I’ve been working on that Hollywood magazine I’ve mentioned before, and recently interviewed the actress Hannah John-Kamen. She’s had roles in a number of franchise fantasy worlds (Star Wars, Tomb Raider, Game Of Thrones, the Marvel Universe), so I asked her where she’d like to go if she had a time machine. Backwards or forwards? She said she wanted to go to the ’80s, the period she just missed out on. Funny how that seems to be a common theme among people. It certainly explains my interest in the Ivy heyday (among many other historical periods).
Then sure enough today on Twitter there was a trending hashtag about life in the ’80s. My contribution was that guys smoked pipes at prep school — at least according to Hollywood comedies. So on the off-chance any new readers are unaware of the classic ’80s prepsploitation flick “Making The Grade,” here it is below in its entirety.
Stay tuned as our next run of posts will include some interesting brand news, longer historic pieces, and J. Press will talk us through the new fall catalog, which is creating quite a bit of excitement. And please consider supporting Ivy Style on Patreon so I can get these posts up at greater frequency. — CC
The 80s were my own heyday, I suppose; marriage, law school and my first “real” job, which enabled me to indulge my taste for Brooks, Press and the like to a greater extent than the odd shirt or end-of-season-sale poplin suit. I even smoked a pipe occasionally, and still do once in a while, especially in the fall.
I urge anyone with an interest in classic traditional clothing to take a look at the new J. Press Fall Brochure, mentioned above by Christian. There are many lovely items on every page. If I were a rich man, I would buy the lot.
Best wishes and prayers for those in the flood zone in the southeast.
It has taken me ten long years to reconstruct (as closely as possible) my own long gone 80s wardrobe. Ten years and a lot of money. Was it worth it? Yes, I suppose, but a lot of things are elusive or simply unobtainable these days and that generates many a pang of regret – how did I let the original items slip through my fingers, where are they now? Anyway, now all that remains is to reconstruct my 80s hair….
It was the last great decade in American history, in my opinion. I’d love to go back just for the fact that Reagan was president, not to mention the far better clothing options (compared to dismal times).
Interesting how few comments this attracted.
The early 80s were when I realized the Brooks OCBD was going to hell and if you got a good one it was an accident. The days of us all looking like Dean Acheson were going and I began to wear bow ties. In Boston we still had Filene’s basement and their unbelievable twice a year Brooks Brothers sales.
Of course we had Reagan so not to worry we thought.
I only have vague personal memories of the last years of the ’80s, but in pre-cable days of my childhood, that decade provided most of the daytime re-run material I watched. The look captured in the movie still above, seen in film after film, seemed ever present in art but not in life (mid to late ’90s). I’m glad it has stood the test of time so I can wear it in adulthood un-ironically.
@ Rex Levmont
I am not surprised.
The 80s were the last full decade where the non-pc were still in the majority across almost all strata of a still functional, vibrant society – something today’s under 35s would, I am sure, prefer to forget