The Armoury has posted a video on YouTube of W. David Marx’s lecture from last week on Ivy in Japan through the lens of its magazines. Video quality is basic, but cheers to them for recording it, and the audio is fine.
Tokyo-based W. David Marx, author of the recent book “Ametora,” has just posted an English translation of an extensive 2013 interview with Yoshio Sadasue, founder of Kamakura Shirts, as part of his research for the book. Much of the interview centers around Sadasue’s years at VAN and the early days of Ivy in Japan. Sadasue …
When I was in college, I worked part-time tutoring foreign students in English. One Japanese guy became kind of a pal, and during a conversation one day he said, “The way it works is that America comes up with an idea and Japanese make it better.” I was only 20 at the time and this …
The fall isssue of Lapham’s Quarterly features an excerpt from W. David Marx’s upcoming book “Ametora” on American style in Japan. Marx first wrote for Ivy Style in 2009 with the hugely popular article “The Miyuki-zoku: Japan’s First Ivy Rebels.” Pictured above is VAN JACKET founder Kensuke Ishizu, the man who brought Ivy to Japan. …
In September, 2010, I was watching my old cordovan oxfords get polished at Tokyo’s “shoeshine bar” Brift H, when a middle-aged man walked in and pulled out an original 1965 print of “Take Ivy.” The book had not only been autographed by all four authors, but also had a rare printing error. I leaned over …
W. David Marx — who has contributed several pieces on Japanese Ivy for Ivy-Style.com — has hit the bullseye with his new book “Ametora” (that’s Japanese for “American Trad”). It’s a pioneering piece of research and a deftly handled narrative that traces the ups and downs, misunderstandings and mania for the Ivy League Look that …
In the late 1970s, Japanese companies went on a mad spree to secure licenses for American traditional brands. Everyone knows that Onward Kashiyama acquired J. Press, and maybe even that VAN Jacket made Japanese versions of Gant shirts. But what is lesser known is that Macbeth — a trad clothier founded in 1967 by former department …
W. David Marx did this interview for Ivy Style back in 2013 while researching his groundbreaking book “Ametora: How Japan Saved American Style.” As part of the research he sat down with Toshiyuki Kurosu (pictured above second from left) at the Kamakura Shirts office in Tokyo. Kurosu is legendary in Japan as one of the very …
Nine years ago Jeffrey Banks and Doria de La Chapelle presented me with a copy of their book, “Preppy: Cultivating Ivy Style.” It was an honor as a couple of my Q&As for Ivy Style are cited in the credits, as is W. David Marx’s article on the Miyuki-zoku, plus work from early Ivy Style …
Twelve years ago today, brimming with enthusiasm for a new project and no idea where it would take me, I unveiled Ivy-Style.com. I was in Los Angeles at the time, and the town had long maxed out what it could do for me. I was in a benign rut that perpetual sunny weather tends to …
Before W. David Marx published “Ametora,” his pioneering book on American style in Japan, he wrote several pieces for Ivy Style. Here’s a revisit of a 2011 piece that shines light on Ivy both at home and abroad. * * * Just five years ago, 1965 photo book “Take Ivy” was a rarity. Most sat …
Earlier this week, in the wake of coronavirus, I suggested that the current Ivy trend should shift towards what the Japanese call rugged Ivy. But they have another similar and creative twist on Ivy, called bankara, which was celebrated on the cover of Free & Easy magazine in May of 2011, when this post originally …
InsideHook is really banging the Ivy Trendwatch drum, with more than one scribe working the beat. The latest piece is entitled “Take Ivy 2.0 is the next great movement in American menswear.” Well let’s hope they’re right, but this one seems like a stretch. Check out the link and judge for yourself. The article features …
We wrap up the workweek with a roundup of recent news items. First off, today is the anniversary of JFK’s assassination. I didn’t know that there had been an earlier attempt in 1960, which was foiled by the Palm Beach Police Department. Ivy Style’s plentiful posts on the former president can all be found here. …
Today we revisit this 2010 post by Tokyo-based W. David Marx, who went on to write the book “Ametora.” * * * Compared to Western fashion magazines, Japanese magazines often get very specific about how to achieve a certain look. Editors and stylists do not just play with themes, as with most fashion editorial, but …
This was Ivy Style’s first post to go viral back in November of 2009. It is written by Tokyo-based W. David Marx, who went on to develop his pioneering research into Japan’s fascination with American fashion in his book “Ametora.” * * * The first Japanese to adopt elements of the Ivy League Look were …
Kamakura Shirts, in case you were unaware, devotes a part of its website to what you could call “dynamic content.” That’s another way of saying a brand blog. Since 2014 fashion critic Toshiyuki Kurosu has been writing pieces for Kamakura, and a number of them have been translated into English by “Ametora” author W. David …
Update: part two is up. Scroll down. I’m what’s known as an anomaly: a millennial without social media. It’s been two years since I deleted my accounts across the board and I certainly feel more free to live my own life and spend less time worrying about what my friends are doing every second. It …
We’re celebrating the Far East this week at Ivy Style. First the David Marx lecture video, then the interview with Ken Yamamoto of Tokyo-based Boston Tailor, and now another interview with a Japanese legend. This one comes to us via the website Gear Patrol, and the legend in question is Saddasue-san of Kamakura Shirts. In it, …