Pennant Does Wooden Sleepers

Brian Davis, founder of vintage purveyor of Wooden Sleepers has joined forces with J. Press to make his secret stash available for purchase by savvy Madmen at the Pennant Label store off 52nd Street on Madison Avenue.

Pictured above with yours truly we celebrate last week’s opening gala costumed in military gear from their stock of mint condition collectibles. In addition to GI gear, Davis has collected pieces of yesteryear that include vintage denim and workwear, mint-condition flap pocket OCBDs, English made ties and JFK-era tweeds and assorted Ivy remnant from past times.

I met Brian perhaps a dozen or so years ago performing a favor for my dear friend Judy Samelson. Judy, at the time Editor-in-Chief of Playbill Magazine, is daughter of legendary renowned J. Press designer/fitter/tailor Felix, who heroically survived Auschwitz by not making any mistakes tailoring custom uniforms for resident SS prison personnel. Judy was finally disposing of the large collection of her father’s personal wardrobe years after his passing in 2008. I introduced her to Brian who then held fort at his shop in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The transaction was successfully accomplished.

“You can mix and match vintage pieces, whether it’s an old collegiate sweater or a varsity jacket worn with military fatigue pants, I feel like those things play really nicely together,” Davis says. “I was really trying to look at the collection in terms of that collegiate style J. Press Pennant is rooted in.”

I couldn’t help but note the enthusiastic youthful crowd at the opening event eagerly ploughing through the vintage stash offering me a wistful reminder of my own days of wine and roses.

The old is looking new again.