10 September 2009

The Press - Not That Press - The Other Press

"Alden Loafers from 1986"

"... and a striped yellow Oxford University rugby shirt."

I like 'The Press.' Always have. Ever since I was editor of my college newspaper. Ok, I was the photo editor but still. I wrote some stuff. Darned good stuff. Last week a reporter from The New York Observer interviewed me for this story they were doing on J. Press. Three things.

1. I never said 'Traddy' or 'Traddies.'

2. My Aldens from 1986 are Wingtips. Not loafers (see above).

3. I was wearing a yellow university stripe oxford by Rugby (see above).

I'm not sure where, 'striped yellow Oxford University rugby shirt' came from but I bet Mark McNairy could design one. Stuff like this happens when you interview someone. I understand. Hell, I'm flattered I was even asked. And I hope all the Traddies enjoyed it.

17 comments:

  1. It was a good article but some original photography would have been nice. Maybe you and David and Michael in the bar at the Yale Club or something. Ripping off an image from the J Press website is pretty amateurish, if I may say so myself.

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  2. Hi,

    The Shirt is from the Ralph Lauren "Rugby" label. I also have one and it fits me perfect and I would love more if it wasn't for the fact that I live in England and there are no Rugby stores here!

    Rog

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  3. longwing- Rusty Trawler's a nice touch. He wore Knize in the book.

    Roger- No Rugby stores in the UK? You mean no ersatz rugby stores in the UK. My favorite rugby shirt is the WASP jersey I bought at Twickenham.

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  4. I'm a Super Rat. But kind of low end because I had to look up Knize.

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  5. I had wondered what was so trad about a yellow Oxford rugby shirt.

    I enjoyed the article, especially because I have enjoyed your blog and board posts for a while. From a journalistic standpoint, I thought it was strange to base an entire article on interviews with just 2 people (especially since the reporter seemed to get the facts wrong), but since I like the online perspective of those two people, it was not bad.

    I just hope that it does not lessen your Trad powers now that your secret Trad identity has been revealed :)

    Congratulations on the article.

    Tom Buchanan

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  6. Longwing- You gotta read the book. It's better than the movie.

    Tom- I think you were one of the first comments I had. Thank you.

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  7. Congrats, man! Nice to see this.

    And it looks like they fixed points 2 & 3 online. Though you may forever be saddled with the "traddy" sobriquet. Might as well just change your url now...

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  8. Glad to see you're still with us and that the bleeding has stopped after your bout with the jackals at Gawker. (A tetanus booster might be in order, however.) That's a rough crowd- I was genuinely disturbed.

    I picked up on the "striped yellow Oxford University rugby shirt" thing immediately and thought that's exactly what you were wearing, having bought one of these recently myself. Ralph is the only current source for this fabric that I am aware of- Rugby is good for at least one thing.

    The NY Times piece yesterday on accessories (which seemed to have the ACL guy's fingerprints all over it) called Aldens "1950s-style banker shoes". Hah!

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  9. I'm partial to the Le Creuset dutch oven in flame but will it make my stove look fat?

    Congratulations for coming out of the J. Press closet with your ID. You are a brave man.

    The best to you!

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  10. Josh R - Thanks. I asked him to to change Chechi to Cenci as well. And it wasn't even my blazer.

    anon 16:49- I felt like a wounded gazelle on an African savanah being chased down by a pride of lions. The neck bite that stopped the twitching was the, "12 year old Jonas Brothers female fan..." And then everything went dark.

    I was in the Paris Charvet a couple years ago and they didn't have a yellow university stripe. Brooks had it 5 years ago in their MTM but then they discontinued it. It flat out disappeared. Amazing to find it at Rugby.

    Pink Martini- Not brave just stupid. Creuset can't make your stove look fat but it's doing a good job of making me fat.

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  11. Tintin, why did you subject yourself to this? You certainly deserve better. I detest the Press. Won't talk to them, despite repeated requests for interviews. Must maintain some mystery. Keep 'em guessing. Keep 'em on their ill-shod toes. That sort of thing.

    Still, it's nice to see David Wilder mentioned. I used to see him at his mother's store in Greenwich, before it moved. He always looked like a Brideshead extra.

    “This stuff lasts forever, which I don’t think fashion people like because they need to sell new stuff.” Exactly! That's it. You nailed it.

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  12. enjoyed it and thought you came off well---
    cheers
    max

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  13. I am with LBT and still annoyed about this - not a fair shake.

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  14. I think John Tinseth acquitted himself brilliantly, and it makes sense that his name is known. That's part of being a real writer--and what makes him one--instead of a dilettante nerd with a homemade "style" blog.

    The fellow at Gawker is working out some serious class issues and writing talent issues. Something about Mr. Tinseth's writing makes him feel the need to stuff socks into the front of his poly-cotton boxer briefs. It also makes one pine for the days when gentlemen wrote about their insecurities in diaries ,instead of on Gawker.

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  15. really excited to have found your blog from this article... here's to more TRAD men.

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  16. Tintin, I leave for a tiny minute and return to find there has been some small chaos abrew!
    Well, as for me, your writing makes me happy in a nostalgic, melancholy "long for 1982" kind of way. You are talented and I appreciate the extra research you put into this blog.
    Please don't change. (Couldn't resist that.)

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  17. Oh, but I was a little crushed it was Flagler and not U. of Tampa. (Sigh.)

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