Over the past several decades, G. Bruce Boyer has distinguished himself as one of the most erudite writers ever to tackle the subject of menswear. Born in 1941, he came of age at the Ivy League Look’s height in popularity. A graduate of Moravian, the fifth-oldest college in the US, Boyer went on to do graduate …
A decade ago, in 2008, I founded Ivy-Style.com. A couple of years later, I announced the 2.0 version, live from New York. And now on this Independence Day 2018 — 1,800 posts and 50,000 comments later — I’d like to announce the next stage of the site, Ivy Style 3.0. We have reached a crossroads, and …
Today in 1818 Brooks Brothers opened its doors. Let that sink in for a bit. Two centuries ago. Had it never been founded, would the Ivy League Look have ever been created? Perhaps college men and Eastern Elites would have just dressed like Englishmen. The Ivy Style community is the company’s toughest critics, but I think …
Today I have a special message on what is a for me a dubiously special day. Exactly one year ago today a traumatic disruption fell into my life like a meteor. Although in retrospect it was a fairly small stone, at the time it was more than enough to shatter my world. I eventually realized that …
This post from 2013 is a nice follow-up to yesterday’s essay from a novice who’d recently discovered the style — or at least the name and sources of what he’d long been drawn to. Alas the voting plugin no longer works, but there were nearly 100 comments the first go-round. * * * How Ivy …
Today, on the first day of Hanukkah 2017, we revisit one of Ivy Style’s top posts, CC’s 2011 interview with Richard Press, which was reprinted in the book accompanying the MFIT “Ivy Style” exhibit. Chag Sameach! * * * For years Richard Press would leave work at the J. Press store in New York …
In the late ’90s I discovered the surprisingly large vintage costume-ball scene in the San Francisco Bay Area, where about three separate groups put on 19th-century-themed events with live music for waltzes, polkas, and English country dances. There was a smaller scene in LA (in Pasadena, naturally), but nothing like it here in New York. …
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 …
A coalition of student activist groups has called for radical new dress reform at the Ancient Eight. Under the proposed new rule, items of clothing that developed under the legacy of the Ivy League’s formerly all-white-male student body would be banned, and students caught wearing items such as penny loafers and oxford-cloth buttondowns would face …
As a follow-up to yesterday’s post on Ethan Hawke’s new Chet Baker biopic, we’re revisiting Ivy Style’s one and only fashion photo shoot, originally posted on October 23, 2012. Today we begin planning a new one. * * * He was a prep-school dropout From the Donegal Mist Academy, Fortune’s fool who dared to love …
In the history of the Ivy League Look, Arnold Gingrich should receive honorable mention status solely based on his consideration of naming his fledgling magazine Town and Campus. He chose, however, to name it Esquire, and if that was were the story ended it would not be enough to warrant the virtual ink on this …