Brooks Brothers After Christmas Sale - 1982

346 Madison Avenue, NYC

I first pushed my way through the 44th Street entrance in 1982 during the after Christmas Sale. I see it like a crane shot high above the main marbled floor. Associates balancing stacks of shirts piled high in their arms. 20 or more it seemed. Customers followed...winding through the maze of dark oak cabinets filled with oxford shirts and silk ties.



I purchased a Maker's pink button down oxford. It came in a navy box stamped with a sheep and closed tightly by a stretch of gold band sprung across the corners. A Shetland draped saleswoman with Peter Pan collar and short blonde hair, slipped my box into the bag. I couldn't help but notice how perfect her hands were with frosty pink nail polish. A good omen.

The shirt was on sale. I'm guessing, but I think it was under $25. It lasted almost 15 years. The left cuff frayed by a too big diver's watch and the collar finally blowing out after some three years of dedicated yard work. I threw it in the kitchen trash can and stared at it. Knowing the story it told but never knowing how.

The original cotton oxford button down is marked down 40% if you buy four. Today and today only will get you another 20% off. That's $38 a shirt. If my math is right. In store or on line.

A Shirt for Both of You: Mercer & Sons

Flagler College, St Augustine, FL, 1983

That's M.E. up there in her dorm room 27 years ago. I'd like to make it clear this was a self portrait. If I were in the room that can would not be Diet Pepsi. M.E. wasn't shy about picking through my college closet and here she's modeling a hand made linen shirt issued to me by the National Park Service for living-history events at Castillo de San Marcos. I still have it, and after 27 years the linen feels like melted butter on Wonder Bread.


The Mercer Roll

Women have longed shopped the boy's department for shirts. Cheaper than a blouse, better made, more fabric, and half the cost at the dry cleaners. What's not to like? David Mercer and I were talking about how women are hosed when it comes to, 'tapered', 'no-iron', 'over-priced' shirt options. And I said, "I don't think anything looks sexier than a woman in a man's shirt."


'Your favorite shirt is on the bed...' Haircut 100

So when you order your husband's shirt -- remember, its yours as well. It's too late to order for Christmas, but in my family of slackers we always celebrated Three Kings. A perfect holiday for the forgetful, lazy and overwhelmed since it arrives on January 6th. It's sort of the last chance to get Christmas right. (Trad Three Kings Story)


Who knows...maybe the shirt you order will last 27 years.

Korean Daily Fashion

Korean Daily Fashion

How to dress in shirts the Korean way😛

Extinct Etamine Etymolgy

The Holy Grail

Etamine pullover


Etamine in yellow, white, blue, pink and melon


Etamine defined


I was talking to Tom Davis (MTM Shirts) at Brooks Brothers last week. We covered a lot of ground but everything stopped when he brought up etamine. An ultra light voile-like fabric used by Brooks Brothers for shirting years ago. I did some digging around and didn't find much. I'm still digging.

A weekend wander through textile and fashion books reveal the letter 'E' has the fewest entries and etamine ain't one of 'em. The internet will tell you it's a light porous cotton in an open mesh, susceptible to snagging, with a slight gloss finish. Dig a little deeper into the etymology and, by 1936, etamine is pretty much extinct.

Hardly a surprise Brooks Brothers catalogs from the late '70s and early '80s show the shirt Tom remembered. Short sleeve pullover in basic blue, yellow and white with pink and melon added in 1981. Great colors, popular pullover style and a fabric that appears to breathe better than linen. Cheaper too according to a web site that sells etamine for three bucks a meter (beware minimum order).

Who knows if etamine today is the same as it was in 1981? That's a question not a statement. If you know, please let me know, since the hunt is on. Summers don't look like they're gonna get any cooler.

Esquire: The Look of Summer, July 1959

(click image to enlarge)

Off My Back: Primary Colors & Attitude

David Chu LINCS - Yellow (Gold) University Stripe Oxford

Class bow tie from El Paso Community College

Yellow university stripe oxford is a tough fabric to find. I've told you about this before. In fact, everyone who had it two months ago seems to be out of it. Nelson Mui of David Chu Design surprised me with this shirt last week while generously offering a venue for my interview with Robert Bryan. I gotta read my horoscope 'cause stuff like this never happens to me.

