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
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Many at the top of the old ivy establishment in various settings didn’t give a goddamn about a university other than to be keyed to their program; the ivies were a known quality and a good achievement and status but also fairly normal and usual.
Dressing well doesn’t take all that much to accomplish, provided that one is paying attention, nor does it require an abnormally large bank account. However, dressing well has to matter, at least in two senses: what it says about my sense of self and the courtesy it expresses to others. Good taste, restraint and modesty go a long way to put others at their ease.
Hi Richard. I’m very curious as to the oxford cloth shirts your dad would wear with a suit. We often hear that oxford cloth is too informal for suits and best left to sport coats. Would your dad just wear a lighter “pinpoint oxford” with a suit, or would he wear a traditional heavy OCBD with a suit as well? Thx!
As usual, well stated. No further comment necessary as there is nothing more to say.,
Thank you for another great reminiscence, Mr. Press. “The Cary Grant of York Street” is exactly the right moniker for the stylish gentleman pictured above. I especially love the pinned club collar, and note that my collar pins came from none other than J. Press.