Clothes Matter

A riveting collection of stories in Gay Telese’s new book A Town Without Time was recently discussed in a @nytimes column. Sadie Stein’s column quotes Talese, “Clothes matter— especially when you get old,” My Kindle purchase of the enchanting book prompted hours of hyperventilation regaling on the author’s obsession with suits.

Born February 7, 1932, American journalist Gay Talese is fortunately still with us. His career defined popular literary journalism of earlier decades together with Joan Didion, Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, Hunter S. Thompson, Tom Wolfe—Pioneers of New Journalism.

The title of Sadie Stein’s evaluation, “Gay Talese Keeps Notes, Especially on Everyone’s Clothes” immediately grabbed me indulging his classic 1966 Esquire take, “Frank Sinatra Has A Cold.” I reread the article through a river of tears recalling the personal and J. Press association I shared with Ol’ Blue Eyes following his 1969 visit into our fabled 44th Street habitat. The time we spent together still sends shivers down my spine recalling the laughs and buckets of Jack Daniels that mutually flowed down our gullets.

Sinatra came to J. Press garbed Ivy-Styled à la Dick Caroll-Rodeo Drive. He showed me his Caroll suit saying it was time to change his wardrobe from West Coast to East Coast. “I want to look like I went to Yale.” 1966 Talese described Sinatra’s dress as thus:

He was, as usual, immaculately dressed. He wore an Oxford-gray suit with vest, a suit conservatively cut on the outside but trimmed with flamboyant silk within…

Talese deeply cares about his wardrobe appearance. When asked how much a bespoke pattern would have cost in 1980, he responded, “Three thousand although most of the 50 or 60 suits in his collection date to the 1950s…Men don’t dress up in New York anymore. You go to a good restaurant and the women look great. The men dress terribly.”

For those who revere good taste, top tier style and a life well lived, A Time Without Time is a must read.

RICHARD PRESS