Echoes of F. Scott Fitzgerald

Esquire magazine spotlights Princeton’s ivy for fashion elegance.

By: Jeff Milgram
   Everyone knows that Princeton University gets the best and the brightest students, but it took Esquire magazine to prove that it gets the most stylish as well.
   The October issue of the famous men’s magazine features a 10-page fall fashion layout shot on campus, using Princeton University students and one faculty member as models.
   The layout is titled "This Side of Paradise" after the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel set, partly, in Princeton.
   "They come here to study for a few years in one of the loveliest little patches of green, on their way to running the world," the text that accompanies the photos begins. "And there’s a street in Princeton, the genteel old farm town walled off from encroaching Jersey — Nassau Street — that cuts the town roughly in half, with the famous university and its denizens on one side and everybody else on the other."
   The photos star some famous campus sites, such as East Pyne Courtyard, Blair Hall, Nassau Hall and Holder Hall, almost as much as the clothes.
   "It kind of was a fun thing to do," said assistant physics professor Andrew Bazarko, who is shown resplendent in a two-button single-breasted wool sport coat ($598), a cashmere sweater ($595) and cotton trousers by Joseph Abboud ($135), and a cotton shirt ($235) and silk tie ($95) by John Varvatos.
   That’s $1,657 worth of clothes and Dr. Bazarko didn’t get to keep any of it. "That’s what people always ask," he said.
   Esquire came to the Princeton campus in late May and put up fliers soliciting students to be models, said University junior Paul Esformes, who accepted the invitation to wear some clothes he normally wouldn’t.
   In the fashion spread, Mr. Esformes sports a wool duffel coat ($350), a cashmere V-neck sweater ($397), a cotton shirt ($98) and silk tie ($75), Polo by Ralph Lauren wool trousers ($185), loafers by Cole Harris ($275) and a belt by Tardini ($98).
   "They picked a lot of people who had longish hair and looked Ivy League," Mr. Esformes said.
   The actual work took about four hours, he said.
   Being a model has certainly been a good conversation starter, Mr. Esformes said.
   "It’s brought up in conversation every day. ‘That’s Paul from Esquire,’ "Mr. Esformes said.
   And although he’d never modeled before, Mr. Esformes would do it again.
   Sophomore Mati Chessin was shown in a McCosh Hall lecture room wearing a cotton parka ($145), a three-button single-breasted wool-and-cashmere sport coat ($335), cotton shirt ($55), silk tie ($40), cotton trousers by Tommy Hilfiger ($50), and boots by John Varvatos ($325).
   Seated next to Mr. Chessin is junior Joey Shapiro, looking dapper in a three-button single-breasted wool sports coat ($335), a cotton rugby shirt ($70), a cotton shirt ($50), corduroy trousers by Tommy Hilfiger ($88) and lace-up shoes by John Varvatos ($475).
   "I have nothing like that in my wardrobe," said Mr. Shapiro. He said the photo has given him minor celebrity status on campus.
   The text mentions such Princeton institutions as the Witherspoon neighborhood, "the Harlem of Princeton, where the manservants of the lost generation stayed, and where their descendants now live. And Hoagie Haven, the best sandwich in town, a point on which all of Princeton can agree."
   Esquire also delves into some of Princeton’s colorful characters: Arnie Brownell, the former balloon twister of Nassau Street, and the notorious and legendary Tamas Barnabas.
   Mr. Barnabas "was known by locals to dine extravagantly at the finest restaurants in town, push himself from the table, touch his napkin to the corner of his mouth, saying, No thank you, my good man, I couldn’t have another bite, and incidentally, I have no money. Upon which the maitre d’ would roll his eyes and know that he had fallen victim to yet another in a wave of entree thefts. Over at the police station, they still keep a light on after supper for Tamas Barnabas," Esquire wrote.