Nickfabiani

The New York Times recently did a story in the real estate section about an old family run uniform company  from Brooklyn called W.H. Christian & Sons. I’ve seen the company’s delivery trucks around New York (especially in the Financial District) for as long as I have lived in the city and I am always taken with their appearance. It’s a weird thing to say, but I really love the way those trucks are painted. In 2008 I posted about how they are the best looking delivery truck in NYC.

One of my jobs growing up was as a porter at a Ford store in Cleveland. I had a uniform with a name patch from Cintas and I will always remember what a treat it was to go to my locker and see my fresh set of uniforms. The fun of working at a car dealership, and more importantly, the symbolism of working a job with my name on my shirt has never left me. I also worked for my dad doing landscaping/firewood delivery all through high school and some summers during college. Even though I was fired (by my dad) on several occasions (true story; mostly for being 5 minutes late), I learned a lot about working a job that didn’t get done unless you actually did it. Doing that kind of work, if you are tired or hung over (as I often was) you can’t just sit back and let the day go by, you had to do all the work to be done. I also learned what it is like to have a job that depends on the weather, which, like a job with your name on your shirt, is a different way of life. It’s because of those experiences do I respect the guy with his name on his shirt, and by proxy, the uniform company that puts it there.

Photos via The New York Times.

A Dictionary of #Menswear Insults:

"If theres anything that the online menswear community has inherited from the English gentlemen that gave us the coat and tie, it is an appreciation of the witty insult…"

(Full story at Ivory Tower Style)

Our last post looked at a Main Street clothier during the Ivy heyday. Today we revisit an historic piece on the brand that started it all, and spread its look from Madison Avenue to Main Streets across the US. This document, originally posted in summer of 2013, helped cement 1954 as the starting date of ...

The tradition of flying a flag at half-staff began when a symbolic space was left at the top of the staff for the “invisible flag of death,” signifying death’s dominion over earthly affairs.

A riderless horse accompanies the funeral procession of U.S. military officers. The horse above, Black Jack, accompanied more than 1,000 such processions, including those for John F. Kennedy, Herbert Hoover, Lyndon Johnson, and Douglas MacArthur.

When Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova died in 1931, her next show went on as scheduled, with a spotlight circling an empty stage.

In 1921, Pennsylvania surgeon Evan O’Neill Kane removed his own appendix. He wanted to show that a local anaesthetic would be adequate for some surgeries but wanted to be sure that a patient could tolerate the procedure. So on Feb. 15, propped up by pillows on an operating table, he cut into his own abdomen, using novocaine to dull the pain while a nurse held his head forward so that he could see the work.

“Just say that I am getting along all right,” he told the New York Times the following day. “I now know exactly how the patient feels when being operated upon under local treatment. … I have demonstrated the fact in my own case that a major operation can be performed by the use of a local anaesthesia without causing pain more severe than can be borne by the patient.”

He was 60 years old at the time. Nine years later he would repair his own hernia.

Do kids still use the term “dope” to describe something cool? Evidently they do, and they’ll even use it to describe stodgy ol’ Brooks Brothers.

If you’ve puzzled over who exactly is the target customer for Brooks’ more youthful offerings, such as the new buttondown and rep tie trompe l’oeil t-shirt, Brooks’ witty take on the classic tuxedo tee, I think we’ve found the answer.

This week a Cornell-bound teen wrote a piece for his Connecticut community website about shopping at Brooks. It’s a fascinating look at the brand as seen not from the point of this website’s more advanced readers (especially the kind with words such as “curmudgeon” or “reactionary” in their usernames), but the actual youth of today.

The author’s opening is a zinger, the key words being “myth” and “only”:

Before I actually visited Brooks Brothers, I believed the common myth that only WASPs, old men, and pretentious Ivy League snobs wore the brand’s clothing.

The kid goes on to recount his shopping experience — a positive one, which is a positive thing. But somewhere along the way he seems to have gotten confused:

Not only does this style leave me with the feeling that an Italian artisan in Florence handcrafted my clothing…

… which is just the prelude to this:

As the longest running clothing company in the United States, Brooks Brothers also owns the distinction of being the most reputable and popular brand to still manufacture almost all their apparel within its borders. Trust me, once you feel the quality of clothing that was not made in China, Vietnam, or Malaysia, the chant “USA, USA, USA” will carry a different meaning; instead of thinking about the 1980s USA Olympic hockey team, you will nostalgically relive the times you caught everyone’s attention while strolling down a sidewalk in the Hamptons.

