Ivy Style Interview: American Designer Steven Stolman

Matthew: Today Ivy Style is talking with American designer and author, Steven Stolman, a contributor to such labels as Lilly Pulitzer, Jack Rogers, and J. McLaughlin. Steven also served as president of the American textiles house, Scalamandré. Welcome, Steven.

You have been described as the “Prince of Preppy” – a lofty title, indeed! What is the origin of that nickname, and would you describe it as accurate?

Steven: That first reared its ugly head in a New York Social Diary piece on my NYC apartment while I was working as president of Scalamandré, the august textiles house. Honestly, I have no license to that sobriquet. I grew up in a rather suburban, “preppy-lite” Connecticut town, but went to a wonderful public high school. Sure, there were Volvo wagon/golden retriever families, but we weren’t one of them.

The first time I ever heard the term “preppy” was in the 1970 movie Love Story, where it was a sort of slur used by Ali McGraw upon meeting Ryan O’Neal. She followed it by “rich and stupid.” Sure, we had stores that sold the wide-wale cords and Shetland sweaters that we all wore, and my dad, a Harvard grad, bought his clothes at J. Press in New Haven. But when I think of my childhood, things were far more counter-culture mod/hippie than preppy moving towards the sexier styles of the disco era, which didn’t suit my husky frame at all. For me, preppy shtick really didn’t start until college. I remember being sent to college with a Harris Tweed jacket, pinstriped oxford cloth button downs and two pairs of Bass Weejuns. And because that whole aesthetic fit me, it just sorta stuck. Fifty years later, my closet still looks the same.

Matthew: Brands like Lilly Pulitzer and J. McLaughlin are well-known for their colorful prints and very much in the preppy tradition known as the “Go-To-Hell Look.” Do you see the preppy aesthetic as distinct, or overlapping, the staid style known as the Ivy League look?

Steven: Because I was fortunate enough to know Lilly herself, I can tell you that an old money establishment aesthetic was the last thing she embraced. She was totally madcap and even a bit rebellious. Her original prints were a product of the whole 1960s Mod movement. Lilly’s clothes were for beach club lunches and poolside cocktail parties, not for strolls across some college quad between classes. They were social clothes for a very specific demographic of society not really concerned with academia. Honestly, they were anti-academic, as they were initially specific to Jackie Kennedy’s rarefied world of Palm Beach and its northern equivalents. When Lilly looked to her fellow boarding school classmates to open stores across the country, that’s when you started to see the look take hold in places like Lake Forest, La Jolla, Phoenix, Bloomfield Hills, Bryn Mawr, Memphis – wherever she had a gal pal who, like her, needed something to do.

When I worked on the relaunch of Lilly in the early 90s, we learned that while Lilly’s “Men’s Stuff” garnered a tremendous amount of affection, it was only a tiny part of the business and was barely sustainable had it not been for Lilly’s own convictions and, frankly, her checkbook. And while men’s was certainly a part of the relaunch, it ultimately went away until just recently.

Sheepishly, I believe that I can take credit for reviving the concept of aggressively printed men’s trousers. When I opened my own stores in the mid-90s, I took the same toiles and chinoiseries that I was making womenswear from and cut men’s sportscoats, trousers and shorts as well. They made enough of an impact to be covered by Bill Cunningham of the New York Times in 2000 and were (and still are) copied by people like J. McLaughlin and others. I was overwhelmed by Bill’s attention and admittedly more than a bit annoyed at McLaughlin’s chutzpah at the beginning, but in the garment business you have to develop a thick skin, as every good idea will ultimately get copied by somebody else who can do it better and cheaper. Sometimes, it’s just easier to join them rather than try to beat them.

If you want to talk true Ivy League style, simply get a copy of the 1965 book Take Ivy, a Japanese photographer’s essay on what men were wearing at Ivy League colleges. It’s positively the last word and explains everything. That vocabulary was all madras plaid, seersucker, khaki, tweed, threadbare button downs, well-worn penny loafers with crew socks and sneakers. Not a “go to hell” pant to be found.

Matthew: You grew up in what you have described as an upper middle class Jewish family in West Hartford, Connecticut and you have mentioned shopping at a local institution known as The English Shop. How did your upbringing shape your sense of style?

