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Up To 70% Off At Country Club Prep
Country Club Prep is having a massive year-end sale with up to 70% off. A great time to stock up on these madras shorts for your resort getaways, or to hoard until next year.
Read MoreFrom The Archives
Campus Christmas, 1965
The photo above is from Rice University, 1965. Let’s hope this wasn’t taken on Christmas Eve, with this poor fellow the only one left on campus when everyone else was home for the holidays. Note that 50 years ago Christmas trees could still be placed in public spaces on college campuses, and anyone who felt …
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Preppy Style Has Gone Mainstream — Thanks To Vineyard Vines?
The End Is Here: An Ivy Style Jeans Post
You’re Flocking Kidding? Nope, It’s National Bird Day
Ringing In The New Year In Signet-ure Style
Midnight Frolic: New Year’s Eve, 1965
Tradsville 2015, The Year In Review
Last Of The Buttoned-Down Artists: Ellsworth Kelly, 1923-2015
Chipp Wit: The Psychiatric Corps And Other Faux Regi-“Mental” Ties
Yuletide By The Fireside: C. Sharp On The Christmas Pipe Tradition
In the current climate, one half expects to one day see Santa Claus come out of a re-education camp gaunt, clean shaven, fully repentant and vowing never to pick up his sooty clay cutty. But thankfully Christmas still offers free range and a delightful annual tradition to that endangered species known as the pipe smoker. …
Campus Christmas, 1965
The photo above is from Rice University, 1965. Let’s hope this wasn’t taken on Christmas Eve, with this poor fellow the only one left on campus when everyone else was home for the holidays. Note that 50 years ago Christmas trees could still be placed in public spaces on college campuses, and anyone who felt …
Hip Hooray, The American Way
The topic of striped ties came up this week, both here (in our last post on William Ivey Long), and in our Facebook group. On the Long post, commenters drew the distinction between striped ties that run the original English way (high on the right, low on the left, when facing the wearer), and the …
Conservative Costume: A Tribute To William Ivey Long
For some, navy blazers, white shirts and rep ties are the perfect costume — costume in the dictionary sense, that is. Namely, “a style of dress… especially that peculiar to a nation, region, group, or historical period.” So it should come as no surprise that a costumer would appreciate this costume. Pictured is stage and …
Saddle Shoes And Kilties, 1941
What do saddle shoes and kilties have in common? They’re both featured in the Laurence Fellows-penned image above from the Esquire archives, and they’re both not on my Christmas list. Regular readers will know my aversion to both footwear atrocities. But then again I dig bit loafers. De gustibus, et cetera, et cetera. Below is …
Full Rise, Tapered Leg Khaki Project Update
With disappointment I am forced to announce that our khaki project is on indefinite hold. While still “in development” and not killed completely, our partner, I’m happy to announce, was Bills Khakis, which was excited to make a quality product. A sample had been created and was about to go into production when the company …
We’re F**ked
Mark McNairy, former designer at J. Press, and, under his own name, creator of a host of “Fuck Ivy” gear, including hooded sweatshirts, has a forthcoming book entitled “F**k Ivy… And Everything Else,” slated for release in February. From the Amazon description: The renowned designer’s views on dressing and behaving well: Ivy League meets street, …
In Memoriam Robert Edward Royall Huntley, President Of W&L
A reader notified me that one of the old trad/collegiate guard has passed. Robert ER Huntley was longtime president of Washington & Lee University. There’s a video slideshow of him here, and the memorial service is streaming live right now. — CC
Self-Educated: Create Your Own University Scarf
Are you a fan of long schoolboy scarves, the kind sold by J. Press, Smart Turnout and others, but your own school isn’t represented? Or maybe you’re the self-cultivated type who never even went to college. While there are some fashion scarves out there (such as the ones made by Rugby floating around eBay), let’s …
Golden Years: My Brief Bromance With Frank Sinatra
Note: This column originally ran on January 22, 2013, and is being reposted today in honor of Sinatra’s hundredth birthday anniversary. The life that late I led in the heyday was “Mad Men” in real time. Until the 1950s, retailers respected the privacy of their celebrity clientele. I played by the rules, and the paparazzi …
Trad By The Bay: Checking In With Cable Car Clothiers
A true bastion of trad style, Cable Car Clothiers has always held a special place in the heart of San Francisco. Established in the late 1930s, the retailer seems to ride the various waves of boom and bust that San Francisco is known for, while expanding and relocating the business to meet the continually changing …
It’s 1940 All Over Again
Chris Sharp found these images in the same Esquire issue featured in our last post: September 1940 (sign up for the archives here.) They should provide further inspiration for any of you who feel stuck in a sartorial rut. The text for the top image described this college man as wearing the color combination of …
Weejuns Go With Everything, 1940
This image (another find by comment-leaver Carmelo in the Esquire archives), came with a date but no caption. So I decided to give it one for the headline above. It’s easy to think of penny loafers as a casual shoe since, in the grand footwear scheme of things, they are. But much of the charm …
Cold War-Era Spy Shoelace Signaling
Here’s a bit of trivia that makes for a fitting follow-up to Richard Press’ column about George HW Bush. In addition to being a Yale man, Bush also headed the CIA, and those two institutions are closely knit. Well, back in the 1950s, those Ivy-clad operatives learned special ways of tying the laces on their …