A Family Affair

My grandfather Jacobi Press, eponymous 1902 founder of J. Press, would have been honored by the propitious wardrobe bearing his original label worn by 4th and 5th generation Presses for my son Ben’s nuptials @Malibuwestbeachclub. Their outfits are duly informed by a level of sartorial taste not usually associated with LA that clearly reflects the famous Ivy Style originated by their namesake.

Ben is clothed in “Tailored To Individual Order” Fox of England, 9 oz. Cambridge grey tropical worsted bolstered by 5% mohair with a barely visible pattern of muted tan glen plaid background. Details include 3/8” lap seams with coat fully lined with grey Jacquard silk, tailored in the renowned 3 roll 2 J. Press natural shoulder model with a center-hook-vent. His dress shirt (Made to Measure) styled with contrast white collar and cuffs set against powder blue pin-dot body of 100% cotton Oxford. His tie: J. Press imported pink ground silk Macclesfield.

Grandsons suitably chose “off the rack.” Jared, recent NYU Tisch School of the Arts graduate sports a blue pinstripe. Weston, Tulane University sophomore, opted for standard Oxford grey.

My own Grandpa Press studied for the rabbinate prior to his emigration at age 16 from the family shtetl in Latvia. He scuttled the Press family tradition of a rabbi in each generation instead bidding farewell to the pogroms and poverty of the Russian Pale for the promise of a new life in The Golden Door of America.

Ben’s bride Rebecca Whitman’s grandfather had a more decisive rabbinical history. Dr, Alexander Guttmann (also known as Rabbi Guttmann) was the presiding Rabbi of the famed Hochschule Academy in Berlin. His family was rescued by Hebrew Union College retaining a position for him in Cincinnati as Professor of Talmud Studies. He was responsible for securing the safety of the academy’s valuable Judaic manuscripts dating from the12th century. He, his wife and infant child were on the last boat of Jewish escapees leaving 1940 Genoa, Italy possessing the priceless historic collection.

The Press family traditions are indeed a Fiddler On The Roof unto themselves.

RICHARD PRESS