Yesterday was the birthday of John F. Kennedy. Here are a few pictures of him while a student at Choate, submitted by a reader a couple of birthdays ago. Above Kennedy is pictured in buttondown collar, which he would abandon during his presidential election — the first to reach a mass audience via television — …
“Blood lust” describes my passion for Daniel Horowitz’s engrossing saga, “On The Cusp: The Yale Class Of 1960 And A World On The Verge Of Change.” Dan Horowitz grew up around the corner from me in New Haven. We haven’t been in touch for over 50 years, but his visit to the Ivy Style Exhibit …
As we approach our 1,200th post, I’m going to start giving some of the early ones an encore in a regular series of reposts from five, six and seven years ago. This one originally ran on this day in 2009, and concerns heyday-era Ivy in unexpected places (or maybe not), as well as the interesting …
If you or someone you know is planning a summer wedding, why not outfit the groomsmen in boutonnieres made of oxford cloth? Made by Mordechai Rubinstein of the blog Mister Mort, these were a highlight of the Pop-Up Flea show, founded by Michael Williams of A Continuous Lean, held two weeks ago.
As a follow-up to yesterday’s post, which featured a bespectacled gentleman in tortoiseshell frames, here are some new glasses by Warby Parker released earlier this month. The new shapes are called the Buckley (above), Bates (below) and Oxley (bottom). I ran them by David Wilder, longtime salesman in J. Press’ New York store and known …
Last night’s evening news featured the rare appearance of a suited man on television not wearing the American Boardroom look we associate with politicans, newscasters, and virtually everyone else on television. Pictured in buttondown shirt, conventional rep-striped tie and tortoiseshell glasses is NTSB spokesman Robert Sumwalt. Can you guess what part of the country he’s …
In the Put This On article about the rise and fall of early 21st-century neo-prep, I was quoted saying that perhaps the next stage will be a rediscovering of the sober side of the trad-Ivy-preppy genre. After all, “all fashion ends in excess,” as the old adage goes, and once this stage has been reached …
A year-and-a-half ago, before he was christened The Millennial Fogey, Daniel Greenwood wrote a piece for Ivy Style called “What Now? The Uncertain Future Of Neo-Prep.” Now those in the towns that border Tradsville are starting to wonder the same thing. Yesterday Put This On posted a long piece called “Whatever Happened To Prep?” The …
The content for Ivy Style and Masculine Interiors certainly overlap frequently, so I hope my buttoned-down brethren here don’t mind the occasional pointer post. This latest is a real treat, as “Rowing Blazers” author Jack Carlson shares his favorite boathouses, which positively ooze tradition, history, and collegiate athletic prowess. Pictured above is Jack at the …
Today Kamakura unveiled its summer collection. The model is pretty scruffy and many of the shirts are spread collar, but those of you who appreciate variety might enjoy some of the alpha-sized buttondowns available in fabrics such as linen and breathable 36-gauge knit, which is pictured above. The company has also announced it will open …
As a counter to the recent discussion about loutish behavior among fraternity men, here’s a delightfully dignified video from Hampden-Sydney College about the importance of proper dress, anchored by the blue blazer, “our badge of honor.” — CC & CS
On Friday it was announced that Alpha Delta, the Darmouth fraternity that partly inspired the film “Animal House,” had lost its appeal to maintain recognition by the college. The fraternity lost its official recognition for allegedly branding its members. According to a report on the Huffington Post: College officials have declined to provide details, but …
Last night I attended an event held at “the lodge,” a funky townhouse in the distinguished Upper East Side environs of Fifth Avene and 77th Street. It’s the showroom for the brand VK Nagrani, which caters to “alpha males,” or jet-setters with money to burn. But it also caters to another jet-setter whose aircraft was …
Yesterday I had a long discussion with a writer from Put This On about the waxing and waning of Ivy and prep over the decades. One of the topics was how watered-down the term “preppy” has become in the mainstream media. Emphasis on water. Yesterday Bloomberg.com put up a video segment on what it called …
Take a five minute break and listen to some music. Actually, you’ll need more like 15. Last night ABC’s “World News Tonight” reported on a new documentary on the plight of music in Pakistan. An important topic to be sure, but what does that have to do with us here? The story recounts a 1962 …
Is Rand Paul the coolest/squarest/hip-to-be-squarest politician so far in the 2016 presidential race? While he’s yet to be spotted in JFK’s Nantucket reds, or GHWB’s striped watchbands and J. Press suits, Rand’s wardrobe has the tradly touches of buttondown collars, conventional striped ties, and gold-buttoned navy blazers. That’s pretty unusual for a pol in the …
Who was that in yesterday’s pic of Muhammad Ali? None other than the great singer Sam Cooke, who died of a gunshot wound in 1964 at the age of 33. He’s pictured above in tab collar and emblematic tie, which appears to depict a griffin or lion rampant. The grass background even suggests a campus …
Deep Google searches on the phrase “Take Ivy” often return an image of a mysterious green VHS cassette with art from illustrator Kazuo Hozumi — evoking fantasties that the mythic 1965 film was once available as a commercial release. Six months ago, a former VAN Jacket employee handed me this very videotape after cleaning out …
When one door closes, the saying goes, another one opens. Or when one TV show ends, another begins. In our case, farewell “Mad Men” and welcome to earth “The Astonaut Wives Club.” ABC is currently advertising the series, which is set during the ’60s Space Race; it will debut in June.