If that sounds a bit daffy, this next remark will have the curmudgeons and reactionaries assuring the kid that he is not the crazy one here:

You may think me crazy for saying this, but Brooks Brothers has somehow added an indie flair to their famously preppy style.

He concludes that all is “dope” at Brooks. At least he puts quotation marks around it:

When you first glance over at the selection of polos, t-shirts, and shorts, your immediate reaction to the eclectic, modern, and fun array of colors and styles will be to say “dope” out loud. At least that’s what I did, and in the end, I believe that particular first impression sums up Brooks Brothers. The formerly stuffy and antiquated brand has become positively, well, “dope.”

In the end, the kid says he came out with a purple polo with a green logo. Purple, of course, isn’t a traditionally preppy color, but I don’t think that’s a big concern for him. — c C m

So, it's summer. It's been summer for a while now. Last year I was very stressed about summer. This year, I'm not. Yesterday was Independence Day, which usually - and ironically - brings with it an almost oppressive requirement to have fun. But I didn't worry that I wasn't really doing anything fun.  It's going to be summer anyway, until those few weeks of fall show up as prelude to the long months of winter. It won't not be summer without the fireworks and vineyards and farms and lemonade and other summery things.

I do have a few plans for the next few months, like trips to places not very far away. But other than that I trust that enough summery things will present themselves, without my having to go searching for them.

Which brings me to Lock 12 Historical Park in Cheshire. I knew this existed because it's part of the system of trails along the Farmington Canal I wrote about here. I knew that it would be interesting, because relics of the 19th century exuberance for canals and railroad lines usually are. But I didn't know what it would look like.

And then I got there and found this little place, like a park within a park.

It was perfectly preserved, but it didn't look preserved, it simply looked like it had always been there, and always been the same.

Just an undisturbed little slice of two hundred years ago.

It was one of those industrial-meets-natural landscapes that Connecticut particularly excels at.

And while I imagine it would be equally striking in every season, it seemed a decidedly summery place to me. And that was not planned, and there was no stress, and I didn't have to do a thing.

In July 1968, ethologist John B. Calhoun built a “mouse utopia,” a metal enclosure 9 feet square with unlimited food, water, and nesting material. He introduced four pairs of mice, and within a year they had multiplied to 620. But after that the society began to fall apart — males became aggressive, females began neglecting their young, and the weaker mice were crowded to the center of the pen, where resources were scarce. After 600 days the females stopped reproducing and the males withdrew from them entirely, and by January 1973 the whole colony was dead. Even when the population had returned to its former levels, the mice’s behavior had remained permanently changed.

There were no predators in the mouse universe; the only adversity was confinement itself. Calhoun felt that his experiment held lessons as to the potential dangers of human overpopulation, and he urged his colleagues to study the effects of high population density on human behavior. “Our success in being human has so far derived from our honoring deviance more than tradition,” he said. “Now we must search diligently for those creative deviants from which, alone, will come the conceptualization of an evolutionary designing process. This can assure us an open-ended future toward whose realization we can participate.”

(Thanks, Pål.)

This is a guest article from Denis K. of Cigar Inspector. It is part of the Cigars 101 series on EG.

—

There are few things that shout masculinity and sophistication quite like a cigar, and cigars truly are among the finer pleasures in life.

If you delight in your senses, you may well become a connoisseur of cigars, but a lot depends on your very first stogie.

If you choose something you are not going to enjoy, pay too much for your first stick, or expect your first experience to be perfect, you may as well turn away from the wonderful world of cigars before you realize what you’re missing.

To ensure that doesn’t happen to you, I’m providing you with my list of suggestions for your first cigar.

You also probably want to check out my advice for smoking a cigar without looking like an idiot and properly storing your cigars in a humidor.

Price

First thing’s first, let’s go over some general advice for choosing your first cigar.

You probably should look to spend around $5-$8 on your first stogie. You can get a very good cigar for this price, but you won’t break the bank, and you are less likely to get discouraged if the cigar doesn’t live up to your initial expectations.

Odds are your first smoking experience is going to be less than ideal since you are still learning. You probably want to save up your money for a higher end stogie once you have got the hang of it.

Is Mild a Hard and Fast Rule?

In this price range, you will find a lot of choices. Many websites recommend you stick to something mild for your first go-round. If in doubt, go for it.

