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<\/a><\/p>\nBarred owl spotting<\/p>\n
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VR: Your educational background?<\/p>\n
B: I graduated from a Midwestern University in 1964, having majored in Industrial Engineering and Business Administration. I chose my college for the most rigorous of reasons \u2013 my High School\u00a0 sweetheart was gonna go there, and they offered me an Athletic Scholarship to run and jump for them! Such failure to focus on the central factors in an important decision would episodically haunt me throughout my life. Still, serendipity befell me often enough so that everything kinda balanced out. As I entered college, my vague career goal was to be a car designer for Jaguar or Ferrari. Sometime early in those college days, that dream sloughed off and slid away. Nonetheless, I still sketch sleek automobiles while sitting in the waiting room of my auto repair shop. And, yes, I do notice that my drawing hand isn\u2019t as steady as it once was. :-)<\/p>\n
I was fortunate to make the Dean\u2019s List several times in college. I also made the Dean\u2019s \u201cOne more time and I\u2019ll boot you outa here!\u201d list. For a brief period, my future wife thought the song the best fit me was a Country and Western ditty by Faron Young, entitled \u201cLive Fast, Love Hard, Die Young.\u201d<\/p>\n
“As a Junior in college, 1962: corduroy sport coat, tabbed club collar shirt, obligatory skinny tie of the era.”<\/p>\n \n VR: How do your wife and children relate to your style enthusiasm?<\/p>\n B: That I didn\u2019t die young was the result of two women who believed in me: My wife of fifty-one years and my business partner of 31 years. I am grateful to them both. They both believe my apparel fetish is a genetic defect with which they have learned to live. As to my three Sons, the oldest has zero interest in clothes and has his wife buy his clothes and suggest what he wears. The other two boys are natural shoulder dressers, from their Brooks Brothers 132Q button-downs, right down to their Allen-Edmonds Strand shoes.<\/p>\n “1963: Best dressed male on Campus.”<\/p>\n \n VR: …and your parents and siblings’ reactions back when you were younger?<\/p>\n B: Neither of my parents dressed stylishly. Nor did my brother or sister. They always looked tidy, but they just didn\u2019t pay much attention to clothes \u2013 and that included mine. Of course, in the late 1950s and 1960s, wearing\u00a0 the Ivy League Look was like putting on\u00a0the Cloak of\u00a0Invisibility. Since almost all the guys who thought about clothes wore the same look, nobody paid any particular attention to someone wearing Ivy gear. I was merely EVERYMAN.<\/p>\n VR: What other hobbies or passions do you have besides Ivy gear?<\/p>\n B: My wife and I love modern Architecture. In particular, I love the so-called Organic branch of modern architecture. We have purchased, restored, and lived in four modernist houses \u2013 all of which came with the original plans. In addition, I wrote and had published a monograph on the architect of one of the houses we owned. Our library is weighed down by more than 200 architecture and modern design books. It has been an interest of mine since my Dad gave me a copy of\u00a0the Herman Miller collection\u00a0in 1952, nearly sixty-three years ago. The book was co-authored by two architects and furniture designers, George Nelson and Charles Eames. Their simple, minimalist, form-follows-function furniture is what I have lived with for a long time. That furniture, and the modernist architecture with which it fits,\u00a0 has a certain parallel with the Ivy League Look. They share design principals of minimalism, no (or very little) ornamentation, and the belief that form follows function.<\/p>\n My other passion is Lacrosse, a Native American game that has been played for more than 600 years. The game was used as a dispute resolution method between tribes, and the game is called \u2013 by Native Americans \u2013\u00a0the Little Brother of War. I became involved with Lacrosse on a long-ago day when my youngest and I were sitting in a city park, waiting for his Little League Baseball practice to start. He saw three lacrosse-playing boys from the local High School team having a catch, with helmets and gloves on and sticks in their hands. He watched this fast, fluid game for a couple of minutes, turned to me and said, \u201cDa, that\u2019s the game I want to play. What is it?\u201d\u00a0 Those two sentences changed my life. Valuing the traditions of long ago came to be something I cherished. That formerly un-exercised part of me also reinforced my interest in traditional apparel! My youngest recently turned 21. He continues to play the game to this day. On Spring days, whenever there\u2019s a game, you\u2019ll find me sittin\u2019 in the stands, at his college Lacrosse Stadium, as he and his teammates do battle with other NCAA DI lacrosse teams.<\/p>\n “J. Press handwoven Donegal Mist 3\/2-roll jacket, cable knit Cardigan vest, and Light-gray flannels.”