In the market for a tennis sweater, even though you don’t play tennis, or even cricket? Here’s some of what’s out there. Above, Bills Khakis cotton sweater, $325. Below, wool vest from Cable Car Clothiers, $298: Wool sweater by Smart Turnout, $280: Brooks Brothers Red Fleece, on sale $49: Ralph Lauren Wimbledon umpire vest, on …
We start the week off with a rather motley miscellany. Above, a 1958 novelty tune called “Ivy League Clothes” from a little-known doo-wop group called The Gaylarks. Damned if I can tell what the hell they’re singing about, save for “why, oh why?” Something about Ivy for girls. It’s from a time when the trunk …
A reader recently left a comment saying that collar roll is a fetish of the Internet age and that didn’t exist in the analog decades. Assistant editor Chris Sharp tapped his photographic memory, rummaged through his archives, and immediately produced an article from the April, 1983 issue of Esquire in which John Berendt opined on …
While researching the Harvard dorm rooms post for Masculine Interiors last week, I came across some student shots from the late ’40s up to 1960 or so. Note filthy sneakers in top image. — CC
Last week Bass unveiled some new models of Maine-made Weejuns. Priced at $295, they are made from Horween leather and come both with and without beefroll. I’d attended a Bass spring preview back in October, but I don’t recall these shoes being ready then. But here’s what else caught my eye, which should be …
On another post discussion just broke out about quilted Barbour-style jackets. I’ll plead guilty to owning one. Others expressed strong distaste, so I say we put it to a vote. (Alas our polling software is glitching right now, so you’ll have to weigh in via the comments section). — CC
This morning at Masculine Interiors I put up a gallery of 14 Harvard student rooms circa 1899. No idea if the inhabitants were the turn-of-the-century equivalent of bros. Head over here to see the full gallery. — CC
Today Town & Country’s website posted a humorous piece aimed at female readers that dissects the no-less-than-six distinct types of preppy guy that a preppy girl is apt to date in her twenties. Apparently by 30 she’s either had enough or actually gotten hitched with one of them. You might find the piece’s sartorial and …
I was unable to attend last week’s Brooks Brothers preview as I was battling a virus — a computer virus. So I’m falling back onto Women’s Wear Daily for the coverage. Writes the paper: At Brooks Brothers, Harris tweeds, soft tailoring that enables layering, an “into-the-woods” color palette and unorthodox pairings are some predominant messages …
Today is International Pipe Smoking Day. You don’t need to be a young fogey or Republican to celebrate it, though it probably helps. Pictured above is a photo that originally appeared in LIFE Magazine in 1963. You can buy a print of it at AllPosters.com where it bears the title “Pipe Smokers Listening to Speech …
Perhaps the heyday of the Ivy League Look began not in the ’50s, but the moment after World War II’s detente. In this 1945 New Yorker cartoon, a soldier returns home from the war and is told by his mother to immediately get himself some mufti at Brooks Brothers to show that everything is all …
Inspired by our frigid Northeastern temperatures, I performed a Google search for snowy campuses and found some lovely images. Forget the crappy, icy, snowy mess outside your door and daydream over the beauty of snow-covered traditional architecture at institutions of higher learning. Above, UVA. Below, Brown: Wake Forest:
Today the film adaptation of the international sensation “Fifty Shades Of Grey” opens. I don’t know about you, but I like my neckties far too much to risk tearing the slip-stitch by using them as bondage tools. Recently I wrote about acquiring a number of items this season in olive, but the bulk of my …
The concept of modern prep may really be nothing new. Use the term loosely enough and you could say it goes back to the 1920s, when the Ivy League Look first began to codify. A couple of weeks ago saw another edition of the big menswear tradeshow known as MRket, and this time there was …
Recently I was investigating manly candles (mandles?) because that’s the sort of important thing you do when you start working the home accessories beat. I discovered an apparently now-discontinued line of scented candles that were sold at Neiman Marcus. Although the brand had the silly name of Many Indulgence, the different scents had fun names …
I think I’m not the only one here who has a fondness for the art of fashion illustration, from the legendary work of Laurence Fellows for Esquire and Apparel Arts to the Japanese artists who fill each issue of Free & Easy. This afternoon Town & Country magazine tweeted a post about artist Patricia van …
There’s smoke on your computer screen, thanks to this selection of ads from the late ’40s and ’50s, mostly from the Daily Princetonian and Yale Daily News. Leave a comment if this post inspires any of you young men to take up the briar. Chens started at age 21. — CS & CC
Packers legendary coach Vince Lombardi, in fedora, buttondown and striped tie, casts a cool gaze across the field…. … and sizes up his two opponents: He pauses to ponder their attire and helicopter-pilot headsets, then formulates his game plan: And four quarters later: Enjoy the game today. And here’s The Philadelphia Inquirer on the vast …
About a year and half ago I wrote a piece about olive and gray — the olive part didn’t exactly go over well with some readers. I forgot about the colors for a while, but when I did a more stringent than usual closet purge this fall, I rediscovered the color I’ve always been most …