The only thing I can remember about the Choate Rosemary Hall laundry is that it was extremely risky to smoke behind it (though possible if desperate) and that someone kept fucking stealing my Minor Threat tshirts.
Apparently, however, the endless CRH t's on the privileged youngins are the root of the supposedly "real model" American Apparel billboard with a 12-year-old-looking model in a leotard in a crotch-flashy pose that I have the misfortune of always having to drive past on my way home to Brooklyn.
According to the Choate Alumni Magazine:
Why T-shirts? Charney says he became enamored of the all-cotton Russell Athletic heather-gray T-shirts and Champion athletic wear issued at Choate’s Johnson Athletic Center. At that time, only poorer quality polyester blends were available in Canada. . . .
During breaks, he would bring his haul of American contraband down to the Amtrak station in Wallingford and board The Montrealer. Twelve hours later, he was reselling the T-shirts to his friends in Montreal for a profit. Charney acknowledges “the idea for a retailing business involving ‘American Apparel’ had its beginning at Choate Rosemary Hall.”
Here's to hoping he comes back for one of the weekly school meetings to discuss the benefits of masturbating in front of women's magazine reporters.
(The other great thing about this issue is that the photo of Charney is paired with a inflatable looking Ivanka Trump '00 (scroll down to p.13), which shocked me because I'd heard she'd been very very thrown out. Guess not, hmmmm--will mysteries never cease?)
In addition to exposing me to the perfect de Beauvoir quotes to stun and irritate my parents, Choate taught me to maneuver around the menaces of hair tests for acid in the infirmary and the viciousness of entire posses of 16-year-old-bulimic narcissists from Greenwich, so it's not surprising that many of its alums have become wiggly entrepreneurs who rewrite certain rules and see new ways through old boy terrain.
However, the "real" of those hideous American Apparel ads is about as fresh as Skull and Bones or a standard lacrosse hazing.