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 …
As a follow-up to yesterday’s post about the DNC, here’s a style tribute to collar-pin devotee Adlai Stevenson, onetime Democratic presidential hopeful. In 1952, Richard Nixon called him an egghead (a pejorative term for an intellectual, for younger readers unfamiliar with the term). His baldness may have also had something to do with it, which …
Herein are scenes from Democratic National Conventions during the Ivy heyday, including 1960, the year of JFK’s famous “New Frontier” speech, as well as 1968, when there were a series of riots. At the bottom of the post is a short video explaining the context of the riots. — CC
The late ’80s and early ’90s brought us several coming-of-age films set in elite prep schools, such as “Dead Poets Society,” “School Ties,” and “Scent Of A Woman.” They don’t make movies like that anymore, save for once in a blue moon. Well, that blue moon is here. July 29th sees the opening of “Indignation,” …
I’m pretty confident that my personal style reflects, at least in part, a subset of Eastern dress that could be called Annapolitan Trad. It’s not thrifty, scratchy-wool, down-east Yankee. It’s not pressed khakis and bow-tie ACC tailgating, either. And it’s certainly not Upper East Side Belgian shoes or Prince Albert slippers. But, like those styles, …
Yesterday I stopped by J. Press’ location in the West Village to visit DCG and see the latest displays and merchandise. Let’s have a look. Above, collar pin with fastened buttondown and skull and bones lapel pin. Below, braces and ball cap: And speaking of ball caps, the one on the right spells out “got …
Ivy Style herein presents a post both timely and nostalgic: namely, scenes from kinder, gentler Republican National Conventions.* These mostly date from the heyday of the Ivy League Look, as well as 1980, the year of Reagan/Bush and “The Official Preppy Handbook.” Look for neat haircuts, pipes, sack jackets and rep ties, and a future …
This weekend a political coup was attempted in Turkey, leaving many dead and the country in turmoil. In the interest of levity, Ivy Style presents the style icon Ahmet Ertegun. Ertegun (above left) was the cofounder of Atlantic Records and is responsible for helping launching the careers of Ray Charles, Big Joe Turner, Ruth Brown, …
Richard Press recently wrote about his fondness for safari shirts/jackets to wear around New York during the warm months and his septuagenarian years. Here’s some inspiration for creating your own urban adventures in that trad classic, the tan poplin suit (with some olive and stone thrown in for good measure). — CC Member of Andy’s …
Recently Pedro Mendes of The Hogtown Rake cohosted an event for G. Bruce Boyer held at LeatherFoot Emporium in Toronto, Canada. If Mendes sounds familiar, that’s because we featured him here on Ivy Style for the high-rise/tapered leg custom trousers he had made, which were inspired by our ill-fated project with Bills Khakis. Mendes has …
This is the latest in our new series “My Kinda Clothes,” which takes its name from a delightful phrase coined by Charlie Davidson of The Andover Shop. Richard Press will be trickling out a series of these posts, based on what he wore at different times of his life, from boarding school to Dartmouth to …
Our recent post called “Pucker Up” featured a vintage ad by Norman Hilton. Always inspiring for showing an elegant and sophisticated take on the natural-shoulder look, here’s a gallery of vintage ads we ran in 2012, with new images added. — CC
Today Ivy Style Facebook group member and comment-leaver Marc Chevalier, known for his extensive collection of historical menswear images, dug up this shot of Wall Street interns in 1987, the age of Gordon Gekko. The timing was perfect. Those of you who consume a lot of news no doubt saw a story last week that …
Pucker up, and we’re not talking to your oxford cloth. Today is International Kissing Day, and somehow we feel that a kiss in this vintage Norman Hilton ad is inevitable.* — CC * Despite what you may have seen in old movies, always ask permission before kissing someone.
Last month saw the DVD release of the rescue film “The Finest Hours.” Upon its theatrical release earlier this year, The New York Times movie reviewer Stephan Holden wrote, “The waterlogged disaster ‘The Finest Hours’ is a moderately gripping whoosh of nostalgia that shamelessly recycles the ’50s cliché of the squeaky-clean all-American hero.” That tepid …