed to twice make an assertion that puzzled us here in Tradsville: namely, that a buttondown-collared shirt is not a dress shirt. The first instance occurs in question-and-answer format in Glenn O’Brien’s “Style Guy” column: Most of my dress shirts are buttondown- collar oxfords, but I recently …
Without preppy style — not to mention other WASP values — to act as a guiding beacon over mainstream American culture, bad things happen. People are chronically rude and selfish. They don’t exercise. They’re suckers for false, gaudy dreck. They become obsessed with celebrities and long to become one on reality TV. And their pants …
For the trad who can’t get enough rep stripe in his life, there are these striped boxer shorts from Sleepy Jones.
Ivy-style tweed sports jackets and suits are often distinguished by detailed quarter-inch stitching from the edge of the lapels down the front of the jacket. This distinctive feature is usually echoed by lapped seams that run across the shoulder, down the back seam, and around the pocket flaps. But how did it get there? Everyone …
We’ll conclude the recent batch of Kamakura-versus-Brooks discussion (aka the “buttondown showdown”) with a couple of photos snapped yesterday in the Madison Avenue store. The shop may be small, but it still has room for some newly arrived pocket squares and wool neckties, in addition to all the shirts.
Yesterday J. Press sent out an email blast about its famous Shaggy Dog, everyone’s favorite Ivy sweater. The mailer neglected to mention, however, that the sweater is back in this dark green color that had been unavailable for a long time, according to a source at the company. It’s a fitting hue, since you’ll …
In New York, when you pop in somewhere to use the restroom you never know what serendipity awaits. I don’t mean in the restroom itself, but the establishment you’re in. You might run into an old acquaintance, or make a new one. In my case recently, I’d popped into Bloomingdale’s and while exiting the men’s …
This beautifully rounded, unpadded shoulder is from the current collection of a well known menswear retailer. Can you guess who?
Is there a mathematical formula for the natural shoulder? Indeed, there just might be. The discovery came about on Monday when Richard Press and I had lunch together and then sauntered over to J. Press. I told him some new fall sportcoats looked distinctly different from recent Press offerings. The shoulder was more natural, the …
Explorations in Ivy cool-chic: Ralph Lauren cashmere cable crewneck; Kamakura oxford buttondown; olive Levi’s 501s, tapered; Alden bit loafers; Ray-Ban Clubmasters, alligator watch band, Kiel James Patrick black braided belt, and Lemon & Line black rope bracelet.
It’s time to bring the recent run of Brooks-related posts to a close (if only so we can move on to J. Press), so in this post I’d like to address a few of the more theoretical notions to come from the vibrant discussion in the comments section over the past week. First off, here …
After a couple of posts already on Brooks Brothers, the fodder keeps coming, and discussion points keep popping up, so we may be on this topic for a while. First off, today on the Brooks website I noticed a plug for the first issue of 1818, its new lifesteyle magazine. The overall feel, as we’ve …
When Charlie Davidson of The Andover Shop quips that Brooks Brothers today looks like “an Italian department store,” he knows whereof he speaks. He’s one of the few menswear professionals still around who’s known the brand since the late 1940s. I attended Brooks’ spring 2014 presentation last week. When it came time to craft a …
Pictured above is a madras surprise from Brooks Brothers, seen last week at the company’s Spring 2014 preview. It’s a nice dark fabric with soft shoulders, partial lining, and a 3/2 button stance. What’s the surprise, besides the fact that it’s mid-September and you were expecting posts about tweed and flannel? Can you guess?
Today Baracuta, maker of the iconic G9 jacket, announced it has drawn the zipper on a new website with ecommerce features as well as a generous dose of brand heritage. Baracuta was founded in England in 1937 and is currently owned by the Bologna-based company WP Lavori In Corso, which is currently planning a flagship …
The concept of rules, which we’ve been exploring lately, is related to other approaches to dressing that certain men gravitate to. Some become obsessed with formulas for how items are coordinated. These formulas could be timeless or they could be trendy. Last month Alexander Aciman wrote a piece in the Wall Street Journal called “Succumbing …
In our last post we discussed Japan and the concept of menswear rules. Let’s pick up where we left off. Now I may have been a bit quick on the draw in the previous post, going off on a tirade about close-minded clothes-minded guys obsessed with dressing according to rules and formulas. The concept of …
It’s always fun flipping through the Japanese magazine Free & Easy and seeing all the botched English, such as “Made in trad.” Having spent a summer in Japan, I can assure you that nonsensical English used in advertising and the media provided hearty guffaws on the hour. But sometimes the Japanese are unintentionally perspicacious, as …