If, however, you enjoy strong coffee or you are an ex-cigarette smoker, you would probably be just fine with a medium-bodied stick or even a full-bodied one. If your taste is for something stronger, you may find a mild cigar bland, tasteless, and unmemorable.

If you do go for something mild in this case, you should look for a stogie with reviews suggesting it is a good all-around stick for everyone, with enough complexity to hold the interest of a smoker who generally prefers medium- or full-bodied smokes.

If you can’t make up your mind, another idea is to try picking out several different sticks which interest you, going for a range of mild, medium, and full-bodied smokes.

You can start out with the mild cigar, and if you find it bland, you may well find the medium or full-bodied smokes more compelling. If you stay within the price range I suggested, this is not a huge investment, but it will help you find what you truly enjoy.

Where to Buy Your First Cigar

The cigars I suggest below are all widely available at brick and mortar shops and online. Whatever you do, do not buy your first cigar (or any cigar) at a gas station, convenience store, or similar location.

Those cigars may be cheap, but they are not properly stored in a humidor, which means that you are not getting a high-quality cigar. It will rob you of the essence of the cigar experience, and you will end up regretting it.

If at all possible, do your shopping at a B&M where you can get some beginner’s advice from the humidor staff. Tobacconists are generally very friendly and happy to provide suggestions to new smokers.

And now let’s move onto the meat of this article—my suggestions!

Top 5 Cigars for New Smokers

Avo Classic

Avo is one of the best-known cigar brands in the world, created by pianist Avo Uvezian after he went into the cigar business.

Avo Classic cigars are mild, creamy blends in Connecticut wrappers. While they are not the most complex sticks out there, they offer a consistent, enjoyable, and relaxing experience and are perfect for a novice in search of something mild.

CAO Gold Vintage

CAO is another worldwide bestselling cigar brand.

CAO Gold Vintage cigars are enclosed in Ecuadorian Connecticut wrappers grown in 2004, a particularly good year (I wonder how they manage to keep producing cigars with this wrapper though), with a combination of Cuban-seed Honduran and Nicaraguan tobacco inside.

This cigar offers a smooth, creamy, mild flavor with subtle nutty flavors. The blend takes on a medium-bodied character as you progress, so if you cannot decide between a mild- or medium-bodied cigar for your first smoke, this is a perfect choice.

Ashton Aged Maduro

Ashton cigars are acclaimed globally for their high level of quality.

The Ashton Aged Maduro offers a good starting point for a beginner who is open to a full-bodied experience and wants to try a good maduro (a cigar with a dark, maduro wrapper leaf).

Consistent spice, coffee flavors, and notes of leather, nuts, and lime create a complex and enjoyable blend.

Rocky Patel Edge Lite

Rocky Patel is a boutique cigar manufacturer who has risen to prominence in the premium cigar world despite the odds, and it’s thanks largely to amazing blends like this one.

The Rocky Patel Edge Lite is a medium- to full-bodied cigar with a rich, creamy flavor and an excellent draw and burn.

It only costs $5, which makes it a great choice for a cigar newbie.

Oliva Connecticut Reserve & Oliva Serie G

Oliva is best known for manufacturing delicious full-bodied cigars.

The Serie G Maduro is a great example, with a dark oily wrapper and amazingly rich chocolate and coffee flavors against a backdrop of toasted nuts.

If you’re interested in Oliva but prefer to try something milder, the Connecticut Reserve is a light-to-medium bodied cigar with flavors of butter and toasted almonds.

While it’s a milder smoke, it’s hardly dull or unmemorable, and is quite flavorful and aromatic.

Bonus for International Readers

Have access to Cubans and looking for an affordable cigar that can deliver an awesome experience?

The Partagas Shorts cost $6-$8 for a stick (you might need to add 2x that amount for taxes though, depending on where you live), offers great construction, and a delicious blend of flavors: sweet latte combined with chocolate, vanilla, honey, wood, and spice.

Once you’ve tried these cigars, you will get a better idea of what you enjoy.

Honorable Mentions

Some other cigars worth mentioning are the Alec Bradley American Classic, Perdomo Lot 23, Padron X000 Series, Montecristo White, 5 Vegas Gold, and Cabaiguan.

Enjoy your first cigar, but don’t forget to pick up several and give it at least a few tries if you don’t like your first one. Many smokers find their first attempt at smoking a bit awkward, and enjoy their second and third cigars much more than their first.

