Eye Candy: HTJ On Candy Stripes, University Stripes, And Every Other Kind

Yesterday the blog Heavy Tweed Jacket put up an epic post on the history and terminology surrounding striped shirts at Brooks Brothers, J. Press, Chipp and others. Head over here to check it out. — CC

Reader Poll: How Ivy Are You?

How Ivy are you? Or rather, how Ivy is your wardrobe? Do you take the heyday as your guide and reject any items not part of the genre during the ’50s and ’60s?

Or do you simply enjoy reading about the heyday and looking at vintage photos, but dress with a contemporary sensibility?

Recently I left a comment suggesting that only those who live outside America and for whom Ivy is foreign and exotic would attempt to dress according to the dictates of Ivy genre parameters from 50 years ago.

Sure enough, soon thereafter I received an email from a young man in Poland who’s fascinated with the Ivy League Look yet has pangs of conscience over the urge to replicate it:

It’s also interesting that you reminded me of foreigners being the only ones that bother about Ivy style rules. I’ve noticed that, yet still cannot free myself from trying to act by the book.

Then yesterday reader “DCG” left this comment on the site:

I think there’s an interesting poll somewhere here measuring how many readers wear strictly vintage or exact replica ’50s-’60s Ivy League clothes versus how many incorporate such items into an otherwise modern wardrobe.

Actually no such poll existed, but it does now. (Continue)

Quilt By Association: Gentleman’s Gazette On The Quilted Jacket

My colleague Sven over at Gentleman’s Gazette put up a great post this week on the quilted jacket.

I’ve got one from Brooks Brothers, and it’s by far the biggest workhorse in my wardrobe. For probably five months of the year it’s worn virtually every day. I wear it for all outdoor excursions around the neighborhood, and wear it into town over a sportcoat when the polo coat or toggle coat would be too much.

Although mine says dry clean only, when necessary I throw it in the laundry (along with my pocket squares, as I recently tweeted), and it develops a gentle fade that way. — CC

Rolling Along: Kamakura Shirts’ Global E-Commerce Coming Soon

This morning I received a dispatch from Kamakura Shirts letting me know they’ve started an English-language Facebook page.

The company is progressing with its plans to offer global e-commerce capabilities with a target date of April, so soon you will be able to get its collar-rolling oxford shirts without having to journey all the way to Madison Avenue.

Like them on Facebook to stay updated. — CC

Upwardly Mobile: Aspirational Ivy In Developing Markets

During the Ivy heyday, when the natural-shoulder style sold by Brooks Brothers and J. Press became known by the popular term “The Ivy League Look,” Main Street clothiers often used the term “Ivy” in their marketing copy, even naming products the “Ivy League” model, as in our recent Stetson hat post.

But that all seems quaint in comparison to today, in which the term “Ivy League” is thrown not onto department store knockoffs for suburban America, but to aspirational lifestyle brands in the rapidly growing markets of China and India.

Today the Indian website Fashion United announced that the brand 612 Ivy League, which makes clothes with a vague suggestion of something sort of quasi-preppy, is taking steps to become the number-one brand for preteen kids in India.

Meanwhile, the same thing is going on in China with Astor & Ivy, which combines clothing retail with test preparation.

As my colleague Daniel Cappello notes in his recent book on the Ancient Eight, there’s no more prestigious brand in the world than the Ivy League.

But can someone clue me in on what 612 stands for? I assumed it was for a campus area code, except there’s no Ivy school in Minneapolis. — CC

Golden Years: Mr. Cavett’s Wardrobe Furnished By J. Press

Until the 1960s, retailers respected the privacy of their celebrity clientele. The producers of “The Dick Cavett Show,” however, encouraged me to bend the rules.

Beginning in 1968, the credit “MR. CAVETT’S wardrobe furnished by J. PRESS” appeared at the end of his late-night talk show.

The producers had approached me with the idea of dressing Cavett. We agreed with them that Cavett, a Yale graduate, and J. Press was a good match for brand identification. Cavett entered Yale in the fall of 1953 out of Lincoln High School in Nebraska, an unlikely preparation for sharing cups and Welsh rarebits at the tables down at Mory’s.

His breakthrough as a standup comic occurred with socko appearances on “The Johnny Carson Show.” ABC-TV bought his act and placed him in the time slot opposite Carson. He was not interested in presenting himself as an Ivy League version of Carson, but his manner of dress still said New Haven rather than Johnny’s Pebble Beach. He wore natural-shoulder suits, sport jackets and blazers in the standard J. Press two-button model, front darted, mixing center-hook-vents and occasionally side-vented jackets, which he usually wore open. Trousers were plain front, never pleated, and complemented his rather slight stature. Dress shirts were straight point collar, never pinned, and he kept the collar stays in. Ties were 3 3/4 rep stripe and ancient madder.

Throughout the ’70s his sideburns grew longer and his suit collars wider in equal proportion. Our veteran fitter on 44th Street expertly crafted the jackets with slight waist suppression and trousers with a 20-inch knee and 17-inch bottom.

GQ recently labelled J. Press’ new York Street collection an attempt to rescue the brand from its “fusty” and deteriorating customer base. My decades on the floor at J. Press bring to mind the question whether retail conglomerates can successfully respond to the demands of a formerly dedicated clientele and still attract new customers.

Cavett’s wardrobe was a mirror image of the product culled directly from the 32-page semiannual J. Press brochure. The fabrics, colors, textures and patterns respected his outlier Nebraska roots while staying true to the clothing that surrounded him during his undergraduate years in New Haven. Cavett was never mock-Ivy, draped with buttons and spurs in flannel and tweed. The seven to nine-ounce clear finished worsteds maintained their shape and crisp appearance even on a set bathed for 90 minutes in the sweltering heat of spotlights.

Cavett rarely engaged us in over-the-top banter. Unlike Frank Sinatra ,who was always accompanied by a keening entourage, Cavett maintained a discreet privacy and bolted the store the minute he left the fitting room.

The guests of his show were uncannily chosen to match his acerbic wit. “The Dick Cavett Show” captured a niche audience ravenous for the sophisticated repartee of a Yale intellectual. Who would have thought it possible on national television years before cable and the Internet arrived?

Here’s Cavett with Gore Vidal and Norman Mailer, making for quite the contrast with today’s late-night fare. — RICHARD PRESS