Brooks Brothers Global Citizen

Brooks Brothers Catalog, Spring, 1990 


During the bad old days of Marks & Spencer ownership (1988-2001), Brooks Brothers went through a number of bizarre...lets call them 'schemes.' A word with darker connotations in the US than in the UK.  The '90s seemed especially dark and it was hard to tell the difference between the windows of a Banana Republic Store and Brooks Brothers.  Thankfully, that has changed. 

A Roger Sterling moment with London Club tie

Back in the early '90s, I was hanging my clothes somewhere on the North Shore of Chicago and would frequent a popular Chinese restaurant in Highland Park on Sunday nights. It had the highest concentration of Coogi sweaters I have ever seen.  "Not Hot!" was the loud instruction of so many diners that I asked for everything, "Very Hot!"  Much to my own detriment a couple hours later.

Brooks Brothers calls their "Golbal Citizen" collection, "Urbane and cosmopolitan." I call it, "Not hot." The company release goes on,  "It is the blending of seemingly opposite ideas of luxury-technolgy, dressy-casual and modern-classic that sum up the philosophy behind this season's offerings."  Well, I guess that beats my summing it up with a Chinese restaurant.

Miles Davis, "Sketches of Spain."  Slim Keith in Madrid.  Marcona almonds and ice cold Manzanilla Sherry.  Seven and watching a bullfight with my father on a Mexican station in El Paso.  I want every woman I know to buy this.

A TV anchorman suit and tie. Without prejudice -- without character.  Matt Lauer comes to mind in ice cold Zegna.  Thin and neat.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.  The Trench saves it with wide lapels and a look of old Hollywood.  Not '40s Noir but '30s Thin Man.  Elegant and full of motion even if it's not moving. 

Ice cold but warm in a 20 room apartment on Park.  Tiny and anemic, she never serves red wine to her guests.  Only white and champagne.  The TV in the oak paneled den is going on 20 years and the bookshelves are filled with yellowing jackets faded from sun and the 1970s.  Her nail polish is white...when she wears it. Her favorite book is a collection of  celebrity dog food recipes.

He wanted a Chesterfield but his wife told him he couldn't have one until he could afford a house with two bathrooms.  He bought one anyway and hung it on the back of his office door for a year before she found out.  Perfect with evening wear. Sternly confident in a navy or grey suit. Make do classic in jeans, suede paddock boots and a white button down on a business Sunday brunch in London.  

Replace the suede paddock boot above with a pebble finish chukka and generate contrast while tweaking the anal retentive 30 year old IT know it all from Schaumberg who tells you to wear only black shoes with a Chesterfield.  You proudly call it 'pebble' while the youth refer to it as football leather.  Or worse, 'awesome football leather.' Equally at home in the First Presbyterian Church on Michigan Ave or under a bible revival tent somewhere in Kentucky where your host is speaking in tongues.

Women always know what hat will look best on them. I don't know how.  It's Godlike.

Pretentious B&W that can be salvaged by inclusion on a NYC gallery web site.

After party at the Four Seasons bar in Chicago.  She likes Beefeater martinis and tells you she always wanted to do it in a coat room.  The simple slit of her dress hides behind her bracelet.  No designer names.  No expensive watches. She's got a good head on her. 

"Camel with fur trim," I tell the coat check girl.  Walking towards the lake past the Drake, she stops at an antique store window and points to an 18th century silver creamer, "No one buys silver anymore. I wonder why?" You smile and say, "Things change. Is that Revere?" 

Sanyo & (ahem) LaPerla

I've never owned a Sanyo raincoat.  Can't vouch for it keeping you dry or warm.  Not sure how Sanyo slipped by my 27 years of business raincoat ownership.  1985 was the year  I bought the first one.  A Burberry knock off at an unremembered men's discount store somewhere in Manhattan. The wool collar sold me. It looked just like the one Mike Wallace 'popped' on 60 Minutes.

Just after buying my coat, I spent a couple weeks watching a buddy's apartment and his two pet cray fish in Spanish Harlem. Walking to the subway one morning,  a couple kids, no more than 12 or 13, came up a hill on bicycles and one of 'em yelled as he rode by, "Hey, Asshole! You're supposed to tie the belt not run it through the buckle." I hope that kid's blogging today.

I have a never ending supply of stories about raincoats. How I lost 'em, how I found 'em, how I destroyed 'em and how one, my first real Burberry, got me all wet. Well, half of me. My stories, save the lady who  met me at the airport wearing only LaPerla under her trench, can't come close to the Sanyo story.

Above, is the first Sanyo raincoat made in Japan after WWII out of surplus parachute silk. Made for women, there was a waterproof finish covering the 'chute. Turned out to be a hit with the ladies and Sanyo was on its way.

