"36 Hours 'til Monday"

Last year I spoke with Lee regarding these ads. "36 Hours ‘til Monday" ran in a 1986 issue of "'M' The Civilized Man" and I wanted to know who the ad agency was. They got back to me after a couple weeks and told me they knew nothing about the ad, photographer, models... zip.

This happens a lot more than you’d expect. When it comes to ads, retailers are notorious for lousy record keeping much less having an actual archives — I’m guessing Lee wouldn’t have any trouble telling me what their EBITA was in 1986.  The ads are from the little known Tom McElligott of the long gone agency,  Fallon McElligott Rice.

I found out about about Tom  by way of this wonderful piece by Dave Dye of, "Stuff from the Loft" blog.  The ads ran in two page spreads so the impact wasn't lost then and, after almost 30 years, they're even more powerful.  While McElligott gave up the ad business and retired at age 50,  a college kid scored an interview and Tom gave him some very wise advice which  follows and which I wish someone gave me when I was starting out...

“Don’t be distracted by anything. The work is what counts. There are a lot of things that can get in your way, that take up your time and your emotional and intellectual energy; none of them account for anything. They mean nothing. The only thing, in the final analysis, at this stage of the game, that really counts, is the work. The work is everything.

The years that I spent in advertising I saw an awful lot of people who had the potential to be good lose a lot of their ability to distraction, to politics, to fear and to who has the bigger office. You’ll get the bigger office; you’ll make the money. Anything you want will happen, but sometimes it’s hard for people to see that when they’re in the middle of it.

It looks like it’s incredibly complicated. Well, it’s not complicated at all. In fact, it’s so uncomplicated it’s amazing. All it is about is the work. Finally, if you do the work people will notice and you will get what you want. That’s it. It’s as simple as that.” Tom McElligott

Hotter Than A Scalamandré Zebra

The straight guy's guide to interior design. Coming soon.

Bill Cunningham Will Take Your Picture

Shore Leave

No need for Brasso

Gym bag or a lunch bag

It's a big mother -- 24" long, 12" wide and 12" deep. You see a lot of bags like this in NYC. Always a guy who's in shape and lives at the gym. I don't go to the gym anymore and when I did I had a locker. Even had a laundry service although it could turn a black t-shirt light grey in one washing. Anyone looking to distress t-shirts should go no further than the Union League in Chicago.

I like this bag despite it looking somewhat "Tommy Hilfiger-ish." At least it's not "Vera Bradley-ish."  Made of Dacron sail cloth (not cheap stuff), it's roots are nautical but it's not gonna look outta place on 57th and 5th Avenue. Heck, Bill Cunningham might take your picture if you're carrying this bag -- and you look like you work out.  I think it's the perfect size for a lunch bag. 

I gave the Americana bag by True Wind to a young Navy lieutenant who's gotta thing for socks. He was in town on shore leave -- so to speak -- and volunteered to be my model. Anchor Crankers are like that. Always volunteering. After I volunteered for the army I never volunteered for anything again... I only wish he was wearing dress whites. That'd be a snappy look with this bag -- Bill Cunningham would be all over it.

The Americana Bag
$220
Get it here.

Bespoke Drawers - Not In Any Stores

I like to match my boxers to my shirts.  It's just a thing I do. Call David Mercer for details. Not about my boxers but about his boxers.  

Mr. Davis

Phyllis Diller & The Monica Lewinsky Joke

"Come again?"

"Monica Lewinsky. She's outta the news but she's still around. She went to the cleaners the other day, took a dress in and said, "I'd like my dress cleaned." He's hard of hearing and says, 'Come again?' She said, 'No, it's orange juice.' A-Haa -haa - haaa"

Phyllis Diller, The Aristocrats

"Let me tell you something, my friend -- Being a fat narcissist isn't easy."

Not many have seen the movie produced by Blake Edwards starring Jackie Gleason, Steve McQueen and Tuesday Weld. Fewer still have the read the book by William Goldman. I saw the movie 10 or more years ago. It'll make a rock cry. I ordered the book tonight. A character study of the early '60s peace time Army. Gleason is magical as a wheeler-dealer supply master sergeant and mentor to ambitious buck sergeant, Steve McQueen. It's solid gold.

