FASHION: Milk and Sugar: The Complete Book of Seersucker by Bill Haltom delves into the history and iconography of the storied Southern staple – including its New Orleans roots – and explores the role of “wash suits” in fashion for both men and women. Haltom pays homage to New Orleanian Joseph Haspel, the clothier and master tailor credited with making seersucker a must-have in the closets of businessmen and lawyers in the South and ultimately an essential hot weather fabric all over the world. Haspel manufactured and sold seersucker suits through his eponymous Haspels of New Orleans. Haltom devotes a chapter to the company’s history, including the family’s sale of it in 1977, and slow reacquisition and path back to ownership of the brand by 2012. The 208-page, illustrated volume celebrates seersucker in all of its devil-may-care, dapper versatility.
JAZZ: Miss Sophie Lee and the Parish Suites’ newest release Traverse this Universe is your new lazy summer afternoon soundtrack. The Chicagoan turned New Orleanian is a mainstay at the jazz clubs on Frenchman and as co-owner of Three Muses.
HISTORY: The Mathews Men: Seven Brothers and the War Against Hitler’s U-boats by William Geroux offers a detailed account of the hundreds of men from Mathews County, Virginia, who served the country during World War II. Geroux is appearing at Octavia Books on May 2.
HISTORY: The Mathews Men: Seven Brothers and the War Against Hitler’s U-boats by William Geroux offers a detailed account of the hundreds of men from Mathews County, Virginia, who served the country during World War II. Geroux is appearing at Octavia Books on May 2.