It's a beauty of a shirt. At 11 ounces (I weigh shirts as well as wear them) it's in the ball park of MTM but shy of the 13 1/2 ounces you get at Mercer & Sons (we'll get to Mercer next week). While the pattern matching yoke to sleeve isn't dead on --it's pretty darned close. That's amazing.

That's the great news. Bad news. It's made in China and you have to go to Dillard's. Whatever that is. Swear to God, never been to one. The shirt comes in a profusion of bright colors like Lime Green but it's still an oxford.

Primary colors. Blue, yellow and red. The Trad hallmark as far as I'm concerned. And it is with this observation that I pass along some advice. Never forget how you look to others. Got that? It may save your life.

I know a lot of you don't give a hoot about what other people think of you. And that's fine. But I'm talking about something else. When you're strolling around in a cardigan sweater, a bow tie and a yellow stripe oxford - you're sending a message. Robert Bryan does a brilliant job defining this in his book. He writes, "Because menswear is so precise, the smallest selections, such as bow tie, work boots, round glasses, or a fedora, can speak volumes about the character of the man who wears them."

I often forget what I'm wearing. Or driving. And that can spell trouble.

There's a lotta baggage that comes with this car. Never mind it's a 2002 model with over 100,000 miles on it and worth less than a Hyundai. I moved to New York City in this car and parked it in a midtown garage for a couple of months. Just before Christmas, the Golf Foxtrot and I headed south on the NJ Turnpike. I pulled into one of the first gas stations and when I got out of the car to fill up a young kid comes running over to me, "Full service, full service!"

I give him a credit card and he swipes it, sticks the hose in my tank and runs off to another car. I'm a quart low of oil (always) and I grab a quart I carry in the car (always), pop the hood and top off my oil. The windows are caked thick in some frozen kind of dirt from the parking garage. I'm looking for a squeegee but all the windshield wiper buckets are dry and there's not a squeegee anywhere.

The attendant comes back again, yanks the hose outta the tank and I ask, "Do you have any squeegees?" "No," he says handing me my credit card and receipt and off he goes. As he's leaving I say, "You call this full fucking service?" He stops and turns and says, "What did you say?" And I say, "You call this full fucking service." And he replies, "Yeah, well fuck you!" And I reply, for lack of any better words, "Fuck you!"

I hear laughing and turn to see the other attendants who appear to be enjoying this immensely. As I walk to the car, my attendant shouts out, "Merry Fucking Christmas!" At which point I try to be more personal and shout back, "Happy Fucking Three Kings! I get in the car and drive off. The Golf Foxtrot, who is not happy with my behaviour, lets me have it. That's another post unto itself. After she stops we ride in silence for two and a half hours.

Why did he go off? I dunno. Maybe the car and the Florida tags could have something to do with it. He was busting his ass in the freezing cold two nights before Christmas and I'm sure I was asshole number 37 that night. The Shaggy Dog Shetland, hi water chinos, pink socks and Bean Moccasins could have also added hi test to the fire. He was Hispanic. I'm Nordic. We both end in 'icks.' I'd probably go off on myself that night given the right circumstances--of which there were many.

Sometimes I forget how I appear to others. I also know I'm not how other people see me. Yet, I can barely see myself which may be part of the problem. So, tread easy in bow ties and cardigans and shirts of primary colors. Just because we're well dressed doesn't mean we have to be assholes about it.

MTM Duex - La Royale Sans Fromage

A Royal Oxford is a rich fabric in a nostalgic pattern. Speaking of which, the sleeve to yolk pattern matching didn't do so well here. That's a shame because they're almost invisible on the yellow university stripe but you can see this train wreck from a country mile.

The cotton has a wonderful heft to it - - So much so I wouldn't pack it. It's that heavy. A few washings and I think it'll starch up like a brick. Yeah, I know. People are gonna tell you to hand wash your shirts and iron 'em yourself or spend $10 a shirt for a hand iron (is a hand job the same price?) at the cleaners. I don't think so. Not when I can get two six packs of Schmidt for seven bucks.

It's going to the cleaners and it's going to be starched. I do like this shirt a lot despite the pattern issue. It'll be great in the summer untucked with a pair of white linen shorts...Did I just write that? We gotta get back to some Army stories ASAP.

MTM- Yellow University Stripe Popover Oxford

How could I not?

