One thing after an other has conspired against more frequent posts over here on HTJ. The editorial committee met in September and planned a number of posts but actually getting things moving always seems to fall on the shoulders of yours truly. The summer interns are gone after making CDs of all the Fall '77 Dead tour recordings in the Archive, which was everything but the 10/15/77 SMU Moody Colieum show. Never had that. Anyway, busy schedules and an unplanned cold aside (are they ever planned?), I decided that I had better do something over here before Fall completely escapes.
Thirty years ago this fall, L.L. Bean sent out its Early Autumn catalog to customers on their mailing list. Mine arrived that way and then spent the majority of the intervening years in a box in the attic. Thirty years is a long time in the lives of companies, institutions and, of course, individuals. One generation is often defined as falling somewhere between 25-30 years, so ask someone who just turned 30 about events in 1983 to get some idea of the profound span of this amount of time. To state it an other way, there are a great many people who never experienced the L.L. Bean of a generation ago. They may not have known the regional L.L. Bean so loved the world over, that when an L.L. Bean box or package arrived, it felt like a bit of New England arrived with it. For those that didn't live along the Eastern seaboard making a road trip to Maine was a goal for many. One had to either make the trek to Maine or order from catalogs such as this, because there weren't L.L. Bean stores hither and yon in malls across America as there are today. A generation ago L.L. Bean was sort of the anti-mall store. Though L.L. Bean had only one location, it was only a telephone call away (as it still is today), but the catalog was essential to placing an order. Thirty years ago, receiving new catalogs from L.L. Bean, Brooks Brothers, J. Press, Dunham's of Maine, or Lands' End was always a bit of an event. New catalogs had a tendency to disappear into someone's room or migrate into the catalog basket in the family room. Christmas "wish lists"often included things from these various catalogs.
Of course, L.L. Bean still sends out catalogs (as opposed to J. Press which, depressingly, no longer even has a catalog). However, as one casual glance at this 1983 catalog will confirm, the layout of this catalog and the catalogs of today are markedly different. Current catalogs feature models wearing clothing while acting out various staged outdoors pursuits. Gone is the home spun "general store" atmosphere of these older catalogs, which for me was always part of their appeal. These catalogs featured close-up photos of linings and sweater patterns, as well as occasional illustrations of distinguishing characteristics of products, such as "Bean's Sport Shoe" on page 42. This earnest presentation of products conveyed the feeling of an outdoors clothier that knew a lot about its product and wanted the customer to know about it as well. Of course, L.L. Bean still does this very well today, but without the feel of a small regional "general store" retailer. And it is here that I feel a sense of loss. Perhaps part of what made L.L. Bean so successful was its unabashed identity as a New England hunting, fishing and outdoors outfitter. Nearly everything in these older catalogs was unique to L.L. Bean. To be sure, other clothiers offered flannel shirts, lined Chinos and hunting jackets, but L.L. Bean's were distinctly different from other clothiers. Because most of these products were meant to actually be used in the field, there was a utilitarian feel to L.L. Bean's products that was different than similar shirts, Chinos and jackets offered by J. Press and Brooks Brothers. Perhaps this is part of what appealed to college students in the 70s and early 80s: L.L. Bean's take on regional clothing had an honesty about it that was simply genuine - so genuine that customers from all over the world placed orders from L.L. Bean for a bit New England culture. Much of what is included in the Early Autumn 1983 catalog has this genuine feel about it that seems to hold up well a generation later, which is pretty amazing.
In the 30 years that have passed nearly none of this is available anymore. Though L.L. Bean still offers many similar products today, they are just different. Either they are no longer made in the USA or the original designs have been radically changed (the current Chinos, non-wrinkle shirts, Field Coats and Bean Boots are good examples of this sort of redesigning). I wore out my all cotton Upland Field Coat several years ago and ordered one of the newly redesigned ones that is made from a very tough nylon fabric that is quite water repellent. It also came with a Made in Thailand tag and a game pocket that is so hard to access that I have to take the coat off to remove things from it. In spite of this it's still a functional jacket that I wear a lot, but it just lacks that hard to define New England genuineness that has made me a Bean customer for years. If I had known 30 years ago what I know today, namely that a day would come when L.L. Bean would no longer offer many of their original designs, I would have made it a point to stockpile things in the attic, so that I would always have some of L.L. Bean's genuine articles on hand. So after looking at this catalog again, my list of things to order from this catalog (while longer that some, and probably not as long as others) is: Scotch Plaid Shirts in every color, Regular Chinos and lined Chinos, Trail Model Vest in red, Baxter State Parka in Slate Blue, a Crew Neck Shetland in medium grey, Bean's Tattersall Oxford Shirts in every color, 12" Maine Hunting Shoes, Bean's Rubber Moccasins, a Bean's Zipper Duffle Bag, Rangeley Flannel Shirts in every color, and Bean's Blucher Moccasins.
The L.L. Bean shown here through this catalog was a significant part of that movement that became known as Preppy through its redefining of the Ivy style during the 70s and early 80s. In the 30 or more years that have passed since that era, L.L. Bean is perhaps more successful than ever with stores around the country and even abroad. L.L. Bean is perhaps my favorite company to shop at, either by phone or at one of their retail locations. Their customer service is simply first class. However, L.L. Bean has lost a bit of its charm as a genuine New England outfitter that appealed to so many people who also lived in urban and suburban settings. This catalog shows clothing that was so supremely adaptable that it could make the transition from a walk in the woods to a walk down main street seem effortless. It is this L.L. Bean that I still long for a generation later. And that, if nothing else, shows the durability of L.L. Bean's original vision of "Sell good merchandise at a reasonable profit, treat your customers like human beings, and they'll always come back for more."