<\/p>\n \n VR: How did you first become interested in style, and when did you turn your eyes towards the classics? Why Ivy style above others?<\/p>\n B: In November of 1958, my family hosted the Thanksgiving Dinner for both sides of our family. I was a Sixteen-year-old High School Senior, already at work on my college applications. My two college-attending male cousins arrived, dressed in very similar outfits. Both were wearing Bass Weejuns, Wigwam wool crew socks, pressed khaki pants with cuff\/no break and white Oxford Cloth Button-Down shirts. Both wore Shetland sweaters \u2013 the Northwestern cousin a Caramel Tan V-neck and the Cornell cousin a Gray crewneck. I was stunned. Those were the best looking rigs I had EVER seen! Every component seemed to fit perfectly with every other component. It all seemed so\u2026 so\u2026\u00a0coherent\u00a0to me! I did not know that the cousins were wearing something called The Ivy League Look, I just knew that I wanted to wear that AND NOTHING BUT THAT! There was nothing loud about the cousins\u2019 apparel. The colors were quiet, the shirt collar and trousers were crisp, and, except for the Weejuns, nothing was shiny. To a color-blind guy like me, each of the guys looked just PERFECT.<\/p>\n I came to find out that The Ivy League Look was the dominant menswear look on college campuses throughout the nation. It had been that way for about 15-20 years and would remain that way for another decade. I\u2019d seen David Nelson of \u201cThe Ozzie and Harriet\u201d television show wear similar things (he was then a college student at USC and a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity) and I liked them. But seeing those apparel elements in person, being driven nearly crazy by the deep, dense, textured, Shetland wool, the perfectly creased Khakis, the slouchy wool socks, and the shine on the \u201cBrush-off\u201d Weejuns caused me to say to myself, \u201cWhy would anyone\u00a0ever\u00a0wear anything but this kind of clothing?\u201d Fifty-six years later, I still think the same thing!<\/p>\n “Club wear: 3\/2-roll tweed jacket, 6 button vest, brown suede loafers.”<\/p>\n \n VR: How have you gathered your knowledge of the tailored look — from books, talks with salesmen or somewhere else?<\/p>\n B: When I arrived at college in the Fall of 1959, I quickly spotted the Campus \u201cIvy\u201d shop. I walked in, wearing the one outfit I\u2019d copied from my cousins. Richard Ross \u2013 Dick to his friends \u2013 Mr. Ross to me, was the proprietor. He was a diminutive Scottish gentleman, with only a trace of a burr. As I walked in, he greeted me, though I was in the midst of being dumbstruck by the tie table, the shirt shelves, the tweed sport coat racks, the reversible outerwear. It was too much for me! I blurted out, \u201cHello! I would like to work here part-time, as I\u2019m a student at the University and I just pledged Kappa Sigma and I\u2019ll do it for free if I have to.\u201d Yup, that was the world\u2019s longest run-on sentence, but I needed to get it all out in one breath!<\/p>\n He smiled, and gently asked, \u201cWhat do you know about clothes?\u201d<\/p>\n Without thinking I said, \u201cI know nearly nothing and I want to learn nearly everything!\u201d<\/p>\n Well, he hired me and I worked at his store part-time for close to four years. He taught me how to think about, and describe, collar roll. He meticulously compared the two shirt brands we carried, Gant and Sero, so that I could help customers find the best shirt for them. He let me sit in on the conversations he had with the sales reps who came calling. They usually repped (represented) more than one line. Our Gant guy repped Reis of New Haven ties as well. I was in heaven as I listened to the rep pitch Mr. Ross, and heard Mr. Ross asking the tough questions. Sitting silent, I thought to myself, \u201cSomeday, I\u2019d like to know enough to ask the tough questions.\u201d\u00a0 Much later, I\u2019d learn to ask tough questions, but that was in a different industry and at a different time.<\/p>\n Mr. Ross was my mentor. He taught me everything. In return, he expected perfection from me. For example, the phrase, \u201cCuff\/no break,\u201d was not just a good idea, it was THE LAW if you worked for Dick Ross. Every day I worked, I\u2019d come in and he\u2019d look me over. If my pants had a break, he\u2019d gently say, \u201cBill, adjust your braces.\u201d I didn\u2019t wear braces \u2013 he knew I wore a belt. That was just his gentle way of saying, \u201cFix it, Bill!!\u201d After a few more episodes of \u201cbig break,\u201d he blurted out, \u201cBill, it is better to endure the occasional flood than to live in a perpetual puddle!\u201d At that point, I got it. There was never any break in my trousers again!<\/p>\n A couple of years into my part-time job, Mr, Ross asked me to represent his store in the University\u2019s \u201cBest Dressed\u201d competition. I felt that all that I\u2019d learned from him would stand me in good stead. It did! I was named the Best Dressed Man on Campus. I had learned so much from him.