Sunday, August 27, 2017

"Farewell to the Jew Who Made WASPs Look Like WASPs"

Him and Ralph Livshitz (Lauren)-Jews who made WASPs look like WASPs. Love it.

Great story. 

"[Julius] Hertling, who died last week at the age of 92, owned a clothing manufacturing firm that made menswear for, among other clients, J. Press, the most preppissimo of brands, since 1902. According to a eulogy delivered by family scion Richard Press, and quoted at Ivy Style, where I found it:

"Julie Hertling was a very special man, illustrated by his heroism in the Battle Of The Bulge during World War II. When I met him in the mid-’60s, he had the gruff intelligence, go-get-’em quality of a veteran, but he was a magnificent manufacturer, and made more than half our suits on J. Press patterns devised by Paul and Irving Press …"
"He’d always take me to De Monte’s, which is a pseudo-mafia hangout in Brooklyn. In his factory he had about a dozen tailors making trousers, and he introduced me to every single one, and knew each of their biographies."

"In the tradition of Southwick and Norman Hilton, Hertling’s suits and sportcoats were natural shoulder with high notch lapel, represented perfectly the J. Press Ivy League soft-shoulder model. His trousers, which were a specialty, were mostly plain front with 20-inch knee and 17-inch bottom, and his grey flannel trousers were quintessential trouser for J. Press. He began manufacturing for us in the mid ’60s and when I left J. Press in 1991, he was still the primary source for suits and trousers."