J. Press is Ivy’s North Star, and the catalog, which you can see if you click here, strikes the perfect balance between letting us know North is still North and inviting a new audience. We’ll take a quick tour here, but really, go look for yourself. J. Press has not only stayed true to its …
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Ivy is a fashion born of a mindset manifested in a lifestyle. There are values attached: dignity, the value and power of thought, ethics, hard work, aesthetics, appreciation of all things classic, and the dogged pursuit of excellence. While Ivy evolves (I haven’t worn socks since Easter) the values don’t. If you are a reader, …
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These Life magazine images of Newport, Rhode Island, date from 1962. They feature some plaid/madras jackets to get you in the mood for summer, a guy who looks like Tony Curtis (above), and, in the final shot, a visit from JFK, whose birthday is today.
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In a recent post, Ivy Style founder Christian Chensvold shared his embracing of black, the forbidden color of the trad wardrobe. Now columnist Richard Press recounts his rude awakening when he joined J. Press in 1959 and dared suggest the company stock a black item. * * * The only time the Man In The …
“Your wedding day will be the second happiest day after you beat Yale,” Coach told the team in the locker room at Harvard Stadium before The Game. John Phillips’ novel “The Second Happiest Day” may not be great literature, but if you want to experience the heyday of Ivy at Harvard, go find this book. …
We recently posted about the differences between Ivy and preppy, which remains a perennial topic. So much so that I’m speaking to an author later this week about this very topic. Here are Richard Press’ views from 2012. No idea whether his thoughts have changed, but this post is worth revisiting for this photo alone. …
In 2012, and in part because of Ivy-Style.com, which helped bring Richard Press back onto the stage of life, the former J. Press president once again became a citizen of Manhattan, leaving the suburbs of Connecticut for an Upper East Side apartment. Since then Richard has become a part of his family’s firm once again, …
When his sons got out of the army at the end of World War II, Bernie Gantmacher asked his pal Jacobi Press if he could give his sons Elliot and Marty a job in the stock room at J. Press. Gantmacher had owned a shirt factory in New Haven since the ’20s and occasionally supplied …
A New York Times obit for a recently deceased Borscht Belt social director described his job title, “tummler,” a Yiddish word for someone who stirs up tumult or excitement, a jack of all trades. J. Press salesman George Feen (above left), known around New Haven as “Little Georgie Feen”, was a tummler on York Street …
They never taught me how to baste a suit at Dartmouth, but I had to learn how in a hurry when Ray Jacobs got sick on the road. “The road” was the term used to describe retail travel exhibits that fulfilled the clothing needs of Ivy grads after they left college and refused to partake …
The history of the plaid cotton fabric dates back to the turn of the 20th century when it became an informal sporting costume of the Raj. It was British Colonial long before Holden Caulfield enrolled at Pencey. Brooks Brothers introduced the fabric to America in 1920. Not to be outdone by his competitor, my grandfather …
During the Eisenhower years, Manhattan was an island of social, economic and cultural equanimity. The legal drinking age was 18, the bars stayed open until four in the morning, and the Biltmore Hotel advertised special student rates for Seven Sisters and Ivy Leaguers. Here are some memories from those days of my misspent youth. The …
For Yale men, Barrie Ltd. was shoe headquarters since the Isaacs brothers opened their narrow slot of a store attached to J. Press in 1934. Bob and Barry Isaacs always had their shoes made specially for them and sold under their Barrie Ltd. private label, which afforded them very competitive pricing for students and faculty. …