Brooks Brothers is 202 this month. The UK-based website Fashion United has “Ivy League” in its headline about the anniversary, but strangely no article. We’ll file it under Ivy Trendwatch anyway. In other Ivy brand news, J. Press is helping fight the virus. Kudos to them. And speaking of the virus, a member of Ivy’s …
Today’s announcement has us mourning that no matter what the election result in November, there will be no blue buttondowns in the White House. Long live the revolution.
If the Northeast is the pinnacle of old money, Ivy Leaguers, and powerful men of distinction, then Washington DC is a close second. Though our democracy could use a few more of distinction in that city it seems. The men are bred and trained in the New English tradition and migrate down to the swamp …
Nothing’s worse than having to say “I told you so,” especially to yourself. It’s right up there with “Be careful what you wish for.” Back in December, which feels like another world, I’d just arrived in Newport after a decade in New York. It was the Christmas season, and I felt charmed, bedazzled, and filled …
Earlier this week, in the wake of coronavirus, I suggested that the current Ivy trend should shift towards what the Japanese call rugged Ivy. But they have another similar and creative twist on Ivy, called bankara, which was celebrated on the cover of Free & Easy magazine in May of 2011, when this post originally …
Although I’m a young man, I’ve tried just about all the oxford-cloth buttondowns out there. They all have excellent qualities, and each has a character entirely its own. I truly do enjoy them all. But the more I explore new things, the more I long for the original: the Brooks Brothers buttondown polo shirt. We …
As spring inches nearer, you may be considering wearing white denim (if only around the house). Or maybe not. In that case, consider a pair of tan jeans. They have the advantage of being a neutral basic like khakis, but more hearty, in case you end up in a wrestling match over the last roll of …
Traditionally April 1st is the day of the year when Ivy Style makes attempts at being funny. This year the online consensus is that under no circumstances should April Fool’s Day be “celebrated.” After a great deal of pipesmoking deliberation, I have selflessly decided to share the complete prologue and first act of my new …
It would be an understatement to say F. Scott Fitzgerald was an arbiter of the Ivy League Look. A former student at Princeton who, having become absorbed in writing dropped out to write several critically acclaimed books, Fitzgerald helped chronicle the Jazz Age and the clothing styles that came to define it. Though Fitzgerald was …
What role does clothing play in an epidemic, where we’re supposed to be distancing from each other? On one hand, traditional clothing is inherently about signaling. But without an audience, there is no need to signal – no need to establish allegiance, aspiration, or identity when one is home alone. On the other hand, on those brief …
Ivy League house party, because there’s no place like home!
“The Official Preppy Handbook” wasn’t the bible for me that it was for many. But at least part of the fun of reading it was recognizing the places and things that may have already been in our lives. In particular, I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the “trad” restaurants mentioned in the …
Recently I purchased a 1926 yearbook for my alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, and was pleasantly surprised to see a Brooks Brothers advertisement on the first page of the ad section. Flipping through, I also discovered ads for a few local establishments, including a campus menswear shop called Gommy. It seemed like Gommy may …
As many readers of the site have fortified their dwellings into makeshift self-isolation zones, the perfect opportunity to work without disruption also brings the opportunity to surf Amazon Prime and Netflix in equal concentration. In this self-isolation, my thoughts drifted to a style icon often not mentioned. I am speaking about Clint Eastwood as one of cinema’s …
When I was 18, I discovered my parents’ folk albums from the ’60s. I’ve been listening to music from that era the past few years, and am going to use the virus downtime to learn guitar. What’s your COVID resolution? Below is Pete Seeger, one of the pioneers of the folk revival, in knit tie …
Next up in our archives is this column from Richard Press that originally ran in 2011. Oddly enough, the opening line is about transmitting diseases from neckties. Now more than ever we must preserve a future for the tie! * * * A new proposal in New York would ban doctors from wearing neckties after …
Practically every American accustomed to reporting to an office on a regular basis is finding himself in the midst of a new normal due to the Coronavirus pandemic. With even Senators such as Florida’s Marco Rubio publicly asking how much longer those 100 women and men will continue to meet in person, many if not …
So there’s actually some news from Tradsville to distract you from all that other news. But speaking of that, should we start a post with a thread of helpful services offered? We all have to stick together like they did in olden times, and if we all volunteered just a bit of our time to …
Take your mind off things by remembering that all things pass. Here are some photos from “Take Ivy” featuring bicycles. Get on one if you can. From Take Ivy by Teruyoshi Hayashida, published by powerHouse Books.