After 100 years: the classic coat again
The year 1869 was, in the sporting sense, triply distinguished by the start of major league baseball, by the invention of intercollegiate football, and by an extraordinary elegance in the dress of the new spectator class. Baseball already has celebrated its centenary, and now football is about to exalt the memory of that first game, in which Rutgers beat Princeton 6-4. Appropriately enough, there is a revival of the sidelines scene that designers have come to call classic. This fall Princeton plays Rutgers again, and there will be parading and queens and centennial hoopla; the players will all wear 100 on their helmets and there in the stands will be the sporting classics—back in a new version of the old look that is likely to sweep 1969 stadiums. Today's designers have revived wide ties and maxi-mufflers; girls will be grand in the way great mod-grandmother used to be; the argyle-all-over look will be big. There will be plenty of polo coats, tied around the waist the way men did it when they wore them after playing real polo. Scarves will return, this time long enough to wrap up everybody on the 50-yard line, and the Norfolk jacket, once worn for shooting, will now be in style for spectating. The classic-lookers here and on the following pages are posed in front of pictures reflecting the grand old game and the fact that fashion has discovered the not-so-instant replay.
Norfolk-Jacketed Dave Demme and Lowell McGlothin yell with Cheerleader Tom McGuire (top left), while Murph Damron and Jill Twiddy (above) display their argyle suits. The backdrops: Rutgers teams of 1917 and 1895.
Three styles for '69 are these polo coats, such as the belted wool worn by Dave or cashmere model by Kathy Reagan—or the 100th anniversary gear by Rutgers Tailback Bruce Van Ness. Painting is by William Boyd, class of '32.
Against backdrop of Arnold Friberg's The First Game, lineup of classically coated fans gets set for a new season. At left, Dave wears a plaid tube coat, Cybill Shepherd a hooded wool and raccoon and Lowell (standing) a greatcoat. Ric Colby, in a guardsman coat, tosses a ball to Centennial Queen Barbara Specht of Texas Tech, who reigns in a maxi-raincoat, while Kathy stands by in leather splendor.
The Princeton Tiger meets the mini-raccoon, as worn here by Jill, while Lowell stands by in a belted polo coat. Jill's aviator cap, borrowed from a World War I number worn by Snoopy, is made of shearling—and both outfits are suitable for fall spectating.
WHERE TO GO CLASSIC
On page 56, both Norfolk jackets are Donegal tweeds. Dave wears black and white by Clubman, $70 at Field Brothers, New York, and Lowell's russet-colored coat is from Hunter-Haig, $65 at Rodes-Rapier, Louisville. Next, in argyles, Murph wears jump suit and cardigan by Luba for Elite, with matching hat by Madcaps. Jacket is $95 and jump suit $115 at Neiman-Marcus, Dallas. Jill's three-piece outfit is by Halston, $190 for the pullover, cardigan jacket and pants at Halston Boutique, Bloomingdale's, New York. On page 57, Dave wears a wrap-around camel-colored wool-and-mohair polo coat by Duncan-Reed, Ltd., $145 at Abercrombie & Fitch, New York, topped by a wide-brimmed Stetson. Kathy's cashmere coat and sable chopka (with earflaps tied on top) and silk scarf are all by Halston. The coat is $300 at Bloomingdale's. Her high suede boots are from Latinas. On pages 58-59 (from left) Dave wears camel-and-brown Glen plaid tube coat by Cardin/New York, $235 at Halle's, Cleveland. Cybill's wool-and-fur-trimmed maxi-coat is by Victor Joris for Cuddle-coat, $1,000 at Giorgio, Beverly Hills, Calif. Tossing the football, Ric wears double-breasted guardsman coat by Malcolm Kenneth, $225 at B. Altman, New York, set off by an 8-foot-long tartan scarf by Handcraft. Standing, Lowell wears World War I-vintage greatcoat of cotton gabardine, by Bill Blass for PBM, $165 at Bullock's Wilshire, Los Angeles and Palm Springs. Centennial Queen Barbara wears cotton gabardine maxi-trenchcoat by Cortefiel de España, $95 at Filene's, Boston. Her 6-foot-long Princeton scarf is from Madcaps and high leather boots are from Latinas. Next, Kathy stays warm in a fitted maxi-coat of glazed leather with navy pile collar, by Samuel Robert, $325 at Henri Bendel, New York. Her tweed carpet bag is by Gia. On page 60, Jill's short, natural American raccoon is from Fredrica, $1,295 at Miss Jackson's, Tulsa. Lowell's wool-and-mohair coat is by Duncan-Reed, $150 at Diamond and Company, Philadelphia. His cavalry twill slacks are from Austin-Hill Ltd. and jodhpur boots by Renegades.
FIVE PHOTOS
MARK KAUFFMAN