You Do What You Have To Do...

John Mason Brown, 1952

"Remember, you have been spared the unintentional cruelty of that kind of Progressive education which misleads the young into believing that they will be free to do what they want to do, at the moment and in the way they want to do it. The reality of life is quite different. Most people spend most of their days doing what they do not want to do in order to earn the right, at times, to do what they may desire. . .


John Mason Brown, Esquire, 1960

Testing has been the eternal challenge. To live, men have had to live with this challenge through the ages but undaunted by it, even as they have had to live with the knowledge that death is the ultimate challenge of life. . .


John Mason Brown, Obituary, 1969

To say that the world at present stinks is to understate its fragrance. To say that it must stink forever is a lie. . . I trust that you and your contemporaries will earn the right to be known as the unbeatable generation."

John Mason Brown, Graduation Address, Groton School, 1958

Stealing in Boston

An Affordable Wardrobe's Flea Market is on again this Sunday up in Boston. I understand everything has been dry cleaned so nothing smells like Lucky Strikes or has got bed bugs. Still, you may wanna go through the pockets 'cause you never know what you'll find.

More Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot!

The New Yorker - July 25th, 2011

"What do you trad gentlemen wear when it's this f-ing hot? I assume you ain't sitting on lawn chairs in flip-flops, basketball shorts and t-shirts with the sleeves cut off like us clowns in the midwest.

That said, after the first drink or two, everyone's drinking warm beer when it's this hot." Comment from JW @2:53 PM today.

Heaven On 7 - George G Graham

John Locke Boater


Locke Coke


New Old Stock



Super Badger


Super Cashmere Sweaters from William Lockie


Fair Isle Sweaters


Chrysalis Field Coat




George's own likeness carved some years ago


George some years ago


Field Coat Tweeds

Go on...


and on.



Grown Up Surcingle


and not so surcingle.


A lot of Friday Belts

and peccary.


George's own Peccary Patina


Lid Over Body Case by Ettinger


with Hunter Green lining.

George and Tony Sylvester, GQ Style - UK

The dog barks. Loudly. And you know it's not a little dog on the other side of Suite 704's door. I'm not sure I want the door to open. But it does. George Graham invites us in to a haberdasher's wet dream. A dream of yesterday when things were made like, "a brick shit house." Where leather is thick and oily and cashmere sweaters, "Be careful over there!" are protected by George's own bark.

I associate much of the new 'preppy' with trying too hard. The whales, pink and green, diamond monograms, madras...These things are fine when they stand alone but they almost never do. Instead, its all worn head to toe in the much the same way a 25 year old will include summer jobs on their resume. Suite 704 is about taking jobs off the resume.

George acts as a middle man serving the retailers who don't want you to know who he is. He brings the truffles of Scotland, Dublin and London. His taste is what you see on shelves and hanging from racks when you go shopping. It sounds like a dream job to me.

"I told my kids to find another business." George says shaking his head. "Buyers don't know anything anymore. They click '15 Units' on a computer and have no idea of the history of what they're buying. A retailer called me complaining of oil on sweaters. It's supposed to have oil. That's what makes 'em waterproof! They only care about the dollars."

George came to NYC from Chicago in the '50s. I didn't press for the date. He was tired of working for a family company and wasn't overwhelmed with opportunities after graduating with a degree in aeronautical engineering. We talk about Chicago and the south side and George smiles when I ask if he knew Capper and Capper. "A great company." The dog, Picasso drops to the floor and settles into a rawhide.

The lace peccary gloves are a bit over the top but they're Italian so it goes without saying. The field coats sing to my Anglophile heart while Tony keeps asking me to feel a cashmere watch cap from Locke that, not surprisingly, suits Tony to his British Navy genes. If you're lucky, a sample that fits can be bought. And at a considerable cash discount. Just call before you head over.

I tell George the Internet may be the salvation for everything in this room. "It's a narrow niche but it's deep with people who search high and low for what you know and have." The words no sooner leave my lips when the phone rings. George puts the call on speaker and it's an old friend calling on behalf of a blogger who wants to interview him. I'd like the niche to open up just a little more for George.

