Miles, Chet, Ralph, and Charlie: An oral history of The Andover Shop

Miles, Chet, Ralph, & Charlie tells the story of the Andover Shop, and how our co-founder Charlie Davidson transformed a tiny store into an unlikely literary and cultural salon that brought together musicians like Miles Davis, Chet Baker, and Bobby Short, as well as writers like Ralph Ellison and Albert Murray. Yet the story was not who he dressed, but why. This book explores the unexpected role that Charlie's particular style of patrician clothing played in making people visible in the years before full civil rights.   The book is an "oral history" told through interviews with three of the leading voices in American style writing: G. Bruce Boyer (a former editor at Esquire and Town & Country), Alan Flusser (who dressed Gordon Gekko for the Wall Street movie, and who has written several of the canonical style books), and Richard Press (the former CEO of the iconic American menswear firm, J. Press).   Softcover, 324 pages. Hardcover