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.”
Pandemic lockdown hardly promotes tranquility. The number of remote workers returning to empty office spaces remain beyond the fringe. Repopulation of New York City hubs with Mad Men on Madison Avenue, investment bankers, hedge funders and their ilk at Hudson Yards or in The Battery at One World Trade Center remains an over/under real estate speculation.
Show biz and national media celebrities no longer offer the masses era defining menswear style. Media anchors draped, as if for a funeral cortege, in black shopping mall suits and sloppy Windsor knotted plain black ties, some lowering the bar further with tieless open dress shirts bordered by a white crewneck undershirt. Where have all the flowers gone?
Pardon my French, but J. Press is navigating the New American Style providing a cottage industry of sartorial skill. Warm weather weekend wear features paradigmatic Nantucket Island outfits engineered together by our collaboration with renowned Murray’s Toggery Shop.
Old time Greenwich Village stagecraft is revived by our Wooden Sleepers vintage collection curated by Brian Davis, exhibiting his expert eye for Americana, military and other unique apparel.
Dressing up or dressing down offers infinite variety of India Madras, Cotton Poplin and Seersucker featured in sport coats, trousers, sport shirts, Bermuda shorts and our brash new swim trunks.
For that occasion when a suit is de rigeur, utilize our sophisticated range of mid-weight J. Press worsted suit fabrics that impart the hand and feel of an inherited garment worn anew. Garnish it with an F. Scott Fitzgerald inspired stripe knit tie and one of our flap pocket pink Oxford button-down shirts. Fit as a fiddle and ready for the 21st Century Roaring Twenties on the horizon of hope.
Tennis great Arthur Ashe once proclaimed , “Clothes and manners do not make the man; but when he is made, they greatly improve his appearance.”
J. Press aces the serve.
RICHARD PRESS
13 comments
I am honored to participate in the war against “Slob Culture.” Thank you, J. Press, for leading the charge.
“New American Style”??
That’s not what we have come to expect from J. Press, and certainly not what explains why we continue to be Press customers. We can find “New American Style” anywhere; adherence to tradition and quality is what we want.
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s friend, Henry David Thoreau, also advised: “Beware all enterprises that require new clothes.” When Emerson visited Thoreau who was in jail for refusing to pay his taxes in resistance to the Mexican War, Emerson asked: “Henry, what are you doing in there?” Thoreau replied, “Ralph, what are you doing out there?”
“Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” is the title of a Pete Seeger song. Though he was descended from old Dutch New York stock and educated at Avon Old Farms and Harvard and lived many years in Greenwich Village, I doubt he’d be pleased to have his words used to promote the purchase of new clothes when the world is burning up and New York is hazed from Oregon’s smoke 3000 miles away. Pete was an unrepentant communist (with a small “c”).
I’m not sure that you will publish this comment. I like your clothes, but there are things going on in this world that are more important. It’s nice to mention Arthur Ashe (an African-American), but if we really consider the messages in Princeton-man Scott Fitzgerald’s fiction, is he really telling us that buying clothes will save our souls? (Even if they have a club collar?)
I have Press items from the 60’s through the early ’90’s in rotation. I buy each year from Press & never fear quality or fashion trends- it’s timeless.
When it comes to traditional clothing, no one does it better than J. Press.
In author Frank Hazard’s story THE WINDSOR KNOT, a “fastidiously dressed” college student explains that “he was invigorated when he was well-groomed and ‘crisp’ and so he was enabled to fit resolutely into his own presence and the distinctive image of himself that he immanently cultivated.”
Also: there are too many “newsmen” on television who a wear a blue suit with brown shoes.
Arthur Ashe, what a class guy! While I will agree the clothes help, but manners go a long way in making the man. Today’s rather cavalier attitude coupled with contemporary attire has led to manners going by the wayside. Any chance they might be dusted off with the old suits and ties? Meanwhile, it is always a privilege to speak with the staff at J. Press in New Haven hearing the many pleases, “thank yous”, yes sirs, no sirs and Mr. Although “Press” may had to adjust some to remain in business, a casual attitude did not invade with the increase in informal offerings. Many thanks for your continued commitment to customer service and aa never ceasing attention to detail. I will wager heavily I am not alone on this front?
The epitome of “wear it till it falls apart” conservatism was my DePauw fraternity brother from Chicago’s North Shore who converted his tattered bleeding madras shirt into a dickey and wore it fashionably under a v-neck cashmere sweater without anyone the wiser!
Hear, hear!
See my entry on Arthur Ashe, Forest Hills and National Singles.
Touché!
Well said!
I agree that somehow the understanding of the pleasure of a well turned out gentleman has sadly disappeared. I had lived from the rebellion of the 60’s to a gradual recovery in the 70’s and 80’s to the slow decent from gentleman required to wear a jacket in the 90’s to Casual Friday and into casual everyday and now workout clothes everyday. Although I am in my 70’s I can still remember finding the perfect pink dress shirt at the New Haven store when beginning my journalism career at the Register. Now I amaze young men when I show them how to tie a proper four in hand tie let alone a bow tie. At least J Press survives as a bastion on taste. Thank you.
So true! I miss the days of well-tailored suits. crisply starched shirts and coordinating silk neckties. To borrow the title of an old book, dressed for success used to mean something. It’s a whole new world and not necessarily an improved one…….