The Classic Style of William Eggleston

William Eggleston (Portrait by Maude Schuyler Clay)

This is a portrait of William Eggleston – one of my favorite photographers.  It was shot by his cousin Maude Schuyler Clay.  Raised in Mississippi and now living in Memphis, Eggleston is one of the most celebrated modern artists, and his work hangs in major museums all over the world.  But his clothing style is very traditional and a rejection of all that is trendy and hip.  He opts instead to dress like a gentleman.  In this portrait, he is wearing a tweed jacket with a faint camel windowpane pattern and 3/2 roll over a gray wool crew neck sweater (probably a Shetland knit) and a blue candy stripe oxford cloth button down.  Eggleston is the epitome of a natty dresser!  I believe he is holding a Leica M4 camera – the same model used by Henri Cartier Bresson.  A pair of smart tortise shell glasses complete his timeless look.

Prepped Out & Layered Up

Some accessories are just hard to find in a thrift store.  One example is this navy and maroon grosgrain watch band which supports a cheapo – but very accurate –  Timex watch.  I bought the band at J. Press for $9.00.  Grosgrain watch bands come in many colors and various stripes.  They are quintessentially preppy, and some people change them frequently depending on ensemble.  I think the navy/maroon band works well with the Brooks Brothers tattersall shirt (thrift store purchase:  $5.00), green L.L. Bean wool sweater (thrift store purchase:  $7.00) and navy Ralph Lauren duffle coat (outlet mall purchase:  $279.00).   With a little more patience, I probably could have found a duffle coat in my size in a thrift store, but the weather in NYC turned cold, and I paid the higher outlet mall price for mine.  It’s very warm and has a hood.  I’m all prepped out and layered up!

Layering For Cooler Weather

We’ve been having some cooler fall weather lately in New York City.  Today it was overcast and actually a bit chilly in the late afternoon when I went out to run a few errands.  I didn’t want to wear a coat.  So I  just threw a lightweight down vest on top of my shirt and sweater, turning the shirt cuffs back over the sweater and pushing the sleeves up a bit.

The total cost of all three items was less than $20.00:  goose down vest from L.L. Bean ($7.99), 100% lambswool v-neck sweater from Cullen, a brand I’ve never heard of before ($4.99) and 100% oxford cloth button down from Gap ($2.99).  While Gap is not an overly preppy company, their button down was very well-made, and the price made it impossible not to buy.  I got everything at Unique thrift store (which I post about prolifically) in my neighborhood.

The preppy look never really changes.  Of course, there have been some trendy tweaks recently by Tommy Hilfiger and Thom Browne among others.  Their “preppy updates” were intended to gain traction with a younger consumer base after hipsters began raiding vintage shops and thrift stores, looking to make an ironic statement.  It was not long before big names in the hip hop world began sporting the look.  All of this doesn’t phase me.  I simply like the classic, timeless preppy style I’ve always known – which is well-made clothes without gee gaws or doo dads.  The way I dress hasn’t changed in any important way since college, aside from the addition of more suits or cap toe dress shoes.

 

Vintage Brooks Brothers Argyle Sweater

This afternoon at Housing Works on W. 17th Street in Manhattan, I found a vintage Brooks Brothers crew neck Argyle Sweater, which was made in England of 100% Shetland wool.  Judging from the label, it is likely from the early 80s.  I carefully inspected every inch of the material before buying it.  There were no visible signs of wear – no holes or weak spots and no loose stitching at the seams.  It was in excellent condition, and I consider it a nice find.  Cost:  $25.00.  While the price was fair, it was a good bit higher than I might have paid in a thrift store outside Manhattan.  Located in the fashionable West Side neighborhood of Chelsea, Housing Works commands top dollar among thrift stores.  I can’t haggle there like I might at a mom and pop shop.  However, it’s still much better than paying retail, and the proceeds go to charity

Housing Works - Interior View

Multi-Prep Finds Today

At my favorite thrift store again tonight (Unique in Riverdale, NY), I found several items that I thought worth showing.  L to R:  Nautical belt from Leather Man Limited in Essex, CT ($6.99), navy surcingle belt from Dockers  ($4.99)…not a preppy brand per se, but passable, dirty bucks with brick red soles from Bass ($12.99), crew neck heavy wool sweater from L.L. Bean (19.99), no name white 100% cotton scarf ($3.99) and a pair of no name 100% cotton, plain front khakis embroidered with whales ($12.99)…though I thought the whale motif just a bit too large.  Total cost of all items:  $66.94. My guess is that these items would retail for around $300. So what items did I buy?  I got the L.L. Bean sweater.  It was a large and a perfect fit, made in the USA of 85% wool and 15% nylon for strength.  It will be great for winter.  I also got the navy surcingle belt.  Again, a perfect fit.  The nautical belt from Leather Man was such a great find, but not the right size.  It was the third belt from that maker I’ve come across in the last month.  The Bass shoes were unfortunately 1/2 size too small.  The embroidered khakis were not my size either.  I passed on the sarf.  The shots for this trip were taken inside the thrift store under fluorescent lights (please excuse).

The workmanship on the Leather Man belts always seems of the highest quality, and I wouldn’t mind making a trip to their factory/store.  It’s about 90 minutes from where I live.