The world of cigars is quite extensive and if you find you enjoy it here, you will discover a friendly and eager community of cigar aficionados who are bursting to offer up suggestions and introduce you to their favorite smokes.

—

Thanks, Denis! I still consider myself a novice in the cigar world, despite enjoying them for a number of years now. I appreciate these suggestions and there are quite a few of them I still have to try.

Over to you

I know there are quite a number of readers who enjoy cigars from time to time—you seem to be silent in the comments until the cigar-related posts are published —so I’d love to hear from you.

Have you tried any of these sticks? If you’re still a budding cigar connoisseur, which ones are you most looking forward to trying?

Excited to hear from you in the comments below!

As always, I’m sure Denis would love to have you over in his little corner of the internet. You can visit Cigar Inspector and do some exploring.

 

photos via Cigar Inspector

Additions, adjustments, and your preferred method can all go in the comments section below.

Though you won’t find us in jerseys, you will find us sporting the logos of our favorite teams quite frequently, and the addition of MLB products to the Smathers & Branson collection was definitely one that we were happy to see.  Currently, there are belts available for thirteen teams, and each one features the high quality needlepoint work and top notch leather tab we have come to expect from the gang at Smathers & Branson.  For your chance to win, follow the steps below.  We’ll be taking entries until 11:59 PM on Friday, July 12.

You’ll receive an entry for each of the following:

1. Leave a comment here, and let us know who your favorite team is.

2. Follow @SandBBelts and @BowsandBoats on Twitter and tweet something that mentions both of us.

3. Become a fan of Smathers & Branson on Facebook.

4. Like and Share the post on the Bowties & Boatshoes Facebook page that mentions this feature.

5. Post about this giveaway on your blog and send us the link.

 

Tweet

*Winner will receive their choice of any in stock, non monogrammed, MLB team belt.  If winner’s favorite team is not represented they will receive their choice of an in stock belt from the standard S&B collection.

Another look back at our previous posts about President Bush. * * * On Wednesday George HW Bush celebrated his 89th birthday, and well-wishers were encouraged to honor the occasion by donning whimsical socks. Go-to-hell hosiery has become Bush’s trademark now that he’s at that age when dressing becomes something of a challenge. Although JFK ...

The shining cross upon Pine Hill is returning. Waterbury Mayor Neil M. O’Leary, along with a business partner, purchased the land of the religious theme park and have promised to restore the original christian icon of Holy Land U.S.A. to its past glory. Their effort can be followed on their website here; http://www.holylandwaterbury.com  Conceived in the 1950′s by a Waterbury attorney, the goal was to “replicate the Bethlehem and Jerusalem of the Biblical era.” To find out more about the most recent land purchase, read this story by the Courant’s Bernard Davidow, about the purchase and plans

Below is a gallery of current and file photographs.

 

 

 

There aren’t many papayas in Boise. Or lychees. Or guavas, rambutans, dragonfruit, or guanabanas (whatever that is). As a consequence, at the bar we don’t do much along the lines of the tropical drinks that people associate with laid-back summer sipping. Its not that tropical drinks are bad. They’re only bad when badly made (which, I admit, is most of the time). It’s that it just doesn’t feel right to make a drink with passionfruit when you’re 700 miles from the closest beach with a palm tree.

A lot of the appeal of tropical fruits in drinks is that the flavors are exotic. The best of the genre are both refreshing and unfamiliar, delicious but hard to describe. It’s an effect that compels another sip as much because the drink is interesting as because it tastes good. But exotic ingredients are not required to achieve the effect. The familiar in an unusual context can be just as exotic as anything.

Case and point: The Celery and Smoke.

I don’t remember why a vegetable juicer ended up at the bar, or why I decided to put through a celery bunch. Nor do I remember why I thought to make a cocktail with celery juice, tequila, lime and mezcal. But I’m glad I did. One of the more unusual sounding beverages to make it onto the menu at the Modern is also one of our very best. When you take a sip, the taste starts out in the well-trodden territory of tequila and lime, but soon a savory celery taste comes to the fore and is followed by a subtle smokey flavor. It’s unusual. It’s refreshing. And it’s really good. I’d even drink one on a beach under a palm tree.

Celery and Smoke

•  1.5 oz blanco tequila
• .75 oz freshly extracted celery juice
• .5 oz fresh lime juice
• .5 oz agave nectar, diluted 1:1 with water
• 1 tsp Del Maguey Chichicapa mezcal

Shake and strain into a tumbler filled with ice.

