Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896 in Saint Paul, Minnesota to Edward Fitzgerald and Mollie McQuillan Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald attended Princeton University and was a member of the Cottage Club, a prestigious eating club.
Fitzgerald’s first novel, This Side of Paradise, is set at the Princeton campus. The novel, published in 1920, makes several references to Brooks Brothers. America’s oldest retailer Brooks Brothers was founded in New York City in 1818.
The novel’s protagonist, Amory Blaine, receives advice befitting a proper gentleman. “You must go to Brooks’ and get some really nice suits.” Later in the novel Amory’s friend Tom D’Invilliers is described as wearing the correct style for a Princeton man. “Clothed by Brooks, shod by Franks.” Frank Brothers (referred to as “Franks”) was a premier New York shoe company favored by undergraduates defining the early Ivy League Look.
F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote a letter to his daughter, Frances “Scottie” Fitzgerald – who was, at the time, a student atVassar College – to “beware of Yale wolves in their J. Press tweed.” This warning highlights the classic Ivy League style associated with J. Press. Collegiate clothier J. Press was founded near the Yale University campus in 1902.
The Official Preppy Handbook,edited by Lisa Birnbach and published in 1980, includes F. Scott Fitzgerald in the PREP PANTHEON. The required reading list in the Preppy Handbook includes ANYTHING by the author. We heartily agree.
The Master of American literature.