I’m pretty confident that my personal style reflects, at least in part, a subset of Eastern dress that could be called Annapolitan Trad. It’s not thrifty, scratchy-wool, down-east Yankee. It’s not pressed khakis and bow-tie ACC tailgating, either. And it’s certainly not Upper East Side Belgian shoes or Prince Albert slippers. But, like those styles, …
Yesterday I stopped by J. Press’ location in the West Village to visit DCG and see the latest displays and merchandise. Let’s have a look. Above, collar pin with fastened buttondown and skull and bones lapel pin. Below, braces and ball cap: And speaking of ball caps, the one on the right spells out “got …
Ivy Style herein presents a post both timely and nostalgic: namely, scenes from kinder, gentler Republican National Conventions.* These mostly date from the heyday of the Ivy League Look, as well as 1980, the year of Reagan/Bush and “The Official Preppy Handbook.” Look for neat haircuts, pipes, sack jackets and rep ties, and a future …
This weekend a political coup was attempted in Turkey, leaving many dead and the country in turmoil. In the interest of levity, Ivy Style presents the style icon Ahmet Ertegun. Ertegun (above left) was the cofounder of Atlantic Records and is responsible for helping launching the careers of Ray Charles, Big Joe Turner, Ruth Brown, …
Richard Press recently wrote about his fondness for safari shirts/jackets to wear around New York during the warm months and his septuagenarian years. Here’s some inspiration for creating your own urban adventures in that trad classic, the tan poplin suit (with some olive and stone thrown in for good measure). — CC Member of Andy’s …
Recently Pedro Mendes of The Hogtown Rake cohosted an event for G. Bruce Boyer held at LeatherFoot Emporium in Toronto, Canada. If Mendes sounds familiar, that’s because we featured him here on Ivy Style for the high-rise/tapered leg custom trousers he had made, which were inspired by our ill-fated project with Bills Khakis. Mendes has …
This is the latest in our new series “My Kinda Clothes,” which takes its name from a delightful phrase coined by Charlie Davidson of The Andover Shop. Richard Press will be trickling out a series of these posts, based on what he wore at different times of his life, from boarding school to Dartmouth to …
Our recent post called “Pucker Up” featured a vintage ad by Norman Hilton. Always inspiring for showing an elegant and sophisticated take on the natural-shoulder look, here’s a gallery of vintage ads we ran in 2012, with new images added. — CC
Today Ivy Style Facebook group member and comment-leaver Marc Chevalier, known for his extensive collection of historical menswear images, dug up this shot of Wall Street interns in 1987, the age of Gordon Gekko. The timing was perfect. Those of you who consume a lot of news no doubt saw a story last week that …
Pucker up, and we’re not talking to your oxford cloth. Today is International Kissing Day, and somehow we feel that a kiss in this vintage Norman Hilton ad is inevitable.* — CC * Despite what you may have seen in old movies, always ask permission before kissing someone.
Last month saw the DVD release of the rescue film “The Finest Hours.” Upon its theatrical release earlier this year, The New York Times movie reviewer Stephan Holden wrote, “The waterlogged disaster ‘The Finest Hours’ is a moderately gripping whoosh of nostalgia that shamelessly recycles the ’50s cliché of the squeaky-clean all-American hero.” That tepid …
On this July The Fourth we go back to 2010 to revisit this lengthy dive into the origins and practices of the quintessentially American go-to-hell look. * * * The following article is actually the first one The Rake assigned me, but it was held for several issues while they waited for new spring clothes …
Today, on the long Fourth Of July weekend, I went looking for something to repost from Ivy Style’s first summer in 2009. I found this, which seemed apropos for everyone celebrating sockless. * * * This is the second in our efforts to digitize the work of G. Bruce Boyer, whose many fine articles on …
Ratio Clothing, which offers custom-fit shirts made at a certain factory in Garland, North Carolina, yesterday introduced a longer-point buttondown collar option. Named the Fitzgerald model, the collar features points that measure 3.5 inches. Reads the description: We consider ourselves to be OCBD aficionados here at Ratio, and designed our Fitzgerald Button-Down to be the …
Various bits and pieces of sartorial and cultural trivia for you today. First off, a reader alerted me to the rather too clever “Jaws” collection by Sperry. I tweeted it out yesterday and it proved to be vastly more popular that my usual attempts at one-liner wisecracks. In fact, the best wisecrack was delivered on …
Is J. Crew testing the summer waters in contemplation of a return to its preppier roots? The brand’s origins lie in a capitalizing on the preppy ’80s by offering a mail-order version of Ralph Lauren at a lower price. And throughout the ’90s and early aughts J. Crew — like those other Js, Press and …
Growing up in 1980s Berlin, then a city with lots of “cool” but very little elegance, I caused quite a stir when I came to school in my new pink Lacoste shirt. What struck people as curious was not only the color of the shirt, unavailable for boys at the time, but also the color …
J. Press has produced a really cool new catalog for summer 2016. Why cool? Because it was produced in Japan and translated into English. That means it really plays up the heritage of the Ivy League Look, as well as offering that ever-curious glimpse into our national style from the point of view of outsiders …
Eight years ago, when I first interviewed Charlie Davidson of The Andover Shop about dressing Miles Davis, he used a simple but delightful phrase “my kinda clothes.” The phrase stuck with me and now, after all these years, I’m finally employing it as a new recurring feature. “My Kinda Clothes” will give Ivy Style readers …