Thanks for the memory serving well-dressed gentlemen on the floor of J. Press in antediluvian times, but my genes also recall the flawless wardrobe of my dad, Paul Press, often cited by local New Haven cognoscenti, “The Cary Grant of York Street.”
His distinct personal appearance complemented his flawlessly tailored custom suits over blue oxford or end-on-end combed cotton crisp point collar shirts with abiding single crease tight knotted cravat, carefully folded foulard kerchief for jacket breast pocket, and Scottish argyle hosiery gartered over bespoke Lobb footwear. Yale Bowl Portal 16 provided a public stance for Dad chatting up the football crowd draped in his 32 oz. Sandstone Scottish Melton British Warm Coat, English reversible silk/cashmere muffler, topped by Fritz Hückel signature Tyrolean hat accessorized with Gemsbart German Octoberfest feather hat pin. Paul Press may have graduated from University of Pittsburgh but his embellishment was Fence Club Eli Prime.
Utilizing the J. Press Made to Measure program, Dad’s past tailoring idiosyncrasies might today be translated for a customer’s personal style to include choices of jacket linings, differing lapel seams, side vent/center hook, two/three button style or single/double breasted. Suit, sport jacket and blazer pickings are backed to the hilt offering an encyclopedic selection of imported woolens and worsteds fabrics.
Attributing the demise of menswear to spiraling cost is phony baloney. Wall Street hedge fund billionaires interviewed by Fox Business in mailroom gear disproves the axiom. Add to the mix network newscasters costumed in costly dull black and grey as if lying on a bier at the Frank Campbell Funeral Chapel. Big time sports MCs show up between innings looking like Leave It To Beaver castaways.
H. L. Mencken’s jazz age metaphor,“ Sahara of the beaux arts,” pinpoints today’s fashion coverage featured in GQ or New York Times Fast Fashion.
Time for J. Press, an island unto itself, taking tasteful gentlemen back to the home of classic American Style:
Dressing Well Is The Best Revenge
RICHARD PRESS
20 comments
Richard,
Thanks for responding to my question about OCBDs and suits! Now I have the definitive answer!
I’m always SO glad when I see new entries of Threading the Needle.
Been a fan ever since my DC days. Also a proud Pitt Law grad. How did Paul press end up at Pitt?
The correct title of H.L Mencken’s classic essay is THE SAHARA OF THE BOZART — but the sentiment is the same: the decline of an elegantly masculine wardrobe and the pride of dressing well. The Sahara is a desert, a wasteland, where there is a plethora of sand — where, that is, a plethora is a dearth and a dearth is a plethora. Like the squalid neglect of being well dressed on college campuses and elsewhere. As Frank Hazard in his short story THE WINDSOR KNIT writes: “He explained that he was invigorated when he was well-groomed and ‘crisp’ and so was enabled to fit resolutely into his own presence and the distinctive image of himself that he imminently cultivated.”
Great ,civilized times,in dress,speech,table manners,
My J.Press blazers have endured the frays of administrative work in the nursing home business for 40 years and now hang happily elbow-patched in my closet. But my two Pressidential suits are in excellent condition and are ready for new found success as I come out of retirement!