Editor’s Note: The Featured Image is from a 1910’s Brooks catalog. If you are not a member of the Facebook Group, and you participate in social media, you are really missing something. We settled the debate over double breasted blazers the other day, for example, with this image from our own Marc Chevalier, from the …
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Ivy is a fashion born of a mindset manifested in a lifestyle. There are values attached: dignity, the value and power of thought, ethics, hard work, aesthetics, appreciation of all things classic, and the dogged pursuit of excellence. While Ivy evolves (I haven’t worn socks since Easter) the values don’t. If you are a …
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E-commerce site Mr. Porter has unveiled a new collection by Paul Smith in which the British designer draws inspiration from “Take Ivy.” According to the website’s announcement, Sir Paul, who has been at the forefront of British fashion for five decades, is well placed to explain how Ivy style first came to the UK from …
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I spend a lot of time looking at vintage images of things. They are not in as bountiful a supply as one would imagine. Except for barbecue images. There are a ton, and I would guess that the reason is that barbecuing was a family deal you could do outside back when there were more …
I saw sweaters for sale on Greenwich Avenue yesterday. It is back to school time. Which is weird because that used to be the third week of August. Yet, here we are. First, check out J. Press’s Pennant Label. They USE the word “Ivy.” I have been toying with the idea of starting …
This story has a lot of names you are going to recognize, and one I am proud to introduce you to. Brooks Brothers. You know them, right? They had an executive named May Tan. Finance. Southwick Apparel? They had a CFO, May Tan. May has a big time resume in corporate, as do I, …
Editor’s Note: S.E. wrote this comment, which I am reprinting without permission because, well, it was already printed here. It is a great response to the Ties-Are-Dying crowd. The wearing of a necktie is an act of rebellion. Hell, the same can be said for opting for Classic Ivy. But more about that in a …
It’s a Friday in July, but I have three things. First, The Amazing Tom sent me another article from WSJ on how the Tie Association is disbanding, and it started with a sentence so stupid I had to meditate again after I read it this morning. I am not even going to link this stupidity, …
Let’s unpack this because it is starting to hurt my feelings. My central thesis about Brooks Brothers back when Mr. Bastian took the wheel was this: What happens when a company is bought or sold is that it goes into debt. If you don’t do this kind of thing regularly, that sounds counterintuitive. If Nevada …
Richard Press has agreed to be our first guest. Eric Twardzik has agreed to be a guest. I am pitching G. Bruce Boyer a whole other thing, but worst case scenario I will beg him to be a guest. Who would you like to hear? The format is going to be an hour interview, …
Editor’s Note: Eric Twardzik is one of the most skilled men’s fashion writers working today, so when we had a chance to publish his behind-the-scenes take on The Andover Shop, we leaped at it. We were right. On the day that I was asked to work at The Andover Shop, I was not looking particularly …
When I first posted about Jay Butler loafers almost a year ago I was pretty happy about them. If you are new here, and 3/4’s of you are, a quick Jay Butler primer for you. Jay Butler shoes are different in that they were designed like moccasins. So you wear them for a bit …
In the greatest book written in the last century, The Gold Coast by Nelson DeMille, the protagonist John Sutter is getting into it with a law enforcement official and closes his diatribe with, “… and at least have the decency to wear leather shoes.” The rubber soled shoe subject will not die, but a founding …