Popover sans pocket

Yoke to sleeve pattern matching

It started with that fabric sample. Yellow university stripe oxford is a mother to find. Hell, Charvet in Paris didn't have it and they have everything or that's what the nice lady told me before I knocked over a bolt of fabric that knocked over another and another and another..."The Falling Bolt of Fabric Theory" was not appreciated and I was kindly asked it there was another color I was looking for and if there wasn't I could take the elevator downstairs. Which I took to mean, "Don't let the fabric bolt hit you where the good lord split you.

Go figure I find the fabric in the booming downtown hubbub of Wilmington, Delaware. Wright & Simon has been around since the 30's. Len, the owner, had a four shirt minimum so after picking this stripe I cruised through a decent size book of fabric samples. The most fun I've had with my clothes on.

Individualized Shirts in Perth Amboy does MTM for a number of retailers and some surprising names like Brooks Brothers, J Press, Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdale's and, of course, my guys at Wright & Simon. The fitting is unique in that you try on different sized collars and shirt bodies with allowances for shrinking. We'll see how well this fits after three or fours washings.

The true sign of a custom shirt is pattern matching where the yoke meets the sleeve. Always ask for it when you're looking at custom. Made to Measure just can't do it but I got lucky with this shirt. The pattern matching on both sleeves is very close. By the way, that's how you recognise custom shirting. Not by monograms.

I went with a popover sans pocket because that's what the original Brooks Brothers shirt was. No one needed a shirt pocket because of vested suits. The placket will be hidden by a tie but I like the look of it. I've never been one for monograms. I've had my last name embroidered on the tail of custom shirts but the cleaners always write my last name on the other tail so what's the point. So no monograms for me.

I like the way this one turned out. We'll see how it does over time. That's the real test. As I wrote earlier, I still have three custom shirts from 1999. They were considerably more than this shirt's price of $130 but I figure in another ten years most people will be going to work in tee shirts, cargo shorts and flip flops. I'll post the Royal Oxford tomorrow. By the way, go buy Wally's book.

Seriously...

Prince of Wales Check

I was just kidding back there. I mean really, who wants to wander around St Augustine in 110% humidity chasing a white ball with a little crocodile on their chest?

The Art of T&A...

New digs in old Asprey digs...


Where buttons come from


Silk shirting from the archives


More silk shirting - via Instagram



WWII shirt from Jermyn Street



"Torches" from WWII


Brolly handles


Dressing room


Pocket frogging


and sleeves


Another world...


another Friday belt?


Silk dressing gown makes use of 12 screens


Sleeves


Moleskins


Limited edition shirts...


utilizing vintage T&A designed fabric


My "Magda" editor jacket


Traditional T&A stripes


Kingdom of Evening Wear


Smoking jacket



More sleeves

The Morning Coat


Custom shirts...


and even socks (by Corgi)


Photo by Cecil Beaton


The library


More Brolly handles


Preppy?

Turnbull & Asser recently moved a couple store fronts east from their old location to the long vacant Asprey Shop on 57th Street near Park Avenue. It's like walking into some very grand hotel... a hotel I could never afford unless I was on business. It's like meeting a beautiful woman in a bar, and I can't figure out why she's so interested in me, until I discover her business. In short, it's a place I don't belong.

But NYC is full of people who belong. Missing here is the, "We're not worthy" Midwestern attitude I came to love in Chicago... along with Old Style beer and the Chicago Cubs. T&A probably threw out the welcome mat after I wiped my feet upon entering but I never saw anyone do it. They're that discreet and even that friendly.

You enter the store through a small library. An archives of beautiful vintage shirts sit behind glass as if they're in a museum. And they are. T & A has taken great care of their history unlike many retailers I can name. But then we Americans love to throw old stuff away.

There's a hip new section of black, Gore Textual, Loro Piana (why are the Italians here?) that I found out of place. But I was reminded of how little I know when a celebrity, tall and good looking, made a significant purchase of a black, Gore Textual, cashmere lined something or other. Certainly he belonged.

Lighting grows with a beautiful sun like intensity while climbing the stairs from the ground floor library. Small boutiques are sartorially bordered by T&A kingdoms of evening wear, dressing gowns, shirts, ties, jackets and suits. Classics abound. A hacking pocket navy blazer might be considered a bit off the reservation but their solid charcoal suit has to be the best suit a man can buy.

But it is the dressing gowns I especially lust after...If I were a magazine editor -- the male version of Magda from Ab Fab -- I'd get a bevy of beautiful women and shoot them wearing nothing but T&A dressing gowns and smoking jackets. Of course, it's the celebrities who belong here. I'm just visiting.