George G Graham Galleries
12 West 57th Street, Suite 704
NY, NY 10019
212.582.7750
Call for an appointment

Off My Back: Vintage from Hornets

Hornets: 2&4 Kennsington Church Walk, London (photo: Not Mine)

Out of the way but worth it. (Photo: Not Mine)

A Shirt Valise (Photo: Not Yours. Mine)

from the 1920s according to Hornets. (Photo: Not Yours. Mine)

I'm guessing hog skin (Photo: Not Yours. Mine)

Anachronistic luggage, (Photo: Not Yours. Mine)

where purpose & style are served... (Photo: Not Yours. Mine)

for 25 Quid. (Photo: Not Yours. Mine)

London is a man's city. I'm not the first to say it and as long as there are places like Hornets, I will not be the last. It's hard for a visting American to find. Maybe that's intentional. I first heard of it from a claims man who worked for a Lloyd's of London syndicate. Whispered over pints on a Friday night in the Lamb, "Mate, you've got to check this place out, yeah?" As he offered me a Silk Cut he added, "But tell no one."

I have great respect for claims people. They know a bargain when they see one. They have to. I'll spare you the search. My poor sense of direction combined with a poor map (never get directions from claims people) are best left to history. But when I finally found it. It was worth it. A hundred times over.

Savile Row suits are crammed tight onto racks with new old stock shirts falling off shelves. Hats from St James, bespoke shoes, cricket bats, public school blazers, tweed sport coats, shooting jackets...it's almost too much. Any vintage hunter would shoot off a flare at the discovery of one item. In Hornets, there are thousands of discoveries. This was mine.

I bought a couple suits (Anderson & Shepard) and shirts (Airey & Wheeler) but the hog skin valise up there was my signal flare. The exchange was almost 2 to 1 but then it almost always is when I'm in London. $50 was steep but, like so many things in Hornets there was real authenticity. Even history. Who owned it and where had it been? I didn't need to hear I was recycling from the gentleman helping me but it didn't hurt.

I didn't tell anyone. Well, not many. And while its been almost 10 years -- I figure the shirt's out of the valise.

Mercer & Son's Buffalo Bill Gingham

"Our shirts really do have character where other shirts look like they're made by robots. If it looks perfect, it really has no style. Art not science. " David Mercer

"Being as small as we are, often we're doing one shirt at a time. We have always been focused on quality first and value second." DM

"We were 5-6 weeks and are 7-8 at moment. -hope to cut that back to 5-6." The wait

"Dried Blood Gingham."

Same Mercer roll as the button down

Best to stay outta PJ Clarke's

Perfect button holes

Broad cloth, surcingle & canvas

Understanding the history-

if for no else...

...than you.

I reckon I've tried a half dozen MTM shirt makers in the last couple of years with varying success. I have developed an eye for a well made shirt and my rule is, "The simpler the better." If Mercer & Sons aren't MTM - they should be. Left arm half inch shorter than your right? Mercer will take care of it. Don't want a pocket but do want a locker loop. Mercer will take care of it. Each shirt is cut for you after you order so nothing is off the shelf.

David Mercer and I worked on this shirt together. I wanted a dark burgundy-over sized gingham and no one had the fabric. A lotta folks said, "No problem, we can get that." And when it came time to get -- they couldn't. This happens a lot in the MTM shirt biz. For whatever reason the swatch in the book is not supported by yardage at the plant. It's frustrating.

I'll never know how David found this fabric but my "Dried Blood Gingham" was perfect for what I had in mind. David did talk me into a plain collar for what he calls, "the Buffalo Bill." My first plain collar will not be the last.

It's softer and more comfortable than the button down. It's not lined and unbuttoned it's very relaxed looking with a perfect roll. There's no matching sleeve to yoke patterns but that's easily overlooked by just how damned well this thing is put together.

There's a lotta mass produced crap out there with bespoke details like split yoke, double/ triple button cuffs and contrast button hole stitching but they come in M, L and XL along with goods of questionable origins. It's amazing what some folks are getting away with. I paid $135 for mine but David is offering you the Buffalo Bill for $102 and free shipping.

That ain't bad at all for what probably are the best, non-MTM-but-better-than-MTM-shirts out there. Go here for details and the secret order code.