To paraphrase an old adage, some men are born with the sense for clothing, others acquire it, and still others have clothing thrust upon them. I was born with a feeling for clothing: that part is fixed. What isn’t fixed is the protean part, the urge to explore and express with different items, combinations and …
John Coltrane, saxophonist and visionary, set standards in nearly every facet of his short but ultimately fruitful life. While generally associated with Philadelphia, Coltrane is actually from Hamlet, North Carolina, and never tried to hide his Southern roots. In an interview by author Frank Kofsky — one of the few times his voice was recorded — …
George Plimpton certainly had pedigree. His father was “a successful corporate lawyer who became the American ambassador to the United Nations,” the New York Times noted in his obituary. “The family traced its roots in this country to the Mayflower. He was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard and Cambridge.” This pedigree no doubt accounted …
I recently took a pair of brogues to the cobbler for a shine, one of the little rituals, half preparation, half procrastination, that I find myself performing as a new semester draws near. Of course, we are not living in normal times. Because of COVID-19, I am again teaching my classes online, which means my …
When Richard Press first unveiled his column “A Tummler On York Street,” Ivy Style received an email from Peter Feen, great nephew of the man profiled in Richard’s column. Feen went on to tell us about his other great uncle, John Norey (above left), who also worked at J. Press in New Haven. Norey was an …
Try to be less grumpy!
Filmmaker and Harvard alum Whit Stillman — known for the preppy classic “Metropolitan” — is just as opinionated as anyone when it comes to clothes. As he told Brookly-based The L Magazine: “Take Ivy” looks terrible. I’ve never worn sneakers or sweatshirts in my life. I decided the moment I graduated from college that I …
My Kinda Clothes is a charming term coined by the late Charlie Davidson of The Andover Shop, and is an occasional series in which readers talk about their personal style. If you’d like to tell us about your own quirks and proclivities, please use the contact button above. * * * I love wearing a …
Ivy Style continues its decade-long honoring of Black History Month with a tribute to Sidney Poitier. The actor, who is aged 93, hails from the Bahamas and also served as the Bahamian ambassador to Japan. In 1964 he became the first man of African descent to win the Best Actor award for his performance in “Lilies …
A decade ago, HBO brought us the loosely historic “Boardwalk Empire,” a hit period drama by Martin Scorsese and Mark Wahlberg starring Steve Buscemi. Overflowing with illegal scotch and homicidal blood, the program was nominated for scores of Emmys and is worth checking out if you missed it the first time around. Focusing on Atlantic …
Here’s wishing you a happy Valentine’s Day, with hopes there’s a special someone to express your love to. Remember what Oscar Wilde said: a mask is always more expressive than a face.
Recently we revisited the topic of crest ties. Well leave it to Chipp to have the last laugh.
For me, Joe Williams always was, is, and will be the perfect male jazz singer. I say this with the greatest respect to Armstrong, Sinatra, Nat Cole, Johnny Hartman, Torme, Bennett, and anyone else you can think of from that fifty-year classic period of jazz singers, 1925–1975. From the moment I first heard his …
There’s much to get caught up on since the relocation of Ivy Style HQ from Newport to California, so this will take several posts over the next couple of weeks. By which time, of course, there will be new news. We’ll start with shirts. Simon Crompton at Permanent Style recently did an overview of Ivy …
Heraldic club ties: So handsome to look at, so foolish to wear — or are they? Trad clothiers bring out crest-emblazoned ties every fall — including, this season, Lands’ End (above)— but who actually buys them? Do they make you a royal ass, shield you from the commonplace, or leave you a crestfallen subject of ridicule? …
The winter weekend celebration known as the Dartmouth Winter Carnival was an intramural Ivy League event of local consequence before Walter Wanger decided to bring Hollywood into the act. Wanger flunked out of Dartmouth in 1915, but achieved notoriety in the film world. Intensely proud of his days in Hanover burnishing his contributions to the …
Shortly after my dark comedy storybook “These Are Our Failures” came out last January, The Rake showed me a fine writeup they did. Then the virus hit and it was never published, apparently, as I heard, because men weren’t interested in neckties at the present time. Of course, that is the entire point of the …
At a moment when the necktie is facing an uncertain future, a new label is seeking to recreate the Brooks Brothers ties of decades past with an Italian flair. Grange Fine Neckwear is the brainchild of J. Mueser’s Chase Winfrey, who announced the project last month on his blog The Grange. Winfrey, a collector of …
Originally posted in 2011, this is Ivy Style’s first tribute to Black History Month. It also has the distinction of being written by Ivy Style’s youngest contributor, Robert I. Brown, who was a mere 16 years old at the time. * * * Although Jacob Lawrence was a high school dropout, he adopted the Ivy …