The Press: After Fortune

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The first magazine in imitation of FORTUNE appeared last week. Its field: the men's & boys' clothing trade. Name: Apparel Arts, a quarterly, published in Manhattan by William Hobart Weintraub. Buyers of men's & boys' wear for retail stores will be asked to buy it at $1.50 the copy. Initial circulation: 7,500.

Same page size (11¼ x 14") as FORTUNE, printed on similar paper stocks (antique and coated), with colored cartographs and modernist photographs in the FORTUNE manner of stylized detail, it even carries its name and volume number on the binding in white as FORTUNE does.

Ingeniously the clothing trade, usually identified with Babbitry, is glorified by sophisticated treatment. An example is the story of the rise & fall of starched collars as reflected in the glorious reign and ignominious fate of the Arrow Collar Man —"a national idol who never lived." A chart showing the tumble of starched collar sales from 1919 (the advent of the soft shirt) is surrounded by colored reproductions of Artist Joseph Christian Leyen-decker's unbelievably handsome creation at critical stages of his career from the "merry Oldsmobiling" days of 1907 to the present. Captions tell the story:

"NATIONAL IDOL. By 1918 his fan mail (actual) was enormous. 'Would it be terribly unprofessional to send him this letter so he can know that a Virginia lassie has fallen for his clear honest eyes, his fine brow and tender mouth? Tell him I am 19 and unattached and awfully interested.' That was a typical plea—of thousands."

"TWILIGHT OF A GOD. He couldn't die, who never lived. So he outlived his day. From his place in the car cards he looked down, each day, upon a rising tide of soft shirts. At last they engulfed him completely and he was swept away. His passing is viewed with mixed feeling. . . ."

"ANTICLIMAX. Starched collars went down for the count of nine in 1922, but fought back bravely in '23. He arose to the occasion, for this brief hour of rekindled glory. A trifle world-weary, and infinitely more sophisticated, the fan mail he inspired reflected the change. 'I am writing you a few lines to let you know that I would love to meet you some time.' . . . But gone forever was such lyric ecstasy as '. . . would that I but touch that natural wave, and tie thy tie as only woman can, and smile into thine eyes of blue and say "I love you: thou'rt my Arrow Collar Man." '

Another picture caption: "Grotesquerie: A polisher traversing belt edges, not an armadillo out for a walk."

Associated in Apparel Arts with Publisher Weintraub, a stylist of international reputation, are David A. Smart, president, experienced publisher of tradepapers, and Editor Arnold Gingrich, an energetic youth who sleeps twelve hours on alternate nights, works 36 hours between. It is said that Publisher Weintraub is the brain, President Smart the heart, Editor Gingrich the voice of Apparel Arts.

Little Old Lady