With New York fashion week within arm’s reach, The Observer’s Joe Pompeo reports on the decidedly non trendy trend of Trad. The article gets some great analysis from two very honorable gentlemen, namely John Tinseth from The Trad (which is one of my favorite reads; Tinseth has amazing taste and is a helluva story teller) and David Wilder of J. Press. I have had the pleasure of talking shop over spirits with both gents on several occasions and can say without reservation that few do it better. When I worked with David at Press I would joke that he was sent from central casting. David possesses an insane knowledge about Ivy League style and WASP culture. Many thanks to Joe for including me — this is the kind of style coverage that I love. Read the article here.

J. Press suit and Blackwatch sport coat. Photos by Lee Clower.

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Looking through these catalogs from 1958-1963 it is easy to see that not much has changed at J. Press. Back in 1958 a cotton Seersucker sportcoat was a good deal at $59.50. That very same sportcoat (or a similar style) is still offered today from J. Press for $395.00 ($296.25 if you factor in the sale that is currently going on). Now, if you adjust the 1958 price of $59.50 for inflation, the seersucker jacket would cost $433.62 in todays money. So the J. Press seersucker is beating inflation — sounds like a good investment to me.

It is interesting to see all of the two-button models that were offered way back when. Most people like to think that J. Press only sells Sack suits, but it is clear from these pictures that that is simply not the case.

All of the scans link to Flickr, once there click “all sizes” to see the hi-res versions.

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