Old School Suit, 1966

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"Today, we are told, you can buy la ligne naturelle in Paris, a sutairu nachuraru in Tokyo and even an estestvennaya lynya plecha in Moscow."

Source:

Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah) - 5/10/66

Gentree Ltd. of New Haven

Gentree Ltd. was a men's clothier located at 194 York Street in New Haven, Connecticut. The building was owned, as were many on that street (including J. Press), by Yale University.

Lester Isenberg, Yale '31, was the proprietor of Gentree Ltd. until he sold the business to Sills, Inc., in 1978. Sills operated Gentree Ltd., with Isenberg retained in a managerial role, for about a year. In 1980 the clothing store was converted to a pub.

All articles and advertisements below appeared in the Yale Daily News from 1947 to 1948. Click each to get an enlarged image.









Article from the Yale Daily News - 10/21/1980:



Gentree label, date uncertain:

Clothes Revolution, 1968

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"At schools like Princeton, Amherst, Harvard, Yale and Virginia, where gray flannel slacks and expensive tweed coats were once the uniform of the day, contemporary male garb revolves around a pair of blue jeans or wash pants, a short-sleeved shirt, scuffed loafers, and a coat with fraying elbow patches.

Fathers who once were outfitted by J. Press, Brooks Brothers, Saks Fifth Avenue and Fenn & Feinstein are puzzled when their sons patronize local Army-Navy surplus stores or university co-ops."

Source:

Parade Magazine - 11/24/68

Warhol, Hockney and friends, 1963

Circa 1963– Andy Warhol, Henry Geldzahler, David Hockney and David Goodman — Image © Dennis Hopper via The Selvedge Yard and artnet

Wren Shirts Ltd.

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Source:

Spartanburg (SC) Herald-Journal - 10/18/64

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"The history of 'traditionalism' once called 'Ivy League,' dates back before World War II, when students at Eastern universities espoused the fashion cause of comfort and smartness without ostentation. They chose the soft-collared shirt, natural shoulder, muted colors and soft fabrics in all their clothing."

Source:

Nashua (NH) Telegraph - 7/14/62


A few words about Frank J. Reilly, President of Wren Shirts Ltd...

"Mr. Reilly built a successful career in the outerwear business. He began as a salesman for the Manhattan Shirt Company in 1945 and in the course of a 50-plus year career rose to influence the design and marketing of some of the best-known brands in the garment business.

In the early 1970s, Mr. Reilly became US vice president of the Men's Wear Division for Jaeger Fashions. As such, he helped make one of the premier British woolens manufacturers a success in the US market for men's high fashion.

Subsequently, Mr. Reilly became a vice president at Izod Lacoste, which had the US rights to the brand established in Europe by tennis great Jean Rene Lacoste. Nicknamed "Le Crocodile" for his tenacious style of play on the courts, Lacoste founded a company to produce sports shirts and used Le Crocodile (universally referred to as the alligator) for a logo. Mr. Reilly's marketing and design savvy soon helped make the alligator virtually ubiquitous, and extended the line beyond shirts to a general line of sports wear for both men and women.

He often said that the proudest moment of his career was when he became president of Wren Shirts and thus a vice president of the parent company Kayser Roth*. At the time, it made him the youngest vice president of any Fortune 500 company in the US. Remarking on Mr. Reilly's career, a colleague once said, 'He's one of the few people I know who succeeded in business without stepping on people.'"

Source:

Glen Cove (NY) Record-Pilot obituaries - 3/26/04


*Wren shirts were made by F. Jacobson & Sons Inc., another Kayser Roth subsidiary.

JFK and Fenn-Feinstein, 1961

JFK and Ribicoff, 1960*

"Officials at Frank Brothers Fenn-Feinstein aren't talking but from our Washington sources we hear the New Haven clothing firm is now making all of President John Kennedy's suits after he dumped his previous tailor for cashing in on the publicity. We understand the president chose the New Haven establishment after admiring the attire of Health, Education & Welfare Sec. Abraham Ribicoff who has been a Fenn-Feinstein customer for years. The president's brother-in-law, Sargent Shriver, is also an F-F steady..."

Source:

Sunday Herald (Bridgeport, Connecticut), Stamford edition, "Night and Day in New Haven" column - 5/7/61

*Obviously before JFK wore Fenn-Feinstein (if he ever did, that is; I've never seen any other reference to JFK having suits made by Fenn-Feinstein).

Images from Google's LIFE image archive

Mufti Muster, 1955

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New civvies come in khaki and o.d.

The two newest colors in male clothing this fall are khaki and olive drab -- colors which men swore 10 years ago they were taking off for good. Although the new mufti looks as military as a salute, it is an outgrowth of the khaki and olive green cotton suits which "Ivy look" wearers (LIFE, Nov. 22, 1954) have take up as a summer alternative to charcoal flannel. Manufacturers have now expanded their selection, and light tans and muddy greens appear in sports car clothes, jackets, raincoats, business suits. A peacetime platoon of college students and young businessmen (below) shows how closely the outfits match up to 3rd Infantry uniforms (left). In their civilian status, khaki and o.d. will probably be worn by conservative males with white shirts and black knit ties, but more venturesome wearers may prefer checked shirts which are also new for town.

Source:

LIFE magazine - 10/24/55

Make Mine Madras, Cornell, 1965

(as always, click each to enlarge)

Source:

Cornell Daily Sun - various issues, all from the spring of 1965 (apparently the zenith of the stuff)

Shoes, Bowdoin College, 1952

(click on image to view uncropped original)

Source:

Google's LIFE image archives - May 1952

Conformists, WASPs and Preppies, 1968

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Source:

New York Times News Service - November 1968

Max Roach, 1956

Max Roach

(photos by Francis Wolff - click to enlarge)

From the "Sonny Rollins, Volume 1" session, Hackensack, NJ, December 16, 1956.

Fat Max and Slim Jim, 1966

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"(Brooks Brothers) has kept the width limit at three inches on its exclusive first floor, while letting it reach four in its university and young executives' department.

J. Press and Chipp, two of Brooks Brothers' competitors in the city's tailoring enclave off Madison Avenue at 43rd Street, also sell the wide ties, like Brooks in sober regimental stripes and club patterns."

Source:

Associated Press, July 1966

[Ed. note: See also this J. Press advertisement (look closely at the bottom of the ad)]

Chevy Caprice Wagon, 1967

Ivy. The suit, not the wagon.

I'm not sure what he's up to (a little suspicious, no?) but I like the suit.

John O'Hara, 1962

(click to enlarge)

Source:

Google's LIFE image archive

A better way of life, 1969

Source:

Quattroruote magazine, November 1969 via flickr

Author comment: I realize that I'm violating at least one of the main tenets of the blog with this post, but they do look rather good and that is certainly a nice Grand Wagoneer, isn't it?