<\/p>\n Mr. Ross was the only person who mentored me in apparel. For the rest of my life, mistakes have been my teacher. I have made many, and I\u2019ve had to address them on my own. For better or worse, I\u2019m an analytic guy. I LIKE to analyze problems, find out what went wrong,\u00a0 and work to find solutions. Being colorblind is not the least of them. Thinking through fit issues is just another issue. I\u2019ve come to know what I want, and how to describe what I want to both retailers and tailors. There may be better, cheaper, and faster ways to learn the drill, but I found my way \u2013 and it works for me.<\/p>\n VR: How would you describe your style?<\/p>\n B: When I look in the mirror in the morning, I shake my head and say, \u201cYou\u2019ve sure become a\u00a0flamboyant old geezer!\u201d Somehow, in my old age, the Madras jackets are a little bolder, the trousers colors a little brighter, and the pocket squares ride a little higher in my breast pocket. Somewhere along the way, those perfectly beautiful neutrals I started out with have mutated into something more bold. I don\u2019t understand why. It just is.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n VR: Which tailors or RTW makers do you favour and why?<\/p>\n B: First, I am a\u00a0 Ready To Wear guy and, with one exception, always have been. About 30 years ago, though, I thought the next step in my sartorial development would be to start on the bespoke tailoring path by having a suit measured, a pattern made, cloth selected, and three or more fittings undertaken. Long story short, I loved the suit, but ended up hating myself. I learned that I\u2019m a RTW guy. It\u2019s just how I\u2019m wired.<\/p>\n I give my ready to wear tailored clothing business to: The Andover Shop, Ben Silver, Brooks Brothers, J. Press, and O\u2019Connell\u2019s.\u00a0 Most of my purchases come from Internet orders. The only vendor who would recognize me when I called or visited would be Jim Fitzgerald at J. Press.<\/p>\n It\u2019s much harder buying today than it was a decade ago! Adjusting for all the new Brooks Brothers models, the various J. Press manufacturers, each using their own patterns and their own interpretation of natural shoulder, O\u2019Connell\u2019s with several sport coat and suit manufacturers, each using different patterns, is painful. Add to this the advent of vanity sizing, with a 42R today measuring bigger than the 42R of a decade or two ago. My actual chest measurement remains 42, but in, say, Brooks Brothers Madison or Fitzgerald fits, I was once a 42R, but have become a 41R. It takes a lot of work to keep up with the changes vendors make!<\/p>\n If the question had been, \u201cWho are you rooting for? among RTW clothiers\u201d my answer is, and always will be, \u201cI root for the little guys!\u201d J. Press, The Andover Shop and O\u2019Connell\u2019s.<\/p>\n VR: Have you any particular style or cut philosophy behind your items?<\/p>\n B: Yup! Here are Billax\u2019s stupid rules: 1) In the Ivy League Look all cinches, closures, and adjusters are invisible when standing. 2) In the Ivy League Look all ornamentation is exposed when standing. 3) When rules 1 and 2 are in conflict, rule 1 takes precedence.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n VR: Who or what inspires you?<\/p>\n B: Charlie Davidson of The Andover Shop and the Huber men of O\u2019Connell\u2019s. These entrepreneurial guys opened for business in 1953 and 1959, respectively. By 1967 one could hear the death rattle of Ivy style. A thousand Ivy retailers shuttered their doors. Only a handful remain. Gotta admire the grit of these gentlemen!<\/p>\n “Summer garden party wear: 3\/2 Navy Hopsack Blazer, Seersucker vest, linen trousers, and Spectator wingtips.”<\/p>\n \n VR: What\u2019s your definition of style?<\/p>\n B: The following definition resonates with me:\u00a0A distinctive appearance, typically determined by the principles according to which something is designed.\u00a0In Architecture, Automobiles and Ivy League Men\u2019s apparel this definition is applicable.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n VR: Finally, what can Keikari’s readers learn from traditional American dress?<\/p>\n B: I\u2019ve written that there are four sub-styles of the Ivy League Look: Campus, Country, City, and Club. Of these, I believe the Campus look best reflects the American character. When Yale introduced a Dress Code in 1952 that required a coat and tie to enter the Commons (the University-wide dining room at that time), Yalies responded by complying with the letter of the law. The Spirit of the Law? Not so much!\u00a0 One can see pictures in Take Ivy (taken in 1968) of Yalies walking on campus in Bermuda shorts, OCBDs and Madras sport coats\u2026 wearing ties. Americans have never much liked to be told what to do! By the way, as Yale declared, in 1968, that they would admit women for the 1969-70 Academic year, they also abandoned the Dress Code!<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n