I was hoping to have something really special to share with you guys, but alas fate had other ideas.
This summer I was approached by Kamakura Shirts, who wanted to do a video interview with me. I suggested doing it at the famed New York watering hole The Campbell Apartment, and we were able to get permission to shoot there one day before it closed. But when it came time to process the video, wouldn’t you know it there was an audio problem.
Nevertheless the interview has been transcribed and handsomely laid out on Kamakura’s website. In the interview I talk a bit about myself and how this website came to be. Here’s a snippet:
I had learned that many jazz musicians wore the Ivy League Look in the 1950s, which was unusual as most of them were African American. There was an old man in Harvard Square, Charlie Davidson of The Andover Shop. He provided clothes to Miles Davis in about 1954, and also many other musicians such as Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan and the Modern Jazz Quartet. I thought this was the fascinating story about two parts of American culture coming together. I pitched the idea to my editor at Ralph Lauren Magazine, and they loved the idea. It was only a short article, but it still showed the cool side of Ivy, not just the prep schools and colleges and conservative older men. This was a different side of the Ivy League Look, something younger, cooler, and more unexpected. I enjoyed doing that article so much and got so interested in the topic, I decided it would be the subject of my new website.
Head over to Kamakura Shirts to check out the whole piece. — CHRISTIAN CHENSVOLD
Are those crossed swords or tennis racquets, or neither, on the tie? At the risk of sounding like a jerk, is the young fellow’s collar a bit askew? I mostly wear button downs and seldom wear vests so I am not the best judge. My eye did go right to it and not for the best reason. The shirts on the website do look very nice though.
Speaking of shirts, I saw my first old/new BB button down in the thrift store the other day for $4.99. One problem, 18 32.
Will
@sacksuit A couple years ago I recall it was a trend in Japan to style collars slightly curled up at the point as a way to convey nonchalance and relaxedness, to the point that shirts would be made and displayed like that.
I have a crossed swords tie, but that’s not it. It’s a deer head with a sort of shield background (from Polo, obviously). It’s a pun in-joke for me on “stag” (since I’m a bachelor who goes stag) and “buck,” a Regency-era term for a dandy or beau.
I didn’t know the Campbell Apartment had closed. I’ve been away too long.