Fuck Yeah Charlie Davidson!

"Maybe the sheep caught the clap or something. Don’t worry, it won’t rub off on you."

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 13:06:00 -0500

“Maybe the sheep caught the clap or something. Don’t worry, it won’t rub off on you.”

- C. Davidson, to a customer complaining about pilling on his Shetland sweater.

"I’d cuff my boxer shorts if I could."

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 18:58:31 -0400

“I’d cuff my boxer shorts if I could.”

- Charlie Davidson, when asked if he prefers cuffs.

"George also spent a great deal of time back in Boston through these years—mostly at his..."

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 15:26:45 -0400

“

George also spent a great deal of time back in Boston through these years—mostly at his father’s house in West Roxbury….but now and again at Charlie Davidson’s home in Belmont. Davidson was proprietor of the Andover Shop, a men’s clothing store in Harvard Square. He was a close friend of Charlie Bourgeois and George Wein, and frist met Frazier at Storyville about the time of the Lee Wiley Adventure. The two men became fast friends. They discovered that their tastes in clothes, jazz, books, and good times were very nearly identical. Through the last fifteen years of Frazier’s life, Charlie Davidson was his closest friend and only confidant.

It is not unfair to suggest that Charlie taught George Frazier everything he knew about clothes. Though George had always been a natty dresser, he never tried to pass himself off as an expert in the field until he got to know Davidson and started picking his brain. Davidson would take Frazier with him on buying trips to New York. In the Andover Shop, George would stand at Davidson’s side as he watched his tailors cut the cloath for a coat or suit. Davidson was a big help in the preparation of George’s “The Art of Wearing Clothes,” a 10,000-word piece of men’s fashion that ran in Esquire in September 1960.

”

- an excerpt from Chas. Fountain’s Another Man’s Poison: The Life and Writing of Columnist George Frazier

"I must apologize to Davidson, who is not the man I’ve hated since 2003. It’s the other..."

Thu, 23 Aug 2012 08:46:03 -0400

“I must apologize to Davidson, who is not the man I’ve hated since 2003. It’s the other guy at the Andover Shop, with more hair.”

- F. Leung, co-owner of StyleForum, on his long-held grudge

"Is this the same “Andover Shop” that’s on Holyoke St? That place is awesome. A few..."

Tue, 21 Aug 2012 18:08:32 -0400

“Is this the same “Andover Shop” that’s on Holyoke St? That place is awesome. A few years ago my baggage got “lost” by United on a flight up for an interview, and I was wearing a t-shirt, breakaway pants, and sandals from the flight. I needed cheap clothing for the interview so I asked some people on the street where a few clothing stores were. Hah. I went in there, took one look, and immediately turned around. This extraordinarily old guy stopped me and asked me why I was in such a hurry; I explained my situation, and after a few awkward minutes, he started chuckling and gave me directions to the mall. He seemed pretty friendly to me. And I’m far from a WASP being, well, Korean.”

- Styleforum member thebeatblitz on his Andover Shop experience, written in the same thread as NukeMeSlowly’s. We can only hope the gentleman he met was the legendary Charlie Davidson

"I was surprised how small the place is - my hotel room is actually bigger. I started to look around..."

Tue, 21 Aug 2012 18:08:24 -0400

“

I was surprised how small the place is - my hotel room is actually bigger. I started to look around and immediately started to pick up a weird vibe from the staff. I don’t know the names so I will give descriptions. First guy, looked like a shorter version of Fred Gwynn of Munsters fame. Second guy, harried looking weasel faced gent. Last guy, short, old, has artificial voicebox (owner I believe). Turns out, asking questions at the Andover Shop gets you thrown out.

I am not kidding.

Now, I am not talking about questions about their wives’ favorite sexual postions or if they screw goats. I mean questions like “Do you have the Thurston braces in boxcloth?”, “Is this suit made by Samuelsohn?” and “Do you have a measuring tape I can use?” [I wanted to get some pocket squares but I wanted to make sure they were big enough and Fred Gwynn didn’t know their dimensions] That last question got me tossed from the store. Weasel face guy started yelling at me and cancer throat guy told me to leave. I kept my composure and asked if I had somehow offended them. What exactly had I done wrong? Cancer throat just kept muttering and shaking his head in disgust.

