The brand cheerily replied to Tyler’s comment, offering an explanation of its creative process as “part reimagination of Take Ivy—and part painstakingly faithful recreation.” In another since-deleted reply, Tyler qualified his take on the orange anorak look, writing, “i say this as someone who likes j press, so it’s not even a diss or a bad thing. i’m just shocked no one was like, ‘green’ or ‘let’s put that with this.’”
In the same follow-up comment, the menswear-loving rapper elaborated on his stance: “they posted a bunch [of] reference pics, all the looks they did are exact copies. not only the items but even how its styled. that was 60 years ago. im like damn, no one on the team wanted to make something a different color or try different pants or add something unique to it, i mean it is 60 years later and its no way that the team dont have a personal style or a collective updated idea on what things could be since they drew up AFTER all of the thing in the book.”
For Tyler, who has spent much of his 20-year career calling out people on the internet for various reasons (see: Tyler, the Creator versus DJ Khalid, Eminem, Bruno Mars, et al.), throwing down in the comments isn’t out of character. But Tyler, who has designed prep-forward collections for Louis Vuitton as well as his own brands, Golf Le Fleur and Golf Wang, is also particularly equipped to critique J. Press’s approach to presenting and selling prep to a modern audience. The bigger question it raises, though, is whether a brand like J. Press can appeal to fashion-nerd innovators like Tyler while simultaneously satisfying the tradition-loving Ivy Style crowd.
There is precedent for it. In the 2010s, Thom Browne’s Black Fleece collections for Brooks Brothers gave the mall brand serious fashion cred while maintaining its appeal to chino-loving golf dads. Ralph Lauren, meanwhile, continues to chop it up with first-rate runway collections while moving a mountain of doeskin blazers and pink polos every year. Fortunately for J. Press fans, Tyler included, that’s precisely what modern-day J. Press is trying to do.
In an email to GQ, Carlson (who is currently on a ski trip in Europe—very J. Press of him) elaborated on his vision for the brand, as well as Tyler’s comments.
