Our last post looked at Dierdre Clemente’s book “Dress Casual,” which charts how college students over the course of the 20th century transformed the way the world dresses. Dr. Clemente today takes a curtain call as we share a piece she did last month for The Atlantic. The piece is entitled “Why American Workers Now …
Here’s a long-overdue look at Dierdre Clemente’s book “Dress Casual,” which credits — or blames — college students for the concept of informal clothing. It’s a must for every serious student of the history of fashion and culture, and you can order it on Amazon here. * * * Exposure to the world of tailored …
Nine years ago Jeffrey Banks and Doria de La Chapelle presented me with a copy of their book, “Preppy: Cultivating Ivy Style.” It was an honor as a couple of my Q&As for Ivy Style are cited in the credits, as is W. David Marx’s article on the Miyuki-zoku, plus work from early Ivy Style …
One of most interesting aspects of the Ivy League Look is that while it campus dress was extremely formal in relation to that of today, it was relatively casual in relation to off-campus dress of the time. Historian Deidre Clemente has shown how college kids invented the very concept of being dressed-down in her book …
In our last post, a comment was left asking me to speculate what if the heyday of the Ivy League Look had never happened, that it had remained the relatively closed, little-known aristocratic style that it was in the 1930s. Would this have been better or worse in the long run for preserving authentic …
When it comes to starting fashion trends, there’s Princeton and then there’s every other school. From the three-button suit to its namesake haircut, Princeton has popularized such menswear staples as Norfolk jackets, raccoon coats, tweed sport coats, rep ties, spectator shoes, khaki pants and Shetland sweaters. Princeton’s sartorial influence has been dulled by time, but …
We’ve been covering the underworld lately, with con men, spies, the CIA, and now a private eye. This year marks the 60th anniversary of “Peter Gunn,” who was a new kind of TV detective when he made his debut in 1958. With his neat hair and simple gray suits, Gunn could have fit right in …
Not long ago I had a conversation with a friend who is a fellow clothes lover. His style is something I would describe as excessively patterned but casual and nonchalant. He cherishes elements of the Ivy League Look but mixes in pieces of this or that as he fancies. We were discussing whether Ivy Style is …
This summer G. Bruce Boyer published a lengthy think piece in the magazine First Things called “Dress Up: What We Lost In The Casual Revolution.” I’ve only neglected sharing it here in a post as Bruce and I have brainstormed about recording a discussion about its main themes. Astute readers will recall that I’ve mentioned …
In Thursday’s post about Brooks Brothers, some readers expressed horror at the pairing of tailored clothing with sweatpants. While I certainly made fun of the forced nonchalance of adding a pocket square to the mix, combining athletic wear with jackets and trousers gets to the very heart of how college men revolutionized the way the …
Ivy Style recently received a dispatch from scholar Deirdre Clemente, who is busy doing groundbreaking research on the history of college students as consumers. In fact, she said her career might be made if she can get a paper into a certain scholarly journal. When they say academia is publish or perish, they’re not kidding. …
This week US News & World Report released its annual ranking of the best colleges in America, and Princeton once again is back on top, right along with their — alas now dismantled — sartorial legacy. In the last post, on Sewanee, a reader left a comment wondering if college students during the heyday were …
Assistant editor Christopher Sharp takes the reins as we celebrate five years of news and commentary, words and pictures, clothes that make you cheer and clothes that make you cringe. * * * As Ivy Style reaches its fifth anniversary, we are certainly now post-grads no plans on giving up the old alma mater. Christian …
Over the past few years, the Ivy Trendwatch has helped bring scholarly attention to the clothing and social customs of college men during the heyday of the Ivy League Look. “Take Ivy” shined an outsider’s lens on college life in the mid-’60s with a specific eye for what men were wearing. Then came the MFIT …
Despite our latest storm detaining some attendees, the MFIT’s “Ivy Style” symposium went off with a bang. Presenters included co-authors of the accompanying book; Patricia Mears gave an overview of how the exhibit came about and Bruce Boyer talked about the jazz musicians who took up the Ivy look in the ’50s and ’60s.
This Friday marks Ivy-Style’s two-year anniversary. With our sophomore year behind us, we’re upperclassmen at last. The year was full of highlights. For starters, I coined the acronym PITA (for Preppy-Ivy-Trad-Americana), which has been picked up by at least two people, and, less significantly, moved to New York. Ivy-Style added a new category called Ivy …