”

- StyleForum member NukeMeSlowly, on how he got tossed out of The Andover Shop after asking too many questions, the last being, you should note, whether he can have a measuring tape so he could measure pocket squares.

"The Holyoke center, a huge building by famous architect Josep Lluis Sert, was once under..."

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 08:51:42 -0400

“The Holyoke center, a huge building by famous architect Josep Lluis Sert, was once under construction. The Andover Shop was also under construction on a small lot on Holyoke Street, just across from it. Often, Charlie would come by to check progress on his new building, only to find Sert himself with members of his design team using a scaffold on the Andover Shop’s site as a viewing stand for the huge construction across the street.

“That guy Sert was a real asshole,” Charlie said. “He’d be over here all the time just standing around looking at his construction site. One day he asked me what I thought of his building. I said ‘I like my buiding better. Now get the fuck off of my property!””

- as told to me by Giuseppe at An Affordable Wardrobe

"Forward pleats were always the thing. Forgive me, I know you’re Italian, but reverse pleats..."

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 08:45:48 -0400

“Forward pleats were always the thing. Forgive me, I know you’re Italian, but reverse pleats are just too damn Italian. They make you look like a pimp.”

- Charlie Davidson (via An Affordable Wardrobe)

"According to Davidson, Harvard plays down enthusiasm for football as smacking of the Big Ten. Big..."

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 08:59:00 -0400

“According to Davidson, Harvard plays down enthusiasm for football as smacking of the Big Ten. Big Ten is the Harvard way of saying corny. “I used to have a clerk here,” said Davidson, “who was from Exeter, a Harvard undergraduate. And whenever he saw a Midwesterner coming into the shop, he’d mutter, ‘Oh, here comes another one of those Four-H Club bastards.’” At Harvard, Davidson concluded, “It’s all right to hold a rally for SANE or H. Stuart Hughes, but not for football.””

- Sport Mirror of American Life

"But to stimulate Charlie’s enthusiasm — to get him to bust out the really rare stuff — one must..."

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 13:28:19 -0400

“But to stimulate Charlie’s enthusiasm — to get him to bust out the really rare stuff — one must demonstrate genuine interest in clothes and a certain esprit. With his well known aloofness, some shy customers feel like commissioning a suit from Charlie Davidson is like going to an audition. “He’s a brilliant designer and an excellent merchandiser, but a very private individual,” says Richard Press, grandson of the founder of rival Ivy League haberdasher J. Press. “I always felt that The Andover Shop was a very private commercial enterprise. It served a fairly narrow range of people who met Charlie’s very difficult credentials of acceptability. He didn’t seem to welcome customers he didn’t feel belonged at The Andover Shop. He’s a vastly entertaining individual, but does not suffer fools lightly. ””

- From a wonderful profile on Charlie Davidson, written by Christian Chensvold for The Rake

"Lest anyone think the best-connected person in Boston is some ubiquitous publicist or power broker,..."

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 08:41:56 -0400

“Lest anyone think the best-connected person in Boston is some ubiquitous publicist or power broker, the truth has come out. As those in the know have long known, the small-world trail in these parts will always lead to a modest man in Harvard Square, Charlie Davidson, now officially anointed by the New Yorker as “the man who knows everyone.” Davidson, owner of the Andover Shop, was cited in Malcolm Gladwell’s recent piece on six degrees of separation, which focused on Chicagoan Lois Weisberg. Talking earlier this week about connections on Chris Lydon’s radio program, The Connection, Gladwell explained how he concocted a test to quantify how many people any given person might know. He picked 250 unusual surnames from the Manhattan phone book and ran the list past hundreds of people he’d been referred to in numerous cities. The object was to identify as many surnames as possible of people you really knew, as in “Winterbottom, oh yeah, I know a Joe Winterbottom in Akron.” “The average score was about 40,” said Gladwell, “and Charlie got 125. Totally off the charts.” Davidson’s social ties, constructed over 50 years as tailor and confidant to generations of Bostonians, extend way beyond Harvard Square, to the jazz, literature, and fashion circles of New York and Europe. Said Lydon, who, as might be expected, numbers Davidson among his best friends, “The best thing about Charlie is that he really doesn’t care. He isn’t trying to cultivate anyone. He’s just Charlie.” As for Davidson, all he has to say is, “This is so absurd.””