I looked at three models. The Gold at $495, the Cortlandt at $798 and the Savina at $995.

The Gold at $495 is available here

Simple and straight forward.  It won't kill you to leave it in a Clearwater Beach hotel room.  It has a lining but it ain't gonna get you through a Chicago winter; not that any raincoat lining will.  If you have kids going to college in a few years, drive a Buick and own a beat up piece of shit that's been a train car for the past seven years -- This is your coat. Sit on the upper deck of the 6:31 Metra, and as you drape the Gold over the railing you will not be embarrassed by the Sanyo label -- Unlike the guy with the Jos. A Bank raincoat who sells scented urinal cakes for a living.

The Cortlandt at $798 available here

It comes with a belt.  I don't like belts.  Unless it's Friday.  I had a belted Aquascutum in the early '90s when I was making a worker's compensation video for Major League Baseball at Comisky Park. I was 30 pounds lighter and that belt made me look like a sausage link.  You can dump the belt on this all cotton number but I'd keep the wool collar. You'll look like Mike Wallace.  A 44" length gives you plenty of room and keeps you from looking like so many of these uber-urban storm troopers in short black trenches and black suede Ferragamos.  Geez, I hate those guys. 

The Savina at $995 available here

The top of the line Savina is made in Japan and looks it.You can see and feel the difference in this coat which I would not want to leave in a hotel room.  And while it tops out on price, I suspect it's a real steal and a helluva good value.  At 38",  it's only six inches shorter than the Cortlandt --  far from storm trooper length.

Made in a factory whose region was hit hard by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami,  Sanyo will keep the production there to help out the economy. The Japanese symbols on the label above stand for, "Integity, Quality and Beauty." For me, this coat stood out from all the others. It wouldn't look bad with a girlfriend's  LaPerla either.  Not a bad idea for Valentine's Day. I mean, if you're gonna do it right -- Might as well go all the way.

Rain Falls Mainly on the Plain

"Grab all the Koratron you can find" 1967

"For the rich guys we make Gold Alligator - We suggested green to match their money, but they seem to like matching their tie tack, their cigarette lighter, their gilt edged securities better." 1967

"Not traditional but excellent nonetheless, the classic officer's trench coat updates these days with a button-out flannel lining."  1964

"Scotchgard sheds rain even after repeated cleanings." 1961

"First really smartly styled waterproof coat - it's Alligator 725.  Popular already in cities, towns and colleges..." 1961

Keith Darrow from 1961

Alligator 1961

Rainfair 1960

Alligator 1960

Rainfair 1956



It's the understatement of our elders.  Men who did not name drop, change their last name to suit their profession or take Instagram pictures of their first class plane tickets.  They did not tattoo barb wire on their arms nor did they ask a woman in public where her tattoo was located.  If they tried self promotion -- they usually failed at it.  They shaved.  And when they looked in the mirror each morning -- they didn't stare.

Bert Pulitzer's Survivalon Jacket

See the orange jacket on the roof?

 How about the yellow sweat shirt? 

It amazes me how orange and yellow stand out on city roofs.  And while I lean towards understatement in most everything -- there's a peculiar Southern fetish I picked up for loud colors. I've always loved 'em with the understanding they have their place. 

 Andover Shop

Bert Pulitzer sent me a Survivalon jacket; what we called wet weather gear when I lived on a boat. At $495, this isn't for off shore racing but it's nautical origins make it perfect for a rainy Fall day. I wore it during a visit to the Andover Shop in Cambridge.  On my way out to lunch, Larry took it off my back and threw it on a rig. I understand he had five offers in an hour.

"Don't pick a fight, but if you find yourself in one I suggest you make damn sure you win."  John Wayne

Pulitzer created the jacket back in the '70s and used a tightly woven cotton developed by the RAF in WWII. And, while that's cool enough for me, John Wayne bought one, which might be cool enough for you. The Duke liked it so much he ordered five more for his yacht, the Wild Goose.  And I think I know why.

Back in the '70s and '80s, before Gore Tex really caught on, a lot of sailing jackets and parkas were made out of  a PVC like fabric that was hard as a brick.  I had one from Lands' End, circa 1984. It didn't breathe, had two lousy outside pockets and in the rain it felt like wet particle board.

Logo inspired by Belgian Parachutist Wings? 

Contrary to it's look, the Survivalon has a supple feel to it.  It's amazingly comfortable, keeps you dry and it breathes.  I've worn this jacket a lot in the last month and even the hood, unrolled and pulled from the collar, works well.  It's wide enough to give decent  peripheral vision and it stays on your head without having to pull it tight resulting in your looking like a seven year old in a slicker at the bus stop.