Steven: It wasn’t so much my upbringing as my less-than-ideal physique. Chubby kids like me, relegated to the husky departments of clothing stores, tended to be grateful to simply find clothes that fit their round bodies. And stores like The English Shop featured kinder cuts. So that’s why a lot of my clothes came from there, just as my dad shopped almost exclusively at J. Press in New Haven. We also had an incredible army surplus store, so we all had things like pea coats, CPO shirts and snorkel jackets with fake fur-trimmed hoods. I swanned around in a midcalf officer’s coat and thought I was the chicest thing ever. In retrospect, a lot of this was because I simply couldn’t wear the skinny-rib turtlenecks, fitted disco shirts and bell bottom pants that the cool kids were wearing. I also worked at a men’s shop that was an early purveyor of Ralph Lauren, Alexander Julian and Perry Ellis clothes, so I had a lot of exposure to more of a haberdasher aesthetic and embraced it.

Matthew: Some of the most influential people in the history of preppy and Ivy League style have been Jewish Americans: Jacobi Press (founder of J. Press), Sidney Winston (founder of Chipp), Julius Garfinckel and Co. (acquired Brooks Brothers), Ralph Lauren (né Lifshitz, founder of Polo Ralph Lauren), and of course Lisa Birnbach (author of The Official Preppy Handbook). And yet, we tend to associate this style with the WASP upper class. What are your thoughts?

Steven: Dress British, think Yiddish.

Matthew: Black Preppy, or Black Ivy, is celebrated today in fashion and popular culture. Ralph Lauren’s latest campaign, Oak Bluffs, continues an association with Morehouse and Spellman, two historically black colleges. The television series The Gilded Age from Julian Fellowes features black characters among high society families such as the Astors in the 19^th century. What do you think of this?

Steven: I hate labels. Black Ivy? White Ivy? Asian Ivy? Hispanic Ivy? I mean, when you look at photographs of Malcolm X and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, they were dressed exactly the same as JFK and RFK. It’s just how people dressed back then. And everyone looked pretty damn good.

Now, Black men’s style is obviously a real thing, otherwise the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art wouldn’t have mounted an entire exhibit titled Superfine: Tailoring Black Style. The show is positively exuberant, but there’s not a lot of preppy aesthetic included, like the tailored ensemble from Black designer Jeffrey Banks. I just don’t think it seemed all that attractive or aspirational, save for a few exceptions. I mean, why embrace tight-lipped traditionalism when one could be a lot more fabulous? Then again, Jeffrey Banks has always been able to out-preppy the preppiest of White guys. That’s just his gift and has a lot to do with his deep knowledge of haberdashery and fashion history. Black women’s style, of course, has always been extraordinary- from the church ladies of Harlem to icons like Josephine Baker, Diana Ross and, my very favorite, opera diva Jessye Norman.

It’s great that TV shows like The Gilded Age are recognizing that there were Black people of means and social ascendancy even at that time, so close to abolition. But they were the exception, not the rule, sadly. I’ve been to Oak Bluffs and understand and appreciate its significance. I’ve also lived in Palm Beach, where antisemitism in addition to racism is very much a part of that community’s past and, sadly, present. And that’s been the ultimate irony for me – that I’m so closely associated with a world that would never have me as anything more than an interloper.

Matthew: We are both film buffs who have discussed some of our favorite movies from the 1970s and 1980s. Among them are Love Story (1970), The Great Gatsby (1974,  All Creatures Great and Small (1975), Brideshead Revisited (1981), and Chariots of Fire (1981). How have these movies impacted the development of what came to be known as “preppy” and what do they offer in terms of sociological insight?

Steven: You cannot undervalue what The Great Gatsby starring recently departed style icon Robert Redford did for Ralph Lauren and vice-versa. It was the perfect symbiotic relationship and the fashion world ate it up. As far as the others you mention, preppy has always had roots in Anglophilia. There would be no preppy aesthetic without the sartorial foundation laid by the British.

Matthew: You have described clothing as “aspirational” and I would tend to agree with that assessment. Please tell us more about what that means to you.

Steven: A big part of the Ivy League/preppy aesthetic is quality. The clothes are meant to last, or at least look like they have some permanence- that they’re not disposable. And that’s rarely inexpensive, so that’s where the aspirational aspect of things enters the conversation.

Matthew: In addition to your work as a designer, you have authored several books and been a contributing writing for Town & Country, House Beautiful, Elle Decor, and Architectural Digest. Which of your writing projects has been the most rewarding?

Steven: Working with New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham’s longtime collaborator John Kurdewan on the book Bill Cunningham Was There. Given how impactful Bill Cunningham’s coverage of my work was to the success of my career, it was a total joy to be able to honor him in that way.

Matthew: You have worked in collaboration with other brands, but you are currently working solo for your new project. Please tell us about your latest endeavor.

Steven: Retiring has never been an option for me. It’s just not a concept I understand since my work is my life. But right now I do have the luxury of working without having to answer to anyone else but me, so I’m sticking my toe back into the water in a very small way on my own to see if there’s still an appetite for what I do. Only time will tell.