The time for Christmas cheer is once again upon us and Ivy Style is here to help you celebrate in midcentury manner. When one thinks of the Christmas season, one of the first things to spring to mind is music. With that in mind, here’s a look back at some worthy old chestnuts, standards and …
In the spirit of “just clothes,” Ivy Style is pleased to present this ode to one of menswear’s most precariously pretentious items. It was written exclusively for us by James Kraus, previous contributor and founder of Auto Universum. * * * Five years ago I decided to take a long-considered plunge into the world of …
Ah, the Cartier Tank watch. To many trad aficionados, it is a holy grail, like the perfect set of P3s. To others — those who prefer thrift shop wristwatches selling for less than $50 dangling from brightly colored straps costing less than a fiver — it is little more than a crass display of materialism …
Part two of James Kraus’ survey of what was happening in American culture from 1954-67, the heyday of the Ivy League Look. * * * Favorable demographics and consistent sizable gains in productivity continued to fuel prosperity in the 1960s throughout the industrialized world. Between 1954 and 1967, Australia, Germany, Italy, Japan and Sweden suffered not …
Contributing writer James Kraus is an arch-connoisseur of the 1950s and ’60s. Herein he takes us on a tour of the years of the Ivy heday, giving us a broad overview of what else was going on in American life besides penny loafers and buttondown collars. Part one covers the first half of the heyday, …
Ivy Style contributing writer James Kraus has organized a meetup for fellows trads in the Los Angeles area for next Wednesday, April 12, at 7 PM. The plan is to pick a nightspot in Beverly Hills with some midcentury heritage, to be decided based on the number of RSVPs. Working behind the scenes and with …
One often sees the subject of watches come up here in the comments section as well as on Ivy Style’s Facebook group, usually concerning which timepieces might confer an Ivy aura. That can be a wormhole, since people wore a variety of watch styles over the decades. However, there are watches that were popular during …
Midcentury modern fans, as well as guys who are single (or sometimes wish they were), will likely enjoy heading over to our fraternal site Masculine Interiors for a fine article posted yesterday. It’s about Playboy’s architectural and interior design articles of the ’50s and ’60s, and was written by contributor James Kraus. Kraus’ previous articles …
James Kraus, who has authored a piece for Ivy Style on bachelor cuisine, has alerted us to a post from his vintage automotive blog, Auto Universum. The piece centers around Art Fitzpatrick and Van Kaufman, the Matisse and Picasso of automotive illustration. Writes Kraus: These lush images depicted scenes of glamour and sophistication populated by …
I turned on the debate last night for 30 seconds before switching it off to watch my DVD from Netflix, which, by bizarre coincidence, was “The Fall Of The Roman Empire.” So this morning I awoke to an email from Ivy Style contributor James Kraus. Apparently it doesn’t take much to distinguish oneself sartorially these …
Previous contributor James Kraus herein shares some back-to-school memories from the late ’60s. If you came of age in the Ivy heyday or preppy ’80s and have sartorial and scholastic memories you’d like to share, please send them over using the contact button above. * * * The earliest memory I have of any particular …
James Kraus, who’s been featured on Ivy Style previously for his book “Jet Age Cooking For The Bachelor Gourmet,” recently read Helen Gurley Brown’s 1962 best-seller, because that’s the sort of thing you read when you’re into vintage bachelorhood. He spied this interesting passage from a chapter called “Shopping In Men’s Departments” and forwarded …
A couple of years ago we featured this post from James Kraus, whose most recent contribution was the write-up on Playboy’s architectural designs from the ’50s and ’60s (which actually ran on Masculine Interiors). Previously Kraus’ bachelor cookbook was only available on iPad, but it recently became available for iPhone thanks to the iOS …
… love beads and oxford cloth? Screenshot from the Monterey Pop Festival documentary, submitted by contributor J. Kraus. Date: summer 1967, the year of the fall of the Ivy League Look. Happy Birthday, America. — CC
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 …