In a bind, this coat and a Shetland sweater (think, royal blue, bright red, kelly green) will see you through temps as low as the mid-30s.  I should know.  I wore it last night in NY's first snow storm.  In the low visibility, it probably kept me from being run over by a city bus. Granted, it won't protect me in a knife fight like my old Lands' End jacket but I haven't had one of those, knock wood, since a pissed off girlfriend came at me with my own Randall.

The interior of the jacket is cotton with three inside waterproof pockets and one big enough for an iPad. But remember, this isn't a waterproof jacket...it's water repellent. Having said that, I've been in rain and snow with this thing and have managed to stay bone dry.  If you want to wear a suit with this jacket, and I have no idea why you would - other than I'm old and out of it, go up a size.  With just a shirt or sweater...it runs pretty true to size.

Bert tells me this cloth will eventually take on patina.  I can't wait.  That doesn't mean I'm gonna take sand paper to it or distress it in my backyard with a chain and a snowblower...It means it'll come by its patina in an honest way.  And if the weather continues like this -- it should be nicely broken in by next month.

Comes in black, orange, yellow, fawn, navy and blue. Order from Survivalon Web Site Here

At Auction: The Perfect Midlife Crisis Porsche

"Who's the U-Boat Commander?"


"It's what you want. It's what every white boy off the lake wants."


"I'd appreciate it, if you'd stop laying these little judgments on me, while you're leaning on your daddy's $40,000 car."


The lot description for the 928 (known for wild interiors) follows with a link to the auction site. I purchased my midlife crisis Audi TT at the Porsche-Audi Exchange in Highland Park, IL. Same dealership two of the film's four 928s were purchased. So I have that going for me.

The Auction House, Profiles in History, has some interesting curio perfect for a guy having a midlife crisis.

Steve McQueen's Heuer Monaco (est. $200,000 - $300,000)


A crew gift Zippo from John Wayne on The Green Berets (est. $300-$500)


My favorite, Michael Corleone's (size 42 - I'm guessing Short) camel hair polo coat from The Godfather Part II (est. $3,000 - $4,000)


"TOM CRUISE “JOEL GOODSEN” SCREEN-USED 1979 PORSCHE 928 FROM RISKY BUSINESS - (Warner Bros., 1983) This 1979 Porsche 928 VIN: 9289201213 features a 5-speed manual transmission, 16-inch offset 5-hole aluminum alloy wheels, a three-spoke steering wheel and a cork on cork leather interior.

The car’s exterior was originally painted green when it arrived to the set and was then painted gold by the production and pressed into use. In making A-rated films of this caliber, the production company always has more than one car on hand to ensure no time is wasted should one of the vehicles break down, become damaged, etc.

There were three driving cars used in the making of the film (plus a gutted “dump car” that plunged into Lake Michigan):

1) a 1981 automatic transmission car fitted with 15-inch “flat-face” 5-hole wheels, cork and brown interior and 4-spoke steering wheel.

2) a 1978 5-speed, with cork, brown and crème interior, rented only for one interior shot when the car was knocked out of gear by Rebecca DeMornay’s character (VIN of this vehicle is unknown).

3) the 1979 5-speed car being offered which enjoyed considerably more screen time than the 1981 automatic.

This 5-speed was shot primarily in driving scenes with wide shots where the whole car was in view, as well as in some of the chase scene with Guido the pimp. The VIN of this 1979 5-speed being offered appears on the production records for the film and, according to a recent in depth documentary on the subject entitled “The Quest for RB928,” producer of Risky Business, Jon Avnet, goes on record to state that the young Tom Cruise learned how to drive a stick (manual transmission) with this very car.

In addition, there are production photos obtained from Avnet showing this car on set with camera rigging as well as images of it being painted and prepped for filming. Following production the car returned to California and was repainted white before being discovered by the producer of “The Quest for RB928” and since returned to its original screen appearance.

Risky Business went on to become one of the biggest cult classics of the 1980s and helped launch the career of superstar Tom Cruise. In addition, the film exposed the Porsche brand to a whole new generation of future buyers. The lesser-used 1981 with the automatic was shipped to Europe following production and its whereabouts are unknown. This 1979 5-speed remains as the only known surviving documentable car which also happens to have the most screen time in this modern classic film.

The car’s odometer reads 102,755 miles and it is in operating condition. This car was on exhibit at the Forney Museum of Transportation in Denver in 2009 and many Porsche enthusiasts have called this the most famous Porsche 928 in the world." Lot # 742, Profiles in History, Hollywood Auction #49




Wish this Harris Tweed jacket of Joel's were up for auction. Guess I'll just have to be patient.