J. Press Blog: Threading the Needle by Richard Press

Lord Attlee Meets Dick Press

During my senior year at Dartmouth in the winter of 1959, there occurred an unlikely Scotch Whiskey joust with Lord Attlee, former Prime Minister o...

J. Press & All That Jazz

Here’s addenda to the introduction I penned for the hot off the press 2021 Fall & Winter Brochure featuring J. Press and Jazz, a syndrome I pe...

September Song

Kurt Weill, the haunting German and later American theatrical composer penned his memorable September Song for Broadway, but its weathered lines m...

It All Starts With A Good Foundation

Perhaps at some future time historians may refer to Threading The Needle for cultural insight regarding the Heyday Of Ivy in the same way the Prep...

When Clothes Made The Yale Man

A longtime Yale pal periodically sent me bits from his alumni magazine that he knew would buzz me. Here is my favorite bit reflecting obvious ch...

Polo Shirt Sprezzatura

In 2013 the blizzard Nemo literally brought down the roof of the historic J. Press headquarters at 262 York Street. A framed picture of my dad, Pa...

Well Dressed Tranquility

Essayist and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in 1850, ”Being perfectly well-dressed gives one a tranquility that no religion can bestow.” Pa...

White Ducks Are Still Quacking

You don’t have to be a Kennedy to wear white ducks these days. Former Brown University football teammates Reiley Higgins and Alex Quoyesar continu...

Salty Vibes

The preppy 1980s are gone with the wind. Preppy Handbook author, speaker and humorist Lisa Birnbach memorably offered the era’s final beach wear l...

Cynosure of American Style

Since 1915 the Brooks Brothers headquarters stood entrenched on 346 Madison Avenue, the Rock of Gibraltar, warp and woof of establishment power. ...

Fade In Fade Out With Nantucket Reds

When J. Press was a family business it was calumny for anyone close to Irving and Paul Press to dare wear an outside brand. Irving Press broke his...

Zing Went The Strings of My Heart

Vintage signifies enduring, lasting, long-lived. My once upon a time idea for a J. Press vintage shop never happened in the family business, bu...