J. Press survives the current menswear mayhem as an island of good taste. Let’s play make believe allowing my old role as prelapsarian (look it up) advisor on the sales floor when customers asked my advice what to wear and how to wear it.
Certain public events require sartorial dignity. Imagine Justice Roberts with a hoodie and Grandpa jeans peeking out beneath his judicial robe. It will be interesting to see if victory elevates Pennsylvania candidate John Fetterman out of cargo shorts and into a suit and tie on the senate floor. Dare we forget Congressman Gym Jordan habitually disemboweling his suit jacket. If Jack and Jackie were still around, I doubt if their Newport wedding attire would be Bermudas.
A couple of years ago I spoke before Prof. Jay Gitlin’s history course Yale and America. My ticket was J. Press’ contribution to Yale and Ivy League culture. One of the students queried me, “Mr. Press, when I graduate in a couple of months and go for a job interview, I expect to wear a suit. I’ve never owned one and have no idea how to dress it up. What do I do?”
Needless to say, I directed him to J. Squeeze and offer the following git-go to negligent Millennials, Gen Zs or Boomers.
Get thee a dark grey mid-weight worsted suit. My personal preference is a muted pin or chalk stripe. Button the three-button natural shoulder jacket over a white Oxford button-down shirt paired with an Irish Poplin dark blue regimental stripe tie, lace-up cordovan shoes and a matching plain leather belt. Ought to work for most occasions whereas a blue suit requires black shoes and belt are outré for daytime wear.
Never, I repeat never ever, wear a suit without a necktie. You can never be too rich, too thin, or too well dressed. No tie, you ain’t turned out According to Hoyle.
Following the Yale class lecture that evening the erudite and well-attired Professor Gitlin introduced me to a booze-filled spiel at the elegant Elizabethan Club before a very tweedy J. Press crowd.
A good time was had by all with no torn jeans in the room.
RICHARD PRESS
39 comments
Really a nice piece, Mr. Press. . As my dad taught me, " Here come the boys from the midwest with their brown shoes and blue suits." I was astonished to watch an NBC reporter interview the President of Ukrane’s wife while wearing a blue suit and—wait for it—shabby, unpolished brown shoes. I guess NBC news doesn’t ask
about sartorial taste when they interview on air talent.
Excellent guidance. Where in the proper attire queue would you place the navy blazer worn with cuffed charcoal gray worsted wool slacks with a white button-down and a regimental striped tie?
I’ve worn burgundy cordovan shoes with a navy suit for years and always thought it worked and looked great. If anything I’d think that black would be better with dark gray.
Is cordovan a color or a kind of leather in this context? There seems to be a lot of differing opinions even among conservative dressers about what color and style of shoe goes with what suit and for what occasion. For many years I was led to believe that I should not pair blue and black. Instead I understood that color in the brown/red range, that kind of burgundy color #8 or whatever you want to call it, paired best with a blue suit. Then very light brown shoes became very fashionable with blue suits, not necessarily the darkest navy though. I had never until now been told that black shoes were outré for daywear. It seems that a dark navy suit and black cap toe oxfords are the most conservative of business formal combinations. A brown shoe with a gray suit seems wrong to me, but many men wear it well I admit. I have a very dark brown pair of wing tips I wear with charcoal trousers and a blazer now that I’m middle aged and I am kind digging it. But so many opinions on shoes. Never wear loafers with a tie. Can’t wear gunboats with a suit, except in Chicago.
My father—God rest his soul—had his suits tailor made at Harry Oliver in Indianapolis. I still remember the shop with bolts of cloth in the window. J. Press continues that sartorial elegance of yesteryear, and I am proud to be a customer.