When I first posted about Jay Butler loafers almost a year ago I was pretty happy about them. If you are new here, and 3/4’s of you are, a quick Jay Butler primer for you. Jay Butler shoes are different in that they were designed like moccasins. So you wear them for a bit …
In the greatest book written in the last century, The Gold Coast by Nelson DeMille, the protagonist John Sutter is getting into it with a law enforcement official and closes his diatribe with, “… and at least have the decency to wear leather shoes.” The rubber soled shoe subject will not die, but a founding …
Editor’s Note: Rather than have me litter the post with “click on the image to see…” – if you click on each image you will see the product featured but on the Duck Head site in better detail. I am all about the locally sourced nature of some things. Nantucket Red as a color will …
I wrote about the Essex pant last week here – The Essex is khakis, I suppose, but it isn’t. Wear them on most of the occasions you wear khakis, sure. If you wear khakis to work, wear the Essex to work. If you wear khakis to dinner, wear the Essex out to dinner. …
You mean to tell me Betsy Ross did not make the first flag? Stand by. The story of Betsy Ross goes a lot like the story of me approaching Jay Butler to make some Ivy Style shoes. Washington comes up to Ross and says, “Can you help me make a flag?” (That is SO hands …
Trend is a dopamine hit, an understandable one. Who doesn’t like new, the zap you get from a change, a piqued curiosity? Trend serves us in a number of places. The markets (the markets love volatility). Social progress (where a trend leads to a more permanent evolution). Etc. My least favorite word is trend. There …
Before this, I ran the FB group for a few years. That job was/is an exercise in a few things – the hardest of which was to pick the right level of snark with those who disagreed with me. I wanted to be funny, but also get the point across, but maintain dignity. Right? So …
Give an Ivy Classicist the rules about when and where to wear sneakers and they are shod for a day. Make the rules together and they are shod for a lifetime. That’s shod – twice in one paragraph. Hang on. YES. It means what I wanted it to. Let us begin the session with common …
Editor’s Note: These are in stock. record needle scratch No, for real, in stock. No waiting until Thanksgiving, no only-size-we-have-fits-your-kid. In stock. Now. For real. These are khakis that you can build your entire wardrobe around. My first professional writing gig was for an investor relations company, which, in a branding blown tire of the …
The idea of a handsome young man with an Ivy uniform entering public life when they have other, more lucrative options. Remind you of anyone? I met James Darley at a J. Press event. I mean, I knew who he was before that. He had posted some really good images in the Facebook Group, hereafter …
Editor’s Note: DEFINITELY NOT including how hard it is to transfer, how hard it is to incorporate a decade of content into a redesign, the fact that Women’s Ivy is confusing to me so I can’t write it, and how much it costs to host. It’s coming up on a year. I LOVE THIS WORK. …
Editor’s Note: Like we did on Memorial Day, if you have a photo of you and your child that you would like me to post here, please email it to JohnBurton@Ivy-StyleMediaGroup.com. I will post them today, tomorrow, and Saturday as they come in. That’s my daughter, Gramercy, asleep a few days ago after one …
There was a period of Ivy marketing where you couldn’t determine much about how any product was different from any other product because the photography looked… the same. And then a decade passed and you couldn’t determine much about the product, or even what decade you were looking at because the photography looked… the same. …
First time I gave a woman perfume it was a misstep. Remember the Senator’s daughter? It was the first time I met her mother. I was familiar with silverware, I knew how to open the door for people, and I even handwrote thank you notes. We drove out to her house, Toms River NJ, and …
This is my day today, started at 3:15, did the pages (I write three handwritten pages every morning, first thing – you know how you dump out the old grinds before you make new coffee, some of them hug the sides of the filter because it is wet and you have to rinse the filter …
Editor’s Note: As the new store is opened on Elm Street, J. Press will no longer operate the store on College Street. The contents of my new inbox this morning (do yourself a favor and NEVER change site hosts) were as thus: an article on whether or not it is okay to wear shorts to …
The first line of the Origin Story on their new website is, “Original Madras Trading Company is a family business with a checkered past.” I am friends with Prasan. I didn’t make that joke on our site before this, but I should have. The Original Madras Company is The Source. For madras. Not surfing. Their …
Here are your choices. It is nonsense to care THIS MUCH about how you dress (you’re on an Ivy site friend) and still argue that you don’t care about packaging. Rhys Moore, the CEO of St John Bay Rum, may have found that perfect middle ground between historic preservation and cultural relevance. Layered is a …
“Out of all the pearls I can buy in the world, I need my college best friend’s two dollar necklace.” – Vaishali College is not the given it once was. I am fashioning this divining rod for college as my daughter graduates her freshman year in high school. And I am struggling. She has the …