Have you ever met someone via Twitterland and known immediately you would be friends? Well, that’s how I felt about Cooper Ray. I just couldn’t help it. When I first met Cooper in person, he was a month out from his now much-lauded premier presentation, and he was a true force of energy. Cooper is one of those rare people that can pour you a glass of scotch, invite you to sit down at his table, and immediately make you feel like you’re one of his oldest & dearest friends.

So when we got the invitation to his show, an invitation “from the men of Social Primer… to join the brotherhood,” it was not only an invite to a New York Fashion Week presentation, it was a chance to support Cooper. If you read his blog, Social Primer, you know Cooper as an etiquette expert, a successful businessman, and a designer that has recently partnered with Brooks Brothers to produce a line of reversible bow ties & the classic tailgating blazer. (Can you tell he was raised in the SEC?) You will also know him as a quintessential Southern gentleman, born and raised in Alabama, and now hailing from ‘the Holy City’ of Charleston, South Carolina. If you follow him or read him, you know him. So it should come as no surprise that when he put out the call to his band of faithful followers to invest in the future of Social Primer, they responded by the thousands. ($25,742 to be exact)

You see, there’s just something about that spirit… maybe it’s Southern, perhaps it’s preppy, maybe it’s ‘the brotherhood,’ but, whatever it is, Cooper has it. He didn’t just give a presentation, he gave a presentation in one of the most venerable settings in the city. As guests entered, we were handed a book of “Pledge Rites,” a special edition of his Bill of Rites for the American Man and a Scotch. (Note: I’m sure there were other drinks, but for the Southerners in the room, that was all that we needed.) And, as we walked over to view the collection, we were greeted by none other than his *lovely* mother, a sweet lady donning pearls and beaming with pride. The looks were fantastic as modeled by a ‘pledge class’ rotating intermittently on risers. I’m still swooning over one particular red sport coat. The contrast fabric ties that made him famous are really cranked up a notch. His details were spot on: notice the SP tshirts… his logo was even embroidered on the shorts. But, of course, you’d expect nothing less… That’s just how Cooper does things.