The flame roared on 44th and Vanderbilt at a beer sodden Threading The Needle II book signing kindled by John Burton’s Ivy Style Podcast at J. Press. When informed by Mr. Burton that M-X Radio rated the show #1 in the Global Talk Chart and #6 Global Interview yours truly was blown away.
For more detail catch the podcast @MIXCLOUD:Ivy-Style/Ivy-Style: The Podcast Episode 1 Part 2. Promise much fun to be had with behind-the-scenes celebrity gossip.
A guest at the event noted the popularity of Trad among Gen Xers asking if I could explain its resurgence. I responded, “Everlasting value.”
The popularity of Trad/Ivy acceptance lays swaddled in the diapers of Threading The Needle II, recently judged by critic Eric Twardzik @robbreport “one of the eight top menswear books of 2022.”
Mark Oppenheimer, Senior Editor of Tablet Magazine, and the author of New York Times bestselling book investigating the Squirrel Hill synagogue shooting massacre joins fellow Loomis Chaffee grad (moi) in a far less compelling genre, Ivy Retail, with an incisive Introduction to Book II of my recent tome.
Oppenheimer holds a PhD in Religious Studies from Yale. As a New Haven resident, he is well informed observing vicissitudes of Yalie menswear gained by years of visits at Squeeze (in the local vernacular).
His Book II Introduction concludes:
He (Richard) and his ancestral company offer all people the fabrics and fits, the togs and gear, to spiff up, throw back, or lay back with a bit more style. Good men’s clothes are not just for the Ivy educated. Good men’s clothes are not even just for men—who among us, no matter our shape or identity, does not smile a bit wider in a well-washed, damned-near-destroyed Oxford-cloth shirt? Good clothes are like good books: when you find them, keep them, fray them, rip them, stain them, love them.
The Gershwin brothers expressed Oppenheimer’s thesis in song, “It’s very clear our love is here to stay.”
RICHARD PRESS
2 comments
I come from Portsmouth, RI. In Newport, everyone dresses like this. If you don’t dress well, people don’t take you seriously.
I loved Mark’s introduction to Threading 2, especially where he compares the New Haven J. Press to a record store or barber shop, a place where those who know and appreciate the merchandise just like to stop by for a “visit” with those who feel likewise about it.
If anything, TTN2 was even better than V1. Here’s hoping a productive couple of years leads to the duo becoming a trilogy.