Some notes on ingredients:

- Most 100% agave blanco tequilas will work here, but I particularly like it with Chimayo blanco, which is also quite inexpensive

- Agave nectars vary in sweetness, so you may need to adjust the quantity you use.

- Del Maguey Chichicapa mezcal is a super-smoky Oaxacan mezcal and it’s essential to this drink. It is not cheap. But it is really good. Wait till payday if you have to. It’s worth it.

About our Bartender – Michael Bowers is the Head Bartender at the Modern Hotel and Bar in Boise, Idaho.  His patrons know him for the uncanny precision with which he tends his bar.  Michael’s cocktails have been noted by, among others, Food and Wine, Sunset Magazine, GQ, and the New York Times.  See more in The Drink archive.

Sales that deserve some attention heading into the weekend, or sometimes, a bit earlier. Might not be some massive once a year event, but still worth a look. Those are what make up these handfuls. Expect these things when necessary. Five of the better sales, one for each finger, are below. Included are a few picks worth pointing out.

Bonobos: Extra 20% off Sale Items w/ SummerSale

• Navy Seersucker Suit Jacket + Pant – $228.80 ($416)
• Khaki Cotton Twill Suit Jacket + Pant – $260.80 ($425)
• Light Blue Seersucker Suit Jacket + Pant – $228.80 ($416)
• Dark Grey Twill Suit Jacket + Pant – $260.80 ($425)

So here’s a sneak peak at a Bonobos code… SummerSale takes an extra 20% off their sale items, and they JUST added some new stock to the section. Guess this code is pretty quiet… for now. Highlights are definitley their summer suiting, including the sweet, navy blue Seersucker suit jacket and matching pant for just under $230. Size selection is nice on the summer suits. All sizes available in the chino selections at post time, with sizes scattered (and seemingly coming and going, there was a 40R as of Friday morning) for the seersucker. Code expires on Sunday.

 

Jack Spade: Extra 25% off sale with SOS13

The Picks: Dipped York Brief – $119.25 ($245), Wesson Leather Brief – $223.50 ($425), Waxwear Davis Brief – $197.25 ($375), Made in the USA Rancourt Boat Shoes – $75.00 ($250)

Free ground shipping on all orders too. Be careful of final sale items though, like those boat shoes. M’URICA!!!

 

Christopher Ward: Summer Sale Preview

The Pick: Nearly New C11 MSL MK1 Quartz Chrono – $336 ($480), Nearly New C40 Automatic Chrono – $672 ($960), Nearly New C3 Malvern MKII Quartz Chrono – $206.50 ($295)

Mentioned back here, the Christopher Ward sales that feature “nearly new” items are worth getting on their email list for. Problem is… the automatics get gobbled up pretty quick. The Quartz are worth a look though. Expensive even when on sale, but they’ve got a lot going for them. Sale goes public (what’s left of it) on 7/2.

 

J. Crew: Extra 30% off Sale items w/ SUMMER30

The Pick: Ludlow Suit Jacket & Pants in Fine Stripe Cotton – $291.12 ($426)

There’s one big advantage an extra 30% off sale code has over a 30% off (almost) site wide code… Suiting isn’t excluded. There just has to be a suit in the sale section. And this time there is. If memory serves, these used to be a little stiff a few years back. Got one on the way for an in-person look. Tons of sizes available, but know that the slim-fit pant option isn’t on sale.  Just the classic fit pant.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, J. Crew Factory launched a 50% off everything (no code necessary) sale Friday morning. The Corded cotton suit jacket + pant over there is now going for $119.70 if you use the extra 10% off code VIP at checkout. Full review of that one here. Many thanks to John H. for sending in the style tip.

 

Club Monaco: Extra 30% off Sale items w/ SUMMER30

The Picks: Andy Wax Belt – $13.30 ($34.50), Linen Shawl Cardigan – $69.30 ($198)

Free shipping on all orders too, which makes small purchases like that waxed cotton belt very nice deals. More than a few summer appropriate colors to pick from on that belt as well.

The Allen Edmonds Clearance section has some tempting options in there right now, including the double monk Neumora in black or brown. The Brooks Brothers Semi-Annual sale is still rolling on (picks here). The Nordstrom Final Clearance continues, and according to Mitchell over here, the final markdowns happen Friday 6/28. CountyComm has a few Maratac Mid pilot watches back in stock (hat tip to Charly for the heads up), but know that the price is now $279 for one of those.

