In a couple of hours, the US will take on Germany in the World Cup. Most of you probably don’t care, because soccer is about as preppy as having a name like Prince Shah Karim Al Hussaini Aga Khan IV. Pictured above is Khan at Harvard in 1958 from a LIFE Magazine photo shoot. We …
This weekend summer officially arrived, so here’s your summer reading (at least for a few minutes) via this piece on a new surfing book I did for Ralph Lauren Magazine. Above, an image that could only exist in the imagination of the Japanese: the “Surf Ivy” collection from the brand Beams Plus.
I suppose after nearly three years now of a golf obsession that’s caused me to neglect career and relationships (though apparently I’m not the first the sport has had this effect on), it was inevitable that I start a golf project. And so I’m pleased to announce the debut of Golf Style, which is accessed …
My latest piece for Ralph Lauren Magazine is on the shawl-collared cardigan, which was the favored warm-up gear for baseball players from about 1900-1930. Origins of exactly how and why the shawl cardigan became associated with baseball are murky, and very few of the sweaters survive outside of photographs. I was able to talk to …
To counter the over-the-top commercialization of the Super Bowl, I thought we’d take a look at football from an angle more related to culture than commerce. These football programs come from the shop Collectable Ivy and boast some great concept art. The one above, from 1930, is my favorite.
By now you’re all familiar with my learning golf on Brooks Brothers’s simulator. In fact, when comment-leaver “woofboxer” was visiting New York recently, he knew right where to find me. Apparently I’m one of a diminishing number of adults inclined to take up the sport later in life. Golf has lost 5 million players over …
On Monday night I was invited by the brand Boast to spectate at the squash Tournament of Champions, currently underway in Vanderbilt Hall at Grand Central Terminal. Coming from a Cali-plebian background, I’d never seen the sport played before. I was very intrigued, though, as for a few years I nursed an intense badminton obsession, …
Twenty-seven months and 20,000 balls after hitting my first, I finally made a swing on the third floor of Brooks Brothers (in my socks, no less) that the instructor said “could be on television.” Though it happened about six weeks ago, I just now got the video clip, from which these screenshots were taken. Since …
Besides the obvious things like career and family, the two things for me that make life worth living are art and sport. During the winter I’m more focused on the art side (typically concerts), while in the summer I like to play outdoors. So when Birchbox, a company that introduces you to new stuff via …
Competition is fierce today during the final round of the Masters. And while we’ve no idea who’ll be wearing the green jacket tonight, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano wins the green polo. While his American opponents have played the past four days clad in logo-laden, mercerized and moisture-wicking technologically enhanced golf shirts, Spain’s Fernandez-Castano has played each day …
One year ago today I hit a golf ball for the first time. Since then I’ve hit 20,000 more. Every day for the past 365 days I’ve played golf, practiced it, watched it, read about it, or thought about it. When I haven’t been outdoors hitting balls, I’ve been rolling them across the purple putting …
Update, 3 July, 10:04 AM: Last night Ivy Style crossed the 10,000-comment threshold with these infamous words that will echo across America this summer as families pile up the station wagon and head out on the road: Are we there yet? The comment was left by none other than regular reader Henry, who will finally …
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 …
My latest piece for Ralph Lauren Magazine is on the rise of American fencing. I spent about five years training up to five days a week and faced the national champion several times (the first time losing 5-0 in 45 seconds; the last time a more respectable 5-3). At the time, US fencing was barely …