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Photos by Salt Water New England
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"Old Press and new MAGA had a child called Ivy Style."
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Photo by My Father
Muffy Aldrich's SALT WATER NEW ENGLAND
Muffy Aldrich
Muffy Aldrich, Editor of Salt Water New England: The Thing Before Preppy, since 2010. And a 12th Generation New Englander.
- Original Photographs.
- Timeless, Preppy Clothing.
Most Items Sent By Vendors
Any word when they are moving back to York Street?
ReplyDeleteMARVELOUS images and Winter 1961 catalogue reprints. I remember that very year, and how that same catalogue landed in our mail, how my father would comb it through, and phone in his order. I refuse to count the years!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much. Especially for scanning in the catalogue.
ReplyDeleteIf only we could still buy quality made clothing at those prices!
ReplyDeleteThese days are long gone. What was standard quality once is now marketed as "premium". For premium prices certainly. Sad but true.
DeleteI couldn't agree more! It's so hard to find quality clothing. Too much "noise" surrounding less than superior brands.
DeleteThe reality of American made garments are that they cost a lot of money to make. They have always been of "premium" quality and, now with global manufacturing, the contrast is just becoming much more apparent.
DeleteHeard they're reopening in NYC in the Yale Club building.
ReplyDeleteOh, that catalogue! I agree with Alena, it is so hard to find quality clothing. cheers!
ReplyDeleteWe were afraid to go into J Press. As 12 year olds we walzed without constraint or a care into and out of all the other New Haven haberdashers; Rosenbergs, Gentree, Saks, Gamer. And Barrie's. Barrie's loved the kids. And we lived Barrie's. If we were wearing their shoes, they shined them for us! But J Press, as soon as we walked in the door, "yes boys??" About face!
ReplyDeleteI think I paid $17.00 for my first Shaggy Dog in 1965. A lot of money back then when I was only working weekends at the car wash at $1.25 an hour. My need for need stuff is limited these days but I Press and LL Bean still serve me very nicely. Growing up in New Haven I have sorely missed the old classic stores Anon mentioned; although he forgot the old Yale Co_Op.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful set of pictures! In particular, those of Tony Panico, who has been with J. Press New Haven since 1968 (if memory serves). For many, Tony represents the history, tradition, values and quality that J. Press represented.
ReplyDeleteTony still makes bespoke garments for some. This white flannel Blazer, is one of Tony's jackets:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/d6/ff/81/d6ff81d0b741215b3a585648662ca809.jpg
And it turned just as all of Tony's stuff turns out:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/1f/f8/eb/1ff8eb4fbd24bf5e38a5f0894073d8d2.jpg
Next year, God willing, Tony will have been at J. Press for fifty years!
Happy to report J.PRESS is indeed reopening in the newly expanded commercial space of the Yale Club on 44th and Vanderbilt. Also pleased as punch to report that the company is working to increase the focus on Made in USA items as well as improving the cut (namely, shoulders) of Canadian-made tailored wear.
ReplyDeleteFirst shaggy dog around Thanksgiving, 2004: $75, reduced from about $95 retail. Always a bit too long, so it rose up and made me look fat even before I had gained much weight. It's nice they now offer a more modern fit as well. It is, without question, an iconic look, that reminds me as much of sheep as sheep dogs.
ReplyDeleteWith some adjustments to modern fit and taste, J. Press' contemporary offerings should be made to look like this catalog again.
All discussion of these clothes as representing "old money" or "WASPs" should cease. These clothes were first marketed to Americans around schools who largely wanted to imitate the English upper classes and so built neo-gothic ersatz-English colleges and wanted what was sold to them as tailoring done in complementary style. The imitators included people of all backgrounds, including the so-called "WASPs," an utterly meaningless and absurd category in an English context. In any case, what was created in the process may be most accurately be called American collegiate, which became democratized and widespread, copied at Sears and available at Local Campus Shop Near You. Most of the people who wore the look in the 60s and before would probably rather wear the old Sears versions of these clothes than most of what today is put forward as "Ivy" style. Or at least the tasteful among them.