I’ve been looking for a while now for a pair of dirty bucks, but I can never seem to find them in the right size.  I wear an 11 and these were 10 1/2.  They were in especially good condition, which is rare for thrift store shoes.  One guy in the store tonight had found two pairs of perfectly fitting canvas Sperry Topsiders.  Most of the time I buy my shoes at factory outlet malls (Sperry, L.L. Bean, Bass and Cole Haan all have stores at a nearby outlet).  I’ve also found leather Topsiders, Clark’s Desert Boots and Cole Haan leather, cap toe dress shoes for 50% off at Marshall’s.

Follow Up Note:  All of the items that I did not buy on this trip were GONE the next day.

Of A Crocodile In The Wrong Place

Izod items have been turning up in a lot of thrift stores lately.  Today I came across one of their sweaters – a  bright orange crew neck 100% lambswool model complete with the famous crocodile emblem.  For a moment, I was tempted to buy it.  The price seemed reasonable at $9.99.  But something just didn’t seem right about wearing the crocodile emblem on a sweater.  Aside from Lacoste shirts and older Ralph Lauren polo shirts (which I’ve found in great condition as cheap as $1.50), I have a problem in general with wearing most external designer brand logos/emblems.  I suppose Vineyard Vines might also qualify as an exception because their emblem is discrete, which is key for me. Lauren has really gone over the top with the newer polo emblem, supersizing it to such a ridiculous degree that I wouldn’t  be seen wearing it.  Lisa Birnbach makes a point about this in True Prep.  I think the clothes should speak for themselves, and for that reason I passed on this sweater.  I found a bit of history on the Izod vs. Lacoste brands (see below).  While I’m not big on Izod, I’ve always liked Lacoste.

IZOD vs. Lacoste

The Dilemma: You want to look preppy. But how?

People You Can Impress: everyone at the country club, polo players, Republicans

The Quick Trick: Get a Lacoste shirt and you’ll have the best of both worlds.

The Explanation: 

As it turns out, Lacoste is a subbrand of IZOD. As Aristotle would put it: All Lacostes are IZODs, but not all IZODs are Lacostes. These days, both brands are owned by the garment giant Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation, so the difference between Lacoste IZODs and non-Lacoste IZODs is primarily marketing. But the difference between the men behind IZOD and Lacoste is vast indeed.

Jack Izod owned a tailoring shop in London, and billed himself as the “Shirtmaker to the King.” Indeed, he made shirts for King George VI (1895–1951) in the 1930s. One day in the late ’30s, a women’s apparel magnate named Vin (no relationship to Diesel) Draddy visited IZOD’s tailoring shop. Looking to start a line of men’s clothing, Draddy recognized that his own last name would make a poor name for a clothing line, but he quite liked the ring of IZOD. So he bought the rights to IZOD’s name and began making clothes under the IZOD moniker. Oddly enough, the brand’s namesake, Jack Izod, never designed a single item for the company.

René Lacoste, on the other hand, really did design the famous shirts named for him, which is all the more remarkable because he was not a tailor. He was a professional tennis player. Between 1925 and 1928, Lacoste won seven Grand Slam events, and might have won more had he not become ridiculously rich by inventing the world’s first good tennis shirt. In the 1920s, tennis players wore long-sleeved, heavily starched dress shirts (often with ties!). Lacoste grew weary of the outfits, and by 1929, he’d designed a short-sleeved shirt with a longer shirttail in the back and a flat collar. Further proving he was ahead of his time, Lacoste generally played the game with his collar turned up, though it was more to block out the sun than anything else. But back to the shirts! Light and comfortable, Lacoste’s garments were an immediate hit when he began mass-producing them in 1933. By 1951, he’d sold the brand to IZOD.

Lacoste’s other significant contribution to fashion has to do with the iconic crocodile (it’s not an alligator—see below) on his shirts. Known as “Le Crocodile” for his on-court tenacity, Lacoste added the crocodile to his shirts in the mid-1930s—the first time a logo is known to have appeared on the outside of a shirt. Not a bad fashion record for a guy who mostly just wanted to win tennis tournaments.

Alligator vs. Crocodile 

So how can you tell the Lacoste symbol is a crocodile not an alligator? You can’t, really, unless you know the story of Le Crocodile. But a real alligator and crocodile have many differences. For starters, crocodiles are much more likely to kill you. But also:

Crocodiles have a narrower, almost pointy snout. A crocodile’s lower teeth are always visible; an alligator’s disappear when its mouth is closed. Alligators are usually gray; crocodiles, a light brown.

Read the full text here:  http://www.mentalfloss.com/difference/izod-vs-lacoste/#ixzz1YdMd8J1q

Shetland Wool Argyle Sweater From L.L. Bean

Each Monday at Unique Thrift Store in Riverdale, NY is Customer Appreciation Day – all items are 25% off the marked price.  On Thursdays, you can get 25% off the marked price by showing a store card, which is easy to sign up for and is also free.  The 100% shetland wool argyle sweater vest from L.L. Bean below was $4.99 last Thursday, but I got it for $3.75 with my store card.  The online price for this type of sweater at Bean runs $69-$74.  This one will be a nice addition for cooler early fall days.