Are you kidding me?

Now where will Angus, Whitney, Alistair and Henry shop?





What is going on? What is happening to Brooks Brothers? So this past Sunday I went to my local BB to see what was on sale. Ok, the ground floor has the same old blue boxes on tables filled with dress shirts and oxfords. I go to the second floor to look at sportswear. I did find some pretty good deals on Country Club button downs. At the corner of my eye I saw some dark greys, and some navy. Oh, the fall stuff is out, but it is arranged with some sort of locker display and Harvard pennants. As I get closer, I see what appears to be denim....

What? Okay, I know BB has had denim before, regular relaxed fit in stone wash and dark stone wash, but Levis jeans by Brooks? What is going on? First was Black Fleece, designed by former Club Monaco designer Thom Browne. That was okay I guess, maybe BB was testing the waters and wanted to see if it could rope in the Greenwich Village/Provincetown consumer, and try to sell "classic style" cut extremely close to the body so you can see the guy who is wearing it package. Then it was the extra slim fit shirt. They must of introduced this so they could attract the customer that shops at Abercrombie, Express and D&G. But now a "collaboration" with Levis to produce "slim fit" jeans? So BB is now fashionable? A stalwart of the American Conservative lifestyle of Prep Schools, Republicans, Colonial Houses, Fox Hunting, and the Cape, BB is now being pandered to the Socially Liberal, Miami Beach and San Francisco crowd, that wear fake eyeglasses and love to wear "classic pieces", (even though in high school they wore Abercrombie and Diesel and jelled their hair).

Don't get me wrong, I like to wear jeans, but I will buy them from RL, Jack Wills, Lee Cooper, even Seven Jeans. My problem is, a store with tradition is loosing it because brand collaboration is fashionable and a mutated form of "preppy" is in style.

Is BB following Abercrombie: except instead of dying slowly and then being bought and transformed over a decade into a young persons fashion outfitter (and then later a store for Europeans on holiday in the US or 40year old gay men), BB is transforming in just a few years.

I guess because "preppy" was the newest fashion a few years ago and is still holding strong, they must have decided to give into the idea of "sexy, fashionable, club in the Meatpacking district and wear Prada shades preppy". Well, they can do that whilst their clientele (who were outfitted there since they were youngsters). Will now have to only go to J.Press, The Andover Shop, Thomas Pink, and T.M.Lewin for work wear, and Vineyard Vines for everything else.

Next thing you know, the music in BB will be Vampire Weekend remixes and there will only be sales clerks between the ages of 19 and 26.