Launched in November 1981, the Soviet Union’s Venera 14 probe carried a spring-loaded arm to test the soil of Venus.

The craft journeyed for four lonely months to reach its destination, descended safely through the hostile atmosphere, and landed securely on the surface.

The spring-loaded arm plunged downward — into a camera lens cap, which had just fallen there.

(Thanks, Merv.)

Trumbull has been hiding some secrets from me. For instance: up the crooked staircase...
Across the tree roots...

Past the old red buildings...

Through the foreboding fairy-tale gate...

There is an orchard.

Little trees in rows, little trees tilted crazily to one side, little trees bent and twisted along a quiet path.

A municipal orchard.

So much nicer than the mall.

form•function•form Button-Stud Sport – $79.90* | Architect’s Wallet – $85*

*Use code TakesALicking for 15% off the architect’s wallet, and 15% off button stud watch combos through 11:59pm ET Sun. 6/29. Limited to stock on hand. Regular price is $94 for the watch & strap, and $100 for the wallet.

Hey. You. Guy who’s getting married this summer and has no idea what to get your side of the wedding party when it comes to the groomsmen gifts. Wallet for the Best Man, watches for the Groomsmen. Not bad huh?

Also… got an extra space up at the head table for a humble affordable men’s style website editor?

Okay, so, that’s quite a bit to invest in gifts for groomsmen. But even if you’re not getting married anytime soon, know that both the Architect’s wallet and the new Button-Stud Sport Timex from form•function•form bring much more “Whoa, thanks man!” impact than their price tags would imply.

Shown here in Natural Chromexcel Leather w/ Silver Pen

The Architect’s Wallet is probably form•function•form’s flagship product and it could very well be a life-long favorite if you’re the type who writes things down. Ideas, lists, observations… whatever. It’s hardly ever a bad idea to have a pen and some paper on you. The Architect’s wallet accomplishes this by slipping one side of an extra small moleskin notebook into the card slot of the wallet. That creates a natural divider with room for a few cards + cash on either side A write-anywhere under any-conditions fisher space pen rides along side in its own leather, um… scabbard? 3.5″ wide so it should fit in most, if not all, blazer & suit jacket pockets. There are plenty of leather shades to choose from, and two different pens (matte black is the other option).

The Moleskin Volant notebook is barely bigger than a credit card.

The new Button Stud Sport is a nice step up from the weekender for those of us who prefer our watches 40mm or above (this one is 42mm). It’s a GMT Style (the 24-hour markers along the outer bezel), but this is an affordable Timex, so it’s GMT in style only. The bezel doesn’t even rotate. But, it does what a Timex does best; tell the time. Date too.

The 15% off code TakesALicking drops the price on the watch + button stud band to just under $80. When at the regular price of $94 you could save a few bucks buying the the strap solo at $48, then picking up the watch on your own somewhere (depending on the price fluctuations of these Timex Ameritus watches online). But the package deal does ship free through FFF, and their customer service is second to none. All watches come with the new leather band already “installed”, and the original nylon band is also included. Four styles of the Timex Ameritus are available through FFF, and there are plenty of leather colors & textures to pick from for the band.

Shown here with the black on black watch, with a Latigo Skol Suede band

All of the leather is sourced from Horween, and each piece is cut and sewn here in the U.S.A. Ships and returns free within the states.

Enter here to win Both the Architect’s Wallet, as well as the Button Stud Sport Watch shown above from form•function•form. One entry per person. Deadline for entry is 11:59 pm ET 6/25/13.

UPDATE: Congrats to Jason K. who won the watch & wallet from  form•function•form!

Savile Row, 1939

This article from England’s defunct Picture Post magazine depicts the process of ordering and making a suit at Williams, Sullivan, & Co., a firm that occupied 12 Savile Row at the time of publication in 1939. Today the building houses Chittleborough and Morgan, formerly of Tommy Nutters’ shop, and the Scabal flagship store. (Check out a recent Chittleborough and Morgan suit in navy seersucker at Permanent Style.) Picture Post was a photo-heavy publication not unlike LIFE, and this piece gave the reader a glimpse into the clubby atmosphere of a tailor’s shop (for the customers, at least; the article mentions sewing girls making £3 a week—around £165 today).

