My farewell at J.Press half a decade after the sale of the family business in 1986 was orchestrated by Norbert Ford. Norbert was a charismatic entrepreneur who began his career dressing windows at the original Abercrombie and Fitch safari, rifle and menswear emporium on 45th and Madison. He was a scrappy senior executive, and when …
We bring the run of khaki-themed posts to a close with info on a US-made brand doing khakis the old-fashioned way. Some of you may have received an email blast last week from O’Connell’s plugging pants that looked strangely familiar. Similar to another brand, except that the monosyllabic name behind them is Frank. I reached …
Contributing writer Christopher Sharp has buckled-down, hit the books, and put his nose to the grindstone in an effort to suss out once and for all the origins of the mid-’50s buckle-back chino trend. * * * During my formative years back in the Fifties, I was the kind of kid who was secure in …
We continue our khaki theme with some positive news about a young entrepreneur carrying the torch of classic clothes made in America. Gregg Donnelly, founder of trouser company Jack Donnelly, developed a solid following for several years before a random medical emergency put him in the hospital for three months, followed by even more recovery …
Yesterday we honored GIs and their great contribution to the Ivy League Look: khakis. One man who exemplified the era (even though he went to college before serving in the war), was John F. Kennedy, who was born 101 years ago today. Here’s a gallery of him wearing khakis, always plain-front, naturally, but never with …
On this Memorial Day, here’s to all the men who never got the chance to attend college on the GI Bill — or live out the rest of their lives. We are grateful for their supreme sacrifice. As for those who did go from storming the beach in Normandy to storming college classrooms, here’s a …
In the interest of maintaining balance in the universe, posts about Kennedy and posts about Bush, posts about jazz and posts not about jazz, we follow-up the last post on teetotaling with a review of a new book about whisky. Comment-leaver “Canadian Trad” takes it on. * * * Taste in clothes and taste in …
In “The Origins And History Of Consciousness” (which I’ve read twice over the past year and will need to read another dozen times to fully grasp), author Erich Neumann argues that each individual’s development mirrors the development of humanity itself. Likewise, I sometimes think that for a style omnivore like me, it was necessary to …
Philip Roth, author of prep-lit novel “Goodbye Columbus,” has died at the age of 85. You can find an NPR tribute here. — CC
When last we left off, we’d looked at the Duke of Windsor and how he may have influenced the team that supported photographer Bruce Weber in his legendary photo shoots for Polo Ralph Lauren. One of the recurring models was actually a regular guy: an architect named Tom Moore who played a benevolent and elegant …
Evidently there’s a royal wedding today. I’ve been in a blissfully ignorant news blackout for the past month and only learned of it from two old Italian guys when I went out for gelato last night. So here’s a post pegged on the day’s big event. It shows the Duke Of Windsor — that other …
Today saw the posting of my latest self-improvement piece for Real Clear Life. The idea came to me after another roller coaster ride at the game of golf (or tennis, I forget which). Why is it, I wondered, that when your game’s not on and you try everything to fix it, it just gets worse, …
The recently deceased dandy author Tom Wolfe will be forever remembered for his signature white suits — as well as his purple prose. And in Tradsville, for still another colorful reason: his coining of the adjectival phrase “go-to-hell” to describe the trad/Ivy/preppy sub-genre of blinding, rainbow-colored leisure clothing, which, in the digital age, became part …
A couple of weeks ago I attended an event at Alan Flusser’s place. Alan — who was clad in, if I recall correctly, a double-breasted shawl-collared tartan dinner jacket, ascot, Belgian Shoes, and black jersey Ralph Lauren athletic pants that looked like formal trousers in the light and the context — told me he’d read my …
Last month we reported on signs of a neo-prep revival at Ralph Lauren. This weekend I visited the Rhinelander flagship and it was like taking a time machine, except that instead of arrival at a particular destination, one found onself floating in a timeless realm. The windows and inside mannequins all had the classic Polo …
No, those aren’t airports, though one — GTH — could be called a destination. In this photo — believed to be unseen in Tradsville, and provided by comment-leaver GS — JFK has “gone to hell” in a vacation outfit while visiting volcanic Mount Lassen in northern California. He appears to be clad in a navy blazer …
It was the best of times achieving rock-star status during my three trips to Japan in the late ’80s for the annual J. Press convention in Tokyo, a series of blowout bashes organized by the new owner, Onward Kashiyama. On three separate occasions I enjoyed the whimsical and intoxicating power of celebrity with incessant flashbulbs, …
My latest piece for Ralph Lauren Magazine is on the golden age of sailing. By “golden age,” I mean, of course, the five or so years in the late ’80s and early ’90s when sailing captured the popular imagination, receiving its Hollywood exploitation via the 1992 film “Wind” with Matthew Modine and Jennifer Grey. The …
An Ivy Style post last month forecasted a new wave of neo-prep on the horizon. More evidence has arrived in the form of two bold new takes on the boldest item in the Ivy universe, patchwork madras. Ralph Lauren is already offering a classic-fit patchwork madras popover this season, but has upped the ante significantly with …