Keeping Cool Covertly
No Bleeding. No Patches. No Bandwagon.It's been hot in NYC. I'm not saying it's Georgia hot - which is the most miserable kind of heat known to man. Thick, sticking and humid. But it's hot here. Like standing in front of a pizza oven hot. It takes a real man to put on a tie and suit in this weather. And it takes a smart man.
While everybody and his brother (not so smart) are all "kicking it" in patch madras blazers, shirts, pants and shorts, the covert cool are hiding out in solid madras. This stuff is whisper thin. Like wearing a leaf. It breathes and looks grown up with a poplin or tan mohair suit. Best of all - - No one will know you're wearing madras. Give those mean old men at J. Press a call. They'll kit you up and keep you cool.
Buzzard, short sleeve or long?
ReplyDeleteWhat leads you to believe that shirt is madras?
ReplyDeleteNice. I'd probably burn right through something like that.
ReplyDeleteLwing- Long sleeve. It's madras. Ask Wilder.
ReplyDeleteLBT- Burn?
I'm pretty sure that be end-on-end.
ReplyDeleteJames- Nope. It's solid madras.
ReplyDeletetintin - I think Wilder is mistaken. That there is end-on-end.
ReplyDeleteEnzo - Nope. It's madras.
ReplyDeleteI don't see this on the JPress site. Can you link to it?
ReplyDeleteTintin,
ReplyDeleteI remember plain madras at Brooks in the 80s. The preppy handbook spoke approvingly of plain madras dress shirts in Summer, and I think some of the old Apparel Arts used to show them as well.
I always figured that the need for such a shirt was replaced by the pinpoint pima oxfords that became ubiquitous in the 80s.
I think your shirt would make a good summer casual shirt as well.
Tom Buchanan
John- No longer on the site. I spoke with Wilder. He said they only had a few left. Call David at 212 687 7642 and he'll check for your size. Pot luck as David said. Oh, and it's madras.
ReplyDeleteTom- I remember it but I guess no one else does. You know these hipster designers don't even own old Brooks catalogs. I have 83 of 'em. I'll dig around in my 80s catalogs for a pic and description. And they make a great casual shirt.
ReplyDeleteI would advise if you wear the shirt with a tie to hand wash and iron. Don't send this to the cleaners or if you do order a half size neck larger.
Beautiful shirt. I'm pretty sure I've seen one like that go through the laundry around here....since I am the queen of laundry.
ReplyDeleteAnd I am in perfect agreement about our disgusting Georgia heat. My hair looks like sh#t to say the least. A person with curly hair should not live here.
In this rare instance I'm thinking Mr. Wilder is wrong. Unless, that is, you can show us the tag that says "Indian Madras".
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jpressonline.com/dress_shirts_solid_detail.php?ix=21
ReplyDeleteHipster designer? Come on man, seriously?
ReplyDeleteAs the original MB said, "I'm still learning" and I would love to know more about this because I was taught that the term madras referred to a the type of dye out of a place once called Madras, India. As I Re-read this myself as I type I realize that this definition doesn't stand in opposition to the shirt in this post.
You win buddy, but I'm not a hipster and it still looks like an end on end.
Brilliant. Master stroke.
ReplyDeleteThough I haven't seen one in years, I bought a Gant white madras – it said so on the label – long sleeve dress shirt with a short point collar at a department store in Little Rock. It was a beautiful, cool shirt and perfectly suited to wearing with a tie in a steamy Arkansas summer. Alas, I wore the bejesus out of it and the fabric wore out as madras is not a sturdy cloth.
ReplyDeleteDavid, my former coworker, is not wrong.
ReplyDeleteMadras is end-on-end. End-on-end is madras. End-on-end and madras are both broadcloth, loosely woven broadcloth. The differences between the two are colors of dyes & sometimes thickness of thread.
Longwing- Hairline and end-on-end are different fabrics.
Sitting here amazed at the rhetoric about this topic...and they say woman are caddy...if you like it and it keeps you cool during this heat then who cares if it's "End on End" or "Madras" as long as you survive to make it to the mattress without hearing "Please, love, treat yourself to a shower"...
ReplyDelete(You don't have to publish this~~it was sort of a joke, you know?)
Georgia Hot ain't the hottest. New Orleans hot is. I promise you they's a difference.
ReplyDeleteLongwing isn't being catty. He's just resentful 'cause I stole Chops from him two years ago and employ him as ghost writer here for a nickel a word.
ReplyDeleteI would imagine it's also terribly embarrassing for someone who calls, what ADG calls, the hottest place in the world 'home' to be ignonorant of any madras other than plaid. Instead, LWing writes about J Press fuzzy dog sweaters. A sad irony indeed.
So my good man, you have offered the cure for both too thick a shirt and too big a bandwagon. How bout helping me cure my too thick a midsection and too big waist? Your guides to burger heaven are not helping me any. I find the fact that I am a close cousin to Chewbaka a much bigger problem than the weave of my shirt.
ReplyDeletePerhaps I share too much?
Brohammas- "Perhaps I share too much?" Not if your overweight. That ginger beer's got beau coup azucar. But don't ask me. Ask ADG how to do it. He's got no ass but you can't have everything.
ReplyDeleteADG- I was thinking, you're idea of hot in New Orleans is sitting at a red light with the top down in your Saab or sipping a Dixie in a bar with ceiling fans but no A/C.
ReplyDeleteMy idea of Georgia hot is rolling in saw dust during ground week of jump school at Ft Benning in August or running 10 miles with ruck sacks and choking on red dust mixed with the sticky hot smell of pines trees on the range road during infantry school at Benning. It's all relative I guess.
Tintin,
ReplyDeleteA thousand thanks!
I saw a reference to solid madras shirt in an old Apparal Arts a while back, and have been looking for one ever since.
(I also have an old striped made in india madras as well!)
Hope Press has a 15.5x34 left (esp. after you surely just flooded them with orders).
Thanks, and don't sour on plaid and patchwork Madras just because it's trendy!