“Even if you cannot tell an Englishman abroad by anything else, you can tell him by his suit. The suit may be old, it may have done a dozen years’ service, but its cut and the way it hangs on his body identify the owner as an Englishman.”

-Pete

spider on Flickr.

car.jpg on Flickr.

So it turns out the Independence Dandy 2.2 Bow has been quite a hit for Social Primer.  In fact, our winner will be receiving what we are told is the absolute last one still on hand at Social Primer HQ.  Made in the USA from fine imported silk, the Independence Dandy 2.2 Bow is fully reversible and pairs a bold red and white stripe, with a classy navy on white dot pattern.  The result is a bow that is perfect for this year’s fourth of July soirees.  For your chance to win, follow the steps below.  We’ll be taking entries until 11:59 PM EST on Thursday, June 27.

You’ll receive one entry for each of the following:

1. Leave a comment below and let us know where you would wear the Independence Dandy 2.2 Bow.

2. Follow @Social Primer and @BowsandBoats on Twitter and tweet something that mentions both of us.

3. Become a fan of Social Primer on Facebook.

4. Like and Share the post on the Bowties & Boatshoes Facebook page that mentions this feature.

Tweet

Los Angeles Electrical Workers’ Fashion Show, 1970

(via)

During the heyday of the Ivy League Look, Clipper Craft was a brand that explicitly touted its Ivy authenticity in advertorials placed in mainstream magazines. In 2009 a short thread was started at the Ask Andy Trad Forum in which a member dug up some info on the origins of the brand, which was founded in ...

Artist J.S.G. Boggs hand-draws depictions of U.S. banknotes and exchanges them for goods and services — he’ll trade a drawing of a $100 bill for $100 worth of goods. The drawings are one-sided, and the patrons understand that they’re not actual currency; they’re choosing to trade goods for artwork rather than for money.

Is this counterfeiting? Well, what is money? A $100 bill is valuable only because we all agree that it is — it’s an arbitrary social convention. If someone can create an alternative that people value equally, shouldn’t he be free to trade it in the same fashion, if all parties are informed?

“It’s all an act of faith,” Boggs says. “Nobody knows what a dollar is, what the word means, what holds the thing up, what it stands for. … That’s … what my work is about.”

“It’s not a question of having the world’s largest wardrobe, and certainly not an elaborate one. It’s a matter of the right clothes, clothes that illustrate the inspiration and taste of the man wearing them.”

- Michael Drake

Over the years we’ve chronicled many pop culture references made to Brooks Brothers throughout the 20th century. Starting some 70 years ago, the brand began to serve as shorthand not only for affluence and tradition, but for their flipside, the stodginess and narrow-mindedness of the Eastern Establishment. Examples range from Mary McCarthy’s 1942 short story “The Man In The Brooks Brothers Shirt” to the lyrics from 1950′s “Guys And Dolls,” with its reference to “the breakfast-eating Brooks Brothers type.”

Although the WASP stranglehold on power has long toppled, the grey-suited conformity of the Eisenhower years is just a page from history, and Brooks Brothers has become a billion-dollar global fashion brand, the company still serves as a symbol of door-shut inquality, especially to those from a certain American experience.

The latest to invoke the unique set of connotations that hangs over the Brooks Brothers brand as is Myrlie Evers-Williams, legendary civil rights activist and widow of Medger Evers, who was assassinated 50 years ago Wednesday.

In an interview with Al Sharpton on PoliticsNation on the anniversary of the assassination, Evers-Williams said, “Jim Crow is alive, and it’s dressed in a Brooks Brothers suit, my friend, instead of a white robe.” The reference comes at 4:30 in the video above, and the quote served MSNBC as headline material for its recap of the interview. The remark was also tweeted many times on Twitter, though it’s impossible to say how those who retweeted it interpreted the comment. Needless to say, as race in America always is, it’s a complex issue.

Evers-Williams’ remark, linking a clothing brand to institutionalized racism, may be hard for younger people to understand. It feels unfair Brooks Brothers, which, like America, has changed with the times. During the ’70s and ’80s, its catalogs featured illustrations of idealized gentlemen, all white. Today, the company regularly features black models in clothing and settings once considered exclusive to white America:

And just a few weeks ago Brooks Brothers ran a BrooksCool marketing campaign featuring Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra:

President Obama, like so many presidents before him, wore Brooks Brothers to his inauguration:

One of those other presidents was Lincoln, and during the Civil War Brooks Brothers made uniforms for the Union.

