A Look at the Label: Ivy Inceptors
Breaking Down Brooks Brothers
Welcome to the first meeting dedicated to a particular brand with significance to the styles discussed in this publication, and what better place to start than a label which formed part of the genesis for these styles of dress.
To establish how these label-focussed meetings shall be formatted, firstly, I shan't be including comprehensive histories here, I’ll only include that which is necessary for discourse, for any further curiosity one can refer to the free encyclopaedia. Instead, I will be focussing on the garments themselves, what it is that a given label does well, and how to pick up good examples.
With that said, let us take a look at the iconic clothing of Brooks Brothers.
From when?
Prioritise Vintage
Whilst Brooks continues to produce clothing in the same vein of that for which it gained fame, I cannot in good faith recommend their new garments when compared to the ubiquity and affordability of buying vintage. We can explore specific pieces in a moment, but as a rule, we’re looking at vintage. Unfortunately, Brooks gave up what was left of their Made in America garments after filing for Chapter Eleven bankruptcy protection in twenty-twenty, and for some time prior much of their MIA collection was assembled from imported fabrics. So in essence, the older we can go the better, the more likely we are to find garments constructed of high quality fabrics.
Brooks have been around since 1818, now, if you stumble across some 19th century suiting in a thrift shop or on Vinted, I have to say I’d be rather impressed. Realistically, we are looking at post-war as a starting point, anything earlier is perhaps considered museum or archive worthy. It is in this time too that Brooks was informing the emergence of Ivy Style, so it makes sense that we’d be interested in this particular era. Though, searching for a specific era is likely to return more expensive listings, made by specialist sellers. If you are in a financial position to meet these rates, go ahead, those prices are on par with modern Brooks, in fact. For others, looking generally towards vintage, and keeping an eye out for the name in more affordable settings, is going to be better suited.
It’s worth being aware too of Brooks’ diffusion brands when looking at buying secondhand, refer to this article by SamTalksStyle for further information.
Second-hand, modern Brooks shouldn’t be overlooked, but care should be taken to avoid stretch fabrics and slim fits, especially in shirts and trousers.
What to Get, and Where?
OCBDs
Starting with the obvious, old Oxford shirts from Brooks will always be a staple, and perhaps there's a certain romantic notion regarding owning an OCBD from its originators. It is worth noting though, that over the past 80 or so years of the shirt’s existence, Brooks have made almost every combination of features that can be had. So, attention to details such as a box pleat, locker loops, which weren't a Brooks innovation but are present on more recent shirts, collar size, variations in breast pocket, or the absence of one. I feel just from that list that a meeting dedicated to the varying details of Oxfords is in order. In the mean-time, Brooks is great for Oxfords, but retain an eye for detail when searching for them, watch out for those stretch cloths. Given the iconic nature of these shirts, I have found them to be difficult to come by in vintage stores, in the UK at least, rather they warrant seeking out online. It is worth noting they can come at a premium when compared to picking up similar pieces from Gant, RL, J. Crew, rather they tend to be in-line with other more-pedigreed Ivy brands; J. Press, Kamakura, John Simons, though deals can be had with a little luck.
As an aside, PutThisOn presents a useful collection of images to aide in determining the age of a Brooks OCBD.
Pleated Pants
Vintage Brooks’ pleated trousers can be found cut from corduroy, worsted and woolen flannel among others. They present generous fits with medium to high rises. I’ve found pleats to be harder to come by than flat fronts in the same cloths, but I’ve also found Brooks trousers to appear often in thrift shops and kilo sales. They are great as something to just keep an eye out for when searching through stores such as these, but there are plenty to be found online too. These trousers can be had for very affordable prices with the aid of a bit of patience. I’d particularly recommend a pair of worsted or flannel pants, cords can be found easily from other sources.
Knitwear
Brooks’ knits are reasonably easy to find online, though prices vary wildly from piece to piece. They can be found in merino wool, lambswool, cashmere, a mix of v-necks, crews, cardigans and vests. For simple, plain knitwear it is hard to go wrong here, a wide selection of colours, and classic fits. It’s worth keeping an eye out for Red Fleece as a diffusion brand for knits especially, quality won’t be quite the same as a vintage Made in USA or Scotland knit, though still worth picking up if the price is right. In particular, a Shetland crew neck, cable-knit tennis sweater, and lightweight, solid-colour knits are worth looking for.
Club/Regimental Ties
Regimental ties from Brooks are beautiful, vintage examples can be found cut from English silk in the USA, for very reasonable prices. These are an absolute Ivy staple, it goes without saying, particularly as far as styling ties goes, they pair very well with sportier looks, when looking for them I might recommend buying ones which pair chromatically with pieces such as sweatshirts, caps, or rugby shirts which one might already own. There are a great many of these available on Etsy and eBay, for around £15-£30 here in the UK.
Omissions
There are a number of pieces, that, whilst presenting good quality, have been omitted here as a result of having limited relevance to styles of dress discussed within the club, suits and dress shirts for example. Further, there are a number of pieces that I wouldn't recommend picking up from Brooks, particularly footwear and more casual offerings, because there are simply other labels who do a better job. Finally there are omissions made as a result of items of equal quality being available more affordably from other labels, overcoats for instance, reference this earlier meeting for overcoat recommendations.
Brooks sit at the inception of the styles which form this publication, but as the years have gone on, one cannot help but posit that they aren’t quite what they once were. Looking at vintage pieces on the other hand reveals a veritable goldmine of affordable, quality garments, that will be at home within any Ivy based wardrobe. That said, they present only a drop in the ocean of labels and garments which might be of interest to the secondhand-shopping prepster, going forward one can expect more meetings of this sort, interspersed with other discourses of course.
Please share any further thoughts on Brooks below, I am curious to hear others’ experiences with both modern and vintage.
Meeting adjourned, see you at the next one.