Mad Men Is Back Tonight

The trad world came to a halt tonight as the series Mad Men resumes. In effort to celebrate, I decided to Mad Men myself on their website. Try it, it is amusing.

True Life Holden Caulfield Part 3: Igby

Igby is a fictional character from the movie Igby Goes Down, but he truly embodies the Holden Caulfield spirit. Igby was kicked out of numerous private schools and he encountered many other challenges during his youthful adolescence. Some of these problems involve drugs, sleeping with his godfather's mistress, and competing with his brother for the same girl. Overall, I recommend the movie.

Ralph Lauren Fall 2010

As we take a break from the Holden Caulfield posts, I want to show some of my favorite pictures from Ralph Lauren's 2010 Fashion Show. To mention the man's name is heresy to some of the readers, but whether they like him or not, he does have his place at the table when discussing the WASP lifestyle. I am a little critical about the fit of the clothing on some of his models as some of the garments do not appear large enough. However, these photographs inspire me to list the WASP traits that I see:

Tweed
Sack Jackets
Tortoise Shell Glasses
Flat Front Gray Flannels with Cuffs
Ascots
Bow Ties
Oxford Cloth Button Downs
Brown Tassel Loafers in Calf and Suede
Camel Hair
Yellow Socks.....

Yes, I am inspired by this collection!

True Life Holden Caulfield Part 2: John McEnroe

A Trinity graduate and a rowdy tennis player, McEnroe definitely has some Caulfield tendencies. I think this Wikepedia description may describe him best:

"John Patrick McEnroe, Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player from the United States. During his career, he won seven Grand Slam singles titles (three at Wimbledon and four at the US Open), nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title. He is best remembered for his shot-making artistry and superb volleying; for his famous rivalries with Björn Borg, Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl; for his confrontational on-court behavior which frequently landed him in trouble with umpires and tennis authorities; and for the catchphrase "You can not be serious!" directed toward an umpire during a match at Wimbledon in 1981."

True Life Holden Caulfield Part 1: John Cheever

Before I begin this series, let me first say that these picks are not in any particular order. Second, these picks are opinion based, and I mean no disrespect to any of the choices. Again, I am fascinated with the character Holden Caulfield.

My first choice is John Cheever. Cheever was expelled from his academy in 1928 for the charge of smoking on campus. He spent portions of his life detailing the horrors of prep school life, but later settled just telling stories about preppies. Cheever is a classic example of Holden Caulfield in my humble opinion.

Channeling Holden Caulfield

I began re-reading The Catcher in the Rye, and I must state again that I am fascinated with the character Holden Caulfield. My fascination has encouraged me to do a three part series naming true life Holden Caulfield's. Because let's face it, a lot of preppies went through similar phases to that of Holden.

The Dining Room

Photo Credit: The Newport Opera House

WASPs love dinner parties and lawn parties, or in other words, reasons to drink Scotch or G&Ts. It amazes me how areas like the dining room are synagogues for gossip or areas for high class espionage. Mistresses are born here, and deals are made over a casual after dinner smoke.

I can also say that I enjoy these occasions as well, and I attended one this past week. At this party, we discussed politics (who slept with who in D.C), pipe smoking, and classic clothing. So, if you want to be indoctrinated in WASP culture, get an invite to a dinner party and observe.

Reagan In Plaid

Certainly, Ronald Reagan was a great president, but he was by no means a WASP like his counterpart George H.W. Bush. However, Reagan wore things we do not see presidents wearing today, such as brown suits and as we see here, tartan. Hear, hear for one of the greatest leaders in our country's history sporting the WASPy plaid.

TinTin Strikes Again

In a recent interview at Styleite http://www.styleite.com/media/the-trad-interview/, TinTin from the Trad blog again refers to me as an asshole. And as you may recall, he once did this in the past and I staged a huge uproar. Well, today I do not intend to stage an uproar, but rather ask for forgiveness for whatever I have done to offend TinTin. And, I truly mean that statement with all sincerity. Perhaps, I truly am an asshole in the blogging world, but most find me congenial in everyday life. However, I do thank the Trad for mentioning me, and I also wish that he could realize that we have more in common than he thinks. In addition, I can assure him that I have only worn an ascot with a suit twice in my life, and on both occasions the suit was a casual suit (tweed and linen). To conclude, I can honestly say that I appreciate his blog, and I find him to be a decent human being. In fact, he even assisted me in acquiring a nice pair of slippers once. TinTin, let's be friends!

Alex P. Keaton

As a child in the 1980s, I remember being fascinated with the character Alex P. Keaton, which of course was played by Michael J. Fox. Alex embodied many of the things I hold dear today: conservatism, preppiness, and earning wealth. Alex, is probably best described as a "yuppie", but his character's persona definitely allows him into the WASP camp. Here in this photo, Alex is wearing a blue dress shirt with a conservative yellow tie and red suspenders. He is definitely dressed for 1980s success, or heck, success in any decade.

Finally, A Second Helping!

Finally, after thirty years, Lisa Birnbach is gracing us with a second installment of The Official Preppy Handbook called True Prep. Of course, some might say, why write a book to describe something that does not change? However, I myself realize that even timeless material things of this world evolve a little. And, why not re-update the world about the remains of the old money system and its style.

Honestly, the Preppy Handbook was one of the inspirations for me starting this blog. Though, Lisa intended her book to be somewhat tongue-and-cheek, that was never the intention of my blog. Truthfully, she wrote the book for the non-WASP world who sought to either make fun or become more old money like. However, I think the latter is what took, and the book of course became iconic.

Truthfully, I bet we can truly count the number of true WASPs that read my blog on one hand. Often, I am accused of being a fraud, and in some cases the arguments are valid. However, in my defense, my father did attend and Ivy League school and he spent many years in the northeast before becoming a wealthy farmer. But sure, I understand that WASPs have little need to read my blog as they were taught naturally to wear blue blazers and oxford cloth shirts. Most WASPs do not obsess over how many garments they own as the likes of the blogging world. And though, I was taught to wear WASP attire, I truthfully admit to having a dandy streak in me. Perhaps, we WASP/Trad bloggers are preservationist who are obsessed with timeless style. Undoubtedly, we all are interested in sharing our thoughts to those who want to embrace timeless classics.

Waistcoats

First, let me say I am somewhat motivated this weekend to post, but I still may not be able to post daily for a while.

Waistcoats are truly part of WASP style, but as with some aspects of the style, they are rarely seen today. Ralph Lauren has attempted to introduce waistcoats in summer fabrics such as madras plaid and seersucker, and though I accept these styles as acceptable, I seldom wear waistcoats during warm weather seasons. Personally, I prefer waistcoats in colder weather fabrics such as tweed, tattersal wool, and doeskin. And for those not knowledgeable of fabrics like doeskin, it does not come from deer or any animal (well at least its not made from skin).

I think waistcoats are an interesting way to dress up tweed and flannel suits, or a nice tweed sportcoat. And though we are still in warm weather days, it is truly time to consider fall and winter clothing pieces. As for me, I do have several tattersal and tweed waistcoats, but I do not own a doeskin vest. However, I plan to order one MTM at my local Brooks store as they do have some nice selections.







Photo Credit: Robb Report






Photo Credit: Cordings



Photo Credit: Cordings