May 8, 2008
From the Desk of… is a window into the world and workspace of some of ACL’s most stylish friends.
Aside from being a painfully nice guy, Josh Peskowitz is one of the gentlemen behind the stylish and popular Men.Style.com. Much like last week’s subject Alexander Olch, Mr. Peskowitz prefers the less is more approach to organization.
Mr. Peskowitz’s description:
My desk is usually a mess, it used to bother me but now I am at peace with it. I know it’s a tired excuse to some when they hear people like me say they can’t find anything when the desk is clean, but in my case it happens true. The way my memory works, it’s much easier to remember where I saw something last than to have a “filing” system or “whatever”. Except for stamps, I can never find those damn things. Keep reading →
May 7, 2008
As I was going through my files recently, I came across these great old scans of J. Press catalogs from the late 1950s and early 1960s. It is good to see things haven’t changed much over there —not considering the new Madison Avenue store —which is a welcome update from the crusty old store on 44th Street. The hi-res set of images can be seen here.
Keep reading →
May 6, 2008
Flickr Find is a weekly column of interesting things found on the amazing and inspiring photo sharing website Flickr.
Found on Otis & Carla’s Flickr are beautiful old photographs of American Motel & Liquor store signs, mostly from Texas. The images sort of remind me of this. More old Americana can be seen here.
Keep reading →
May 5, 2008
I normally don’t like to reblog things, but this essay is great. Found via DRINKINANDDRONIN. Much respect.
By G. Bruce Boyer
When I was growing up back in the late 1950s, the matter of dress for young men was relatively simple. When a boy reached adolescence he would put away much of his childhood wardrobe — whatever that might have been — and begin to wear a basic outfit that would see him through the college years and beyond. It was a time before the designer revolution in menswear, before the Ralph Laurens and Versaces, the Armanis and Paul Smiths, the Dolces and the Gabannas. A simpler time.
It was a time when there were basically three types of clothing stores. There was of course the traditional store for the traditional American business look: conservatively cut suits, safe shirts (the majority of which were white, with one or two collar styles), and discreet foulard or striped neckwear. Then there was the somewhat “sharper” store, a more courant version of the trad store, more upscale, hipper, more for the man who was known for caring about style. In the late ’50s this store took on a bit of European flair. The clothing was called “Continental”, meaning Italian, to distinguish it from British. There had been a tradition of British clothing here, but the Italian thing was new.
Finally there was the Ivy League shop.
Called “Ivy League” or “campus” shop because the style had originated, evolved, and took it’s strength from the prestigious Eastern Establishment universities. After World War II young men of growing middle class means attended these institutions of higher learning in droves on the G.I. Bill of economic assistance. What they found was that they could construct a basic campus wardrobe without a great deal of money and effort. There was high serviceability and low maintenance to the college wardrobe of the day.
Keep reading →