- Nancy Gaines, Loosely Speaking

"It’s a party in here every day."

Sat, 04 Aug 2012 13:22:14 -0400

“It’s a party in here every day.”

- Charlie Davidson, on his retail career (via Ivy Style)

"Charlie is famous for refusing to sell to people who wander into his little shop and don’t..."

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 23:51:00 -0400

“

Charlie is famous for refusing to sell to people who wander into his little shop and don’t measure up under his quick assessment of their taste. In the mid-1970s a wealthy businessman came into the store. He had been referred to Charlie. The man ordered three suits, custom made. Charlie took the order and told the customer they would be ready in “about a month.” After five weeks the customer, whose last name was Zachary, called to inquire after his suits.

“Not quite yet,” Charlie said.

Another two weeks went by, and Zachary was put off again. Charlie had not made the suits. “He’ll get the message,” Charlie told me. “I am not sure I like the cut of his jib.”

Four weeks more, and Zachary called, irate. “What the hell do you do over there?” he asked. “Make the clothes alphabetically?” After hearing this line, Charlie made the suits. Zachary had passed the test.

”

- John D. Spooner, on Charlie Davidson

"It sounds corny now, but Miles [Davis] liked the real Ivy League look, and it became the hip way of..."

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 18:15:00 -0400

“It sounds corny now, but Miles [Davis] liked the real Ivy League look, and it became the hip way of dressing.”

- Charlie Davidson, The Andover Shop. (quote found via Voxsartoria; originally published in Ralph Lauren Magazine in an article by Christian Chensvold)

“And when the GAP had a new ad campaign with a vintage pic...

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 17:53:11 -0400

“And when the GAP had a new ad campaign with a vintage pic of Chet Baker wearing khakis, Charlie said ‘hell those were Andover Shop khakis!’” - David

Pictures of Charlie’s sport coat, originally published at...

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 17:51:00 -0400

Pictures of Charlie’s sport coat, originally published at The Trad.

"About a month ago I was talking to Alan Flusser about this idea I have. He asked me if I’d..."

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 17:45:00 -0400

“About a month ago I was talking to Alan Flusser about this idea I have. He asked me if I’d been to the Andover Shop in Boston. I told him no. He asked why not. I told him I was scared shitless of Charlie Davidson.”

- John Tinseth

“I’m not wearing it til next year…it needs...

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 17:42:58 -0400

“I’m not wearing it til next year…it needs some time to hang…” - Charlie Davidson, via TheTrad

voxsartoria: Charlie Davidson of the Andover Shop Tells You His Five Rules for Bow Ties

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 17:40:12 -0400

voxsartoria: Charlie Davidson of the Andover Shop Tells You His Five Rules for Bow Ties:

“First of all,” Charlie said, “when people ask me if I’m married, I always say, ‘Yes, but I’m not a fanatic about it.’ So here’s Number One: Do not wear bows all the time. Keep the viewer off balance. Wear them once in a while, the way you might eat liver.

“Number Two: Never wear a bow tie to an interview or a pitch for new business. People will concentrate on the tie rather than on what you are saying.

“Number Three: In the men’s-clothing business ten percent of tie sales were in bows … forever. Today it’s fifteen percent or twenty percent, which is unprecedented. This tells me that there is such ambiguity of roles today that men are desperate to assert something.

“Number Four: You would be amazed at the practical reasons people wear bows. Doctors have always worn them, because patients can’t reach up and yank on them the way they could with the four-in-hands. Certain men wear them in the summer because they eat more salads. Dressing can splash on long ties.

“And Number Five: Men who wear bow ties care more about themselves than they do about you.”

— as told to John D. Spooner (via Voxsartoria)

"Who wants to look like a fucking Polo window?"

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 17:40:00 -0400

“Who wants to look like a fucking Polo window?”

- Charlie Davidson, The Andover Shop. (via Voxsartoria, originally published at The Trad)