The Civil War brings us to America’s original sin, racism, and what happened to Medgar Evers and his widow 50 years ago is cruel and tragic. But in matters of race, many of us have moved forward.

However, Jason Marshall, an African-American friend of mine and previous Ivy-Style.com contributor, tells me that moving forward is the challenge for the oppressor more than the oppressed, and this helps us understand the point of view behind Evers-Williams’ remark. It’s important to understand, he says, that no one could be closer to the source of intitutionalized racism than Myrlie Evers-Williams. “If it were a contemporary black celebrity under 50,” he says, “I can understand how it could be considered an unfair remark. But you can’t get any closer to the source of discrimination than Myrlie Evers-Williams. Not only is she black, she’s a woman. And for her generation, ‘the man in the Brooks Brothers suit’ was a genuine symbol of establishment oppression. In her experience, the brand was linked to institutionalized racism. Also, to analayze the comments of a widow on the anniversary of her husband’s death is already tricky.”

I asked Jason to share his thoughts on the remark in writing, and here’s his take:

Brooks Brothers is first and foremost an ideal, like any other successful fashion brand. This is especially true for those outside of the the menswear trade. Those of us within menswear would likely contest that J. Press is the stodgiest of brands.

We would also be missing the point.

When someone uses the term “Brooks Brothers” as an adjective (as in “the man in the Brooks Brothers suit”), it has nothing to do with the billion-dollar megabrand run by an Italian and strangely partial to overly large armholes. It has to do with the behavior of a demographic which companies like Brooks Brothers have been eager to dress and identify with. Said demographic at one time in America consisted of many devout racists who sole purpose in life seemed to be the obliteration of the African-American race.

Myrlie Evers-Williams was born into a time when this demographic was at something of froth over how to rid themselves of a people whom they saw as social lepers. Her late husband, Medgar Evers, sought to overturn the status quo, and in doing found himself at the center of hatred for him and his kind. Myrlie Evers was made a widow by said demographic.

A lesson to be learned by from all widows is that grief takes on many guises, and tend to last as long as the widow. A lesson learned from any one who has experienced racism on an institutional level is that those wounds run deep and scar badly. To suggest that a woman who epitomizes both circumstances should “move past it” is to fail to be sympathetic. Brooks Brothers can dress anyone in America today, but the behavior of those whom it dressed most frequently in the past will never be forgotten.

Throughout the 20th century, the Brooks Brothers brand was a double-edged sword of prestige and stigma, and the heyday of the Ivy League Look coincides with the civil rights movement. In other words, the style for which Brooks Brothers was the chief developer was at its zenith at precisely a time when black Americans were dying in the fight for social change. Moreover, in her interview, Evers-Williams points out that many young blacks today are unaware of what their elders went through during the civil rights movement.

The shadow and the light that shines on the Brooks Brothers brand — unique in American retail — mirrors the duality of America’s oppressive past and the desire of many of us to overcome it. — CC

Obama inauguration photo via New York Daily News.

Bob Kidder believes in American manufacturing. So much so that when it came time to put his money where his mouth is, he actually bought a shirt factory—the famed former Alden Street Shelburne Shirt factory to be exact. Although the 200 year-old mill has been caught in the crossfire of multiple custody battles, it has remained in continuous operation for the last 75 years. Kidder, no stranger to menswear with stints at high-end brands like Hart Schaffner Marx, bought it in 2009 when its future was anything but certain. Now he, along with a group of skilled, dedicated craftspeople using vintage sewing machines, nurture a healthy private label business under the appellation New England Shirt Company. “It’s all single needle shirting,” says Kidder. “A slightly modern version of classic American style—it’s not fussy.”

In addition to their own label, Kidder and company manufacture for upwards of 150 men’s labels and click n’ mortar shops in the U.S., Jack Robie being one of them. I had the pleasure of designing two popovers for Jack Robie this summer—a blue oxford cloth and red bengal stripe poplin. I trekked up to Fall River, Massachusetts last spring to put the final brushstrokes on them. Both turned out beautifully and can be had at the One Orange pop-up shop on Nantucket as well as at JackRobie.com.

 

The New York Times’ T Magazine published a guide goofing on Japanese men’s magazines, including Free & Easy, Popeye, Men’s Non no, HUGE, and 2nd. Free & Easy? “It’s like if GQ covered cats.”

-Pete

“Fashion, n. A despot whom the wise ridicule and obey.”

- Ambrose Bierce