Paul Fussell, author of the mordantly hilarious “Class: A Guide Through The American Status System,” died Wednesday at the age of 88. “Class” includes an entire chapter devoted to the semiotics of dress, and he aims his wry wit at his own class as much as those above and below. Here’s an excerpt: Upper-middle clothes… …
“Fifty Shades of Grey” is the steamy new novel that has bored housewives all stirred up, but here’s a shade of grey for us guys. While browsing at J. Press recently, this jacket caught my eye from across the room. The reason was the color: a grayish olive that struck a resounding early ’60s note. …
Yep, there’s another. No sooner had I begun preparing the announcement of Tuckernuck than another new online preppy retailer contacted Ivy Style HQ. Launched two months ago by two former lawyers schooled at the University of Virginia, Cornell and Washington & Lee, Country Club Prep is based in Atlanta and brings together small, preppy brands …
Last year we reported on a $1,200 Ralph Lauren madras sportcoat; the price struck us as a little steep, not by the standards of RL, but of the fabric. This year the headline stealer is this vintage patch madras jacket from Chipp, for which an eBay seller is asking $1,100. The seller’s rationale for the …
Summer is three months, or 90 days. Today Brooks Brothers sent out a mailer announcing a boxed set of polos in 44 colors. Why 44? Because that’s the flagship’s cross street on Madison Avenue. It’s also convenient number for planing your summer wardrobe. Not only does the set cover just about every shade in the …
Yesterday Gant took its Yale Co-op collection global. Released last year in the New Haven store, the collection is now available online and in Gant stores across Europe and Asia. The release is backed by a hefty marketing campaign that includes photos of current Yale students and faculty, as well as vintage images such as …
March Madras continues with this updated post with two more sartorial jump balls. In the first, J. Press squares off against Gant. Wearing an almost blinding uniform, J. Press offers a traditional madras sportcoat priced at $495. But shouldn’t this guy have graduated by now? In contrast to Press’ perennial classic, Gant offers classic-with-a-twist. Its …
Yesterday I rode up to the sixth floor at 346 Madison Avenue for a preview of Brooks’ next season. The spokesmen admitted the company hasn’t been playing up their heritage quite as well as it could, and the fall 2012 collection full of clever self-referencing.
J. Press (or “J. Squeeze,” for old-school guys in-the-know) is finally getting into the heritage and slim-fit game with its new 110th anniversary collection. Here’s the skinny: Svelte guys will now be able to get a pocket-flap oxford in a more streamlined cut. How streamlined? I asked J. Press’ general manager for specs, but he’s …
Last weekend I met up with Ivy Style contributors Zachary DeLuca and Jason Marshall for two of the smaller menswear trade shows. The highlight was a long session with Crittenden Rawlings, a longtime business associate of my girlfriend’s. “Critt,” as he’s known by friends and colleagues, is a menswear industry veteran who came out of …
Time fo a Tradsville news roundup. First up is Rugby, which currently has buckle-back chinos on sale for forty bucks. We’ve previously written about these several times (most recently in Christopher Sharp’s piece on the h.i.s. brand, which has been largely credited with the buckle trend circa 1955), and I’ll admit to an inexplicable hankering …
Hollywood’s status as an epicenter of impeccable sartorial taste is long gone, but there was at least one guest at Sunday’s Golden Globe Awards who gave a nod to the well tailored days of yore. That man was talent agent Ben Press, son of former J. Press president and Ivy Style columnist Richard Press. Company …
This weekend I received an email from Brooks Brothers with a surprisingly terse subject line. No long-winded winter sale announcements, such as “plus free shipping on orders over $200.” This one simply said “Be Radical.” Was Brooks introducing a line of X-Games-inspired athleticwear? I opened the message and found that the mailer was a plug …
The Daily Mail recently reported on Franklin & Marshall — no, not the liberal arts college founded in Lancaster, PA in 1787, the Italian fashion brand. Seems a couple of designers found an old college t-shirt, and, without bothering to research its origins, decided it would make a cool name for a logo-driven sportswear brand. …
Last night Brooks Brothers held its annual Christmas party, which benefits the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, at its Madison Avenue flagship. My third year in attendance (but my first one in brown flannels), the event seemed larger than usual and there was revelry on every floor. I took a few snapshots of guys who …
It’s easy to bemoan the death of American manufacturing, but much harder to go and discover historic facilities that still exist. That’s exactly what Bill Thomas did when he set out to produce an American-made Shetland sweater and made an illuminating discovery. “When we set out to introduce a fully fashioned American-made Shetland sweater, we …
Allen Edmonds has just unveiled a new collection of higher-end shoes priced at $445. Dubbed the Independence Collection, with models named for signers of the Declaration of Independence, the shoes feature a sole detail called wheeling (pictured above) that had remained locked in the archives, unused, for the past 30 years. Pictured below is an …
If you’re a trad on a budget and want some “Take Ivy” jacket details but can’t afford RL/Rugby prices, take a look at these two jackets by Lands’ End with a student/professor vibe and cheap tuition. Above is a herringbone sportcoat that was on sale last week for about $165 (it’s currently back up to …
There’s just something about this time of year — the fact that school’s back in session, the way the leaves are changing, all the football that’s being played — that makes autumn feel very collegiate. The varsity sweater channels this state of mind. It evokes memories, whether real or idealized, of strolls across leaf-strewn quads …