It’s actually Professor Week here at Ivy Style, instigated by the Wall Street Journal article we posted, which delared that corduroy and elbow patches are in. Members of our Facebook page already submitted photos of a number of tweedy pedagogues in fact and fiction, and you’re welcome to email me any suggestions. We’ll be rolling …
In the current isssue of Esquire, PJ O’Rourke attempts to analyze the clothing of all the presidential candidates (that is, all the ones we started with). O’Rourke opens the piece with a description of himself: “I’m no arbiter of style. I’m a navy-blue/banker-gray J. Press, barrel-cuff, club-tie duffer who buys a new suit when I …
Ivy Style’s Facebook group has been lively lately, so if you can’t get enough discussion of sartorial (and cultural) matters with your natural-shouldered brothers, then come over and join us. Recently a reader dug up this photo of the massive bow tie collection of E. Gordon Gee, currently the president of West Virginia University. Perform …
Reposted in honor of National Dog Day. This column originally ran on June 13, 2011. * * * Last night the Broadway revival of “Anything Goes,” which had received nine Tony nominations, ended up winning three. As I watched, I couldn’t help but remember one of the great historical anecdotes of J. Press: The time …
Back in the spring J. Press’ managing director told me that this fall the company would be unveiling live models on its website and in its promotional material. That day came yesterday when J. Press sent out an email blast showing new fall items worn by real live human beings. The collection of images are …
I’m seventeen and attend a prep school in Louisville, Kentucky. I have a fondness for classic clothing, but it’s definitely not inherited. I’m middle class and my dad’s taste in clothing is as bland as white bread. Instead I came to appreciate classic clothes through my love of film, especially old Alfred Hitchcock movies like …
Derek at the Die Workwear! blog may be a style omnivore, but he still has a soft spot for the Ivy League Look. Yesterday he was on a bit of a trad kick. First he tweeted the following: Then he posted a great gallery of images of jazz pianist Bill Evans, along with some remarks …
Recently I was asked to participate in a new side project from Christian Barker, my former editor at The Rake. Barker founded a site called Men’s Top Tens, part of which consists of style commandments from his colleagues in the menswear, media and luxury goods industries. The piece gives me an opportunity to talk about …
Our recent post on the new business casual dress code at JP Morgan and PricewaterhouseCoopers inspired this quip in the comments section: So glad Weiner ended ‘Mad Men’ so I never will have to watch a 60-year-old Don Draper wear a size large OCBD with Top-Siders and chinos to the office. Which got me wondering: …
Not me, though. We’re in the middle of a heat wave and I’m miserable without golf and tennis. I’ll take a polar vortex any day. OK I can’t play golf or tennis then either, but at least I don’t sweat just sitting at my desk. Playwright Arthur Miller liked ’em hot — women, that is. …
A new Samsung commercial running during the Olympics features Christoph Waltz, the Austrian actor who rose from obscurity in his fifties to win the Academy Award for his portrayal of the SS colonel Hans Landa in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds.” Many critics called his performance the greatest portrayal of a villain in cinematic history. Fans …
This post may seem like it’s preaching to the choir, but in any given month about 50% of Ivy Style’s traffic consists of first-time visitors. So this is one is for those who are logging on for the first time. And for all you regulars, here’s something to pass along to your coworkers to help …
A couple of nights ago I attended a cozy media event sponsored by Allen Edmonds. Not much news to report, though there may be some coming: I made two suggestions on shoes they should produce. Afterwards I realized I was just a few blocks away from my favorite source for Levi’s: JC Penney in Herald …
When it comes to choosing a fragrance, I steer clear of anything citrusy. Sorry, but I have no intention of smelling like a fruit salad. I like heavy fragrances exuding leather, wood and tobacco. Or rum and spice. That I like them is the most important thing, but I think women find them compelling as …
Is it me or is this the least exciting Olympics ever? I hadn’t paid attention to when it was starting, but tonight is evidently the opening ceremony. Perhaps it would be more enjoyable to watch the Cary Grant film “Walk Don’t Run,” which is set at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics with a plot contrivance that …
And you thought bit loafers were polarizing? Precocious menswear buff Al Castiel III, a Boston University student spending his summer interning in New York in the Paul Stuart custom department, herein offers an ode to the dainty, delicate footwear specimen known as the Belgian Shoe. * * * Just off the corner of Park Avenue …
I’d just chatted with Alden president Robert Clark a couple of weeks ago at the big menswear trade show here in New York. He didn’t mention this developing news story, but he confirmed it yesterday via email. Apparently following a request from Gucci, Alden is discontinuing its bit loafer. “Gucci did ask us to stop …
The popular fashion website Racked has a lengthy feature on the future of the Ralph Lauren brand. The reporter interviewed me extensively, and I must admit my pessimism shows. Here’s an excerpt: Ralph Lauren is going through operational struggles during not only a tumultuous period in the retail industry, but also a time that’s seeing …
On Monday we reported on “Indignation,” the Philip Roth adaptation that opens today. Well another movie is hitting theaters as well, a documentary on comedy in the age of perpetual outrage called “Can We Take A Joke?” As a tribute to the gentle art of making people laugh, here’s a mini-gallery of comedic actor Leslie …