Brooks Brothers
Brooks Brothers is an American luxury fashion company founded in 1818, the oldest apparel brand in continuous operation in the United States.[2] Originally a family business, Brooks Brothers produces clothing for men, women and children, as well as home furnishings. Brooks Brothers licenses its name and branding to Luxottica for eyewear,[3] Paris-based Interparfums for fragrances,[4] and Turkey-based Turko Textiles for its home collection.[5]
For the English pop duo, see The Brook Brothers.Formerly
H. & D. H. Brooks & Co.
(1818–1850)
April 7, 1818
1180 Madison Avenue,
170 (2021)
- Ken Ohashi (CEO)
- Michael Bastian (Creative director)
Authentic Brands Group and
SPARC Group LLC[1]
As a result of store closures and poor online sales due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company filed for bankruptcy protection in July 2020.[6] In September 2020 Brooks Brothers was purchased by a joint venture between Authentic Brands Group and Simon Property Group.[1][7]
History[edit]
Founding and 19th century[edit]
On April 7, 1818, at the age of 45, Henry Sands Brooks opened H. & D. H. Brooks & Co. on the northeast corner of Catherine and Cherry streets in Manhattan. He proclaimed that his guiding principle was, "To make and deal only in merchandise of the finest body, to sell it at a fair profit, and to deal with people who seek and appreciate such merchandise."[8] In 1833, his four sons, Elisha, Daniel, Edward, and John, inherited the family business and in 1850 renamed the company "Brooks Brothers."[9]
The Golden Fleece symbol was adopted as the company's trademark in 1850. A wooly sheep suspended in a ribbon had long been a symbol of British woolen merchants. Dating from the fifteenth century, the image had been the emblem of the Knights of the Golden Fleece, founded by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy.[10]
Brooks Brothers introduced many clothing advances to the American market throughout its history as a leader in the American menswear industry.
Brooks Brothers did not make an off-the-rack black suit between 1865 and 2003.[59] For many years, a myth circulated that the reason the company did not make black suits was out of deference to Abraham Lincoln, who wore a bespoke black Brooks frock coat, a gift from the company, when he was assassinated. It is not clear if this policy was the result or cause of the traditional American fashion rule that black suits in daytime for men are proper only for servants and when honoring the deceased.[60]
Popular culture[edit]
Music and fine arts[edit]
Brooks Brothers is the official clothier of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.[74]
Andy Warhol was known to buy and wear clothes from Brooks Brothers. According to Carlton Walters: "I got to [know] Andy quite well, and he always looked bedraggled: always had his tie lopsided, as he didn't have time to tie it, and he never tied his shoe laces, and he even wore different colored socks, but he bought all of his clothes at Brooks Brothers."[75]
Brooks Brothers is referenced in the opening line of the lyrics to "Harvard Blues", written by George Frazier and popularized by Count Basie and Jimmy Rushing in the 1940s. The song begins with the lyric "I wear Brooks clothes and white shoes all the time" and goes on to portray the protagonist of the song as a privileged but idle bon vivant.[76]
Film, television, and theatre[edit]
The "white" shirts used for Archie Bunker's costumes in All in the Family were recut tan oxford shirts from Brooks Brothers.[77]
Brooks Brothers supplied clothes for the television show Mad Men; in October 2009, Brooks Brothers created a limited edition "Mad Men Edition" suit with the show's costume designer.[78]
Stephen Colbert had all of his suits for The Colbert Report and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert supplied by Brooks Brothers.[79]
Brooks Brothers frequently is sought out by costume designers in Hollywood, dressing stars in such films as Ben Affleck in Pearl Harbor, Gene Hackman in The Royal Tenenbaums, and Will Smith in Ali.[80] The company produced made-to-measure period costumes for Denzel Washington's The Great Debaters.[81]
George Clooney wears Brooks Brothers throughout the film Up in the Air, and scenes were shot in a Brooks Brothers airport store.[82] The men of the film The Adjustment Bureau wear Brooks Brothers.[83] In November 2011, Brooks Brothers announced that it had designed a custom wardrobe for Kermit the Frog for the movie The Muppets. The stars of Slumdog Millionaire were all dressed by Brooks Brothers for the 81st Academy Awards.[84]
Brooks Brothers made all of the men's costumes, more than 500 pieces, for the 2013 adaptation of The Great Gatsby.[85] They also sponsored the premieres in New York City and Cannes Film Festival. This was followed by a limited edition collection designed with Catherine Martin and sold at Brooks Brothers stores around the world.[86][87]
Chuck Bass and Nate Archibald on the Gossip Girl TV series frequently wear clothes from Brooks Brothers.[82]
Alec Baldwin's titular character in the 1994 film The Shadow was complimented on his Brooks Brothers tie by his adversary Shiwan Khan. At their next meeting, Khan is dressed in Brooks Brothers clothing.[88]
In the 2020 film Tenet, the protagonist played by John David Washington wore Brooks Brothers.[89]
Fictional works[edit]
The lead character Lestat de Lioncourt in Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles often describes himself wearing suits by Brooks Brothers.[90]
Mary McCarthy's short story "The Man in the Brooks Brothers Shirt," which can be found in her collection The Company she keeps, 1942, is one of the more famous literary references to the Brooks Brothers.[91]
Writers John O'Hara, Somerset Maugham and J. P. Marquand incorporated Brooks Brothers into their stories as a means to draw out character traits.[92]
Richard Yates not only wore Brooks Brothers clothing throughout his life,[93] but he often referred to the brand in his writing, including in A Good School, in which one of the characters tries to hang himself with a Brooks Brothers belt.[94]
Writer Tom Wolfe makes repeated mentions of Brooks Brothers in his essays on style and status.[95]
In Kathryn Stockett's novel The Help, Skeeter wears one of her father's Brooks Brothers shirts.[96]
