Rowing Blazers (Revised and Expanded Edition)

304 pages
Edited by Jack Carlson
31.5 x 24.3 cm 
Language: English
Hardback
Publisher: Vendome Press
2024

Ten years ago, Jack Carlson released his richly photographed book about the history and tradition of the rowing blazer at colleges and clubs around the world: an ode to the striped, piped, and badged garments that epitomize the “preppy” look, and the colorful myths, rituals, and races associated with them.

The book was a passion project, intended primarily for the rowing community. But it became an instant classic in fashion circles, and laid the foundation for the Rowing Blazers brand. Now, Carlson is launching a revised and expanded new edition of the book to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the original.

“Fashion, the sport of rowing, and even the connotations and meaning of the word ‘preppy’ have changed enormously since the original edition of the book,” Carlson stated. “The sport is far more diverse than it used to be, and the blazer tradition is much more widespread.”

The new edition of the book features many clubs and teams that were not in the original edition, from Shanghai Rowing Club to Buenos Aires Rowing Club; from Nassau Rowing Club in the Bahamas to Partez Rowing Club in Japan. New U.S. clubs include the the storied program at the University of Washington, recently featured in George Clooney’s film The Boys in the Boat, as well as Penn, the University of Texas, and Manley High School in Chicago — home of the nation’s first all-Black high school rowing team — alongside prep schools like Groton and Deerfield. The book also features Row New York and London’s Fulham Reach Boat Club, two rowing programs focused on diversity, access, and inclusion, and Olympic champions from Britain, Germany, South Africa, the United States, and more.