Kudos to Ivy Style contributor and Andover Shop employee Al Castiel III for a profile on Paul Winston on Town & Country’s website.
Castiel writes:
One fan of those Ivy League-inspired roots was John F. Kennedy, who became a Chipp customer when his brother-in-law, Peter Lawford, brought him into the shop one day in 1958 when Kennedy was still a junior United States senator from Massachusetts. Lawford had been having Chipp make his clothes for his television show The Thin Man. Bobby Kennedy soon became a customer as well. For the duration of JFK’s presidency, from 1961 to 1963, Paul and his father attended to Kennedy and did bespoke suit fittings at his private apartment at the Carlyle Hotel.
We knew the kid would go far. Check out the piece here. — CC
One additional bit of information from Put This On regarding the button stance of Jack Kennedy’s jackets:
JFK’s jackets were cut with a slightly higher buttoning point (meaning, the top button is set just above the natural waist, which allows the bottom button to be set a little higher as well). Presumably, this was done so the bottom button wouldn’t drag the coat as much when it was fastened.
His lapels in that picture look almost as ridiculous as his policies.
Actually–(sorry in advance, JFK-adoring liberals)–he was more than eager to cut taxes. Quote from a speech at the Economic Club of New York, 1962:
“Our present tax system, developed as it was, in good part, during World War II to restrain growth, exerts too heavy a drag on growth in peace time; that it siphons out of the private economy too large a share of personal and business purchasing power; that it reduces the financial incentives for personal effort, investment, and risk-taking.”
Not the sort of thing Bernie would be overheard saying.
He was also more than a little hawkish and interventionist, although cautiously so. Had JFK lived, he would have redefined the post New Deal Democratic Party. He was a “moderate Democrat” before the phrase grew legs. He was as influenced by the business world as the purely academic, and, at heart and above else, he was a pragmatist. (But so was FDR). His 1952 victory served to destroy the Lodge family’s influence on politics, paving the way for a new kind of preppy in public service: non-WASP. How does one go about “being WASPy” without actually being a WASP? JFK showed us.
Back to clothes: the color of the suit featured in the picture is great. Probably a plain weave panama weave. Gray, but just enough blue yarn to render it a “gray-blue.” Rarely seen these days, which is a shame. It’s almost certainly the shade of the most famous suit in modern sartorial history:
http://www.bondsuits.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/North-By-Northwest-2.jpg
S.E.–
Very good summary of JFK and his policies for today.
Great article, Al!
WFB, that honestly made me laugh, bravo!
Coincidentally, I will be attending a lecture on the Kennedy family in Bronxville today. They lived there for 13 years or so but it’s often overlooked in stories about JFK as he didn’t spend much time there, being away at school. Even I think of Massachusetts when I think of them, but they lived in Westchester longer.
WFBjr:
Those lapels give me one more reason to worship him.
Those lapels are the typical lapels of his suits in 50s (in that age the suits were cut by H Harris in New York,
see
http://www.ivy-style.com/golden-years-the-battle-to-dress-jfk.html
and
https://books.google.it/books?id=slMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA29&dq=JFK+tailor+H+Harris+life+1961&hl=it&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjdh43dxtnTAhUCBcAKHbtyBY4Q6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=JFK%20tailor%20H%20Harris%20life%201961&f=false).
Mark Chevalier said: “And before H. Harris, the tailor of *all* the Kennedy men was F.L. Dunne, of Boston and New York (Fifth Avenue)”.
Blue-gray shade is a very elegand color,my favourite.
I had always noticed how he had the odd tendency to button the two coat buttons up front and cringed at this “error.” But now I know better. Great article, full of good gems.
“…JFK suffered from chronic back pain throughout his life, and wore the brace over his shirt. His suits needed to be fit specially to accommodate the brace and he almost always kept both buttons of his jacket done up to conceal it. (Many thought the buttoning of both jacket buttons was merely a sartorial faux pas.)…”
I believe Grant’s suit in North By Northwest was a muted glen plaid. JFK’s suit above is close to being what we call in the Midwest “ink”.
Am I mistaken, or did S.E. just launch into a political lecture at no one?
You are mistaken.
S.E.,
Who was your “Actually…” directed towards? I saw no mention of policy in the article. Or were you just jumping off WFB?
Regardless, it seems off topic.
Yes to the observation/rumor that the Grant North by Northwest suit was a glen check. Using both gray and blue yarns. Not a large check, as it looks (from a distance) to be plain weave.
Aside: if anybody knew a thing or two about giant lapels it was Buckley.
“Jumping off,” U – Stripe.
Goldwater was a wide lapel guy too.
Inveighing we shall go…
We tend to view past political figures in light of today’s nomenclature and perspectives i.e. What was once liberal is now moderate. Being a hawk was once a liberal position; see Senator Robert Taft (R-OH) and his conservative brethren at the outset of WW2 versus FDR’s cabal, er, I mean, Brain Trust. Eisenhower warns against the Military Industrial Complex and Truman/JFK/Johnson grow it exponentially. Fast forward to Reagan and you have a flop of the dichotomy. It’s feels like a natural liberal tendency, regardless of ones left/right political persuasion, to spread democracy and liberate oppressed folks; ushering in a utopia of sorts. Now whether you expand the debt load to do so most likely is influenced by your left/right bias. Part of the problem is both parties don’t adhere to a rigid philosophy or orthodoxy which make defining them in any given era a challenge. Burkean conservatism gives way to Randian libertarianism and excess, ultimately giving way to demagogic populism. A morphing miasma.
University Stripe
SE is just another Brown Shirt who is shouting and stamping his beat up Jack boots at the wrong corner.
SE, I did not take your free history lesson as a negative. I enjoyed your relating of JFK’s stances and policies to modern day. It’s true that he would not be a Democrat today, being religious and moderate by modern standards. Today, at the talk I attended about the Kennedy family, it was explained to me that the family were Democrats simply because of their station (being Irish catholic).
As for Buckley, I’ve seen pictures of him with fish mouth lapels. An ugly, midway between peak and notch. Look it up, if you dare. Conservative icon nonetheless.
Yes, my nom de plume was typically bedecked in fabulous collar rolls but all else was a mixed bag. Pat tried to keep him put together; a futile fashion effort.
I can’t help but feel there is still a great deal of resentment regarding the Kennedys in these circles. Much as FDR was considered a class traitor, so is JFK.
Much has been said about JFK’s lowering of taxes. However, these cuts were based in Keynesian theory (demand side as opposed to supply side). Kennedy himself was suspicious until his own Keynesian economic advisers insisted.
More here: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history_lesson/2004/01/tax_cuts_in_camelot.html
GS
So a person that is member of the Democratic Party today would not be religious and would not be politically moderate?
Please provide some facts, other than your opinions, to support that stupid statement.
“Burkean conservatism gives way to Randian libertarianism and excess, ultimately giving way to demagogic populism…”
Truth.
GS
President Kennedy’s grandson certainly does not agree with your claim that his grandfather would be a Republican today.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/ted-cruz-john-f-kennedy-213545
GS
A number of your comments on this site bring to mind a statement that President Kennedy once made about President Nixon. “My God. The man has no class”.
The “both buttons are supposed to be buttoned” suit jacket cut is called paddock. Pictures of JFK as a youth show him wearing that cut, so his wearing that style had nothing to do with hiding a back brace.
I agree that we should look to Kennedy’s wisdom and reinstate his proposed tax brackets. It is clear that the top individual bracket should be reduced to 70% and the corporate rate to 48%. I told Martin Greenfield that, when he makes Trump a suit, he should leave him a note to that effect.