Average Joe Can Feel Like a Rockefeller If He Invests in Silk Robe

In the ‘30s and ‘40s, classy men--Gary Cooper and Clark Gable, Vanderbilts and Rockefellers--spent their leisure hours sipping brandy at home, wearing silk dressing gowns or smoking jackets. Often as not the robes came from A. Sulka in New York.

This fall, Sulka opened a shop at Rodeo Two in Beverly Hills, and is making a push for relevancy in the real world today. As part of the update, the company reinvented its famous robes in fresh colors, as well as occasionally daring print combinations such as pin dots and paisleys.

The haberdasher also renamed its silk-lined smoking jacket, for obvious reasons. The new “reading jacket” is priced at $1,500. The dressing gown sells for $950. Sulka has also expanded into suits and sport coats.

Would a refined ‘90s man feel right watching NFL football in a silk robe ?

“At home I wear jeans,” said Robert Harvey, who works in the oil business. He was in the store for a fashion show one recent evening.

John Schumacher, former president of I. Magnin, slipped into a gown and his face lit up. “My girlfriend and I just bought an apartment in New York,” he explained. “This would be great to wear by the fireplace.”

“At home I wear terry cloth,” said Henry Berger, social man about town. “But custom-made, by Porthault.”

“ We make terry cloth,” injected Sulka President Neal J. Fox. “It’s very absorbent.” Very ‘90s.