Our series of posts on the color olive comes to an end with a peek inside the armoire at Ivy-Style.com headquarters back in 2011. This is one of the Norman Hilton sportcoats that his son Nick relaunched at the time. I picked it up at the New York factory where it was made; Nick Hilton gave …
As “Take Ivy” becomes a menswear touchstone once again, we revisit this post from the last time around, in which I wrote that the lasting legacy of the book will be isolating certain motifs. It’s like rewatching a movie: First you take in the whole, and then in subsequent viewings you focus on more subtle …
InsideHook is really banging the Ivy Trendwatch drum, with more than one scribe working the beat. The latest piece is entitled “Take Ivy 2.0 is the next great movement in American menswear.” Well let’s hope they’re right, but this one seems like a stretch. Check out the link and judge for yourself. The article features …
Five years ago I asked the members of Ivy’s Facebook group if they’d like to have their uploads shared here. They agreed, and as February zooms by, I’d like to share this post once again. I’ve always particularly like the above photo. As I wrote back in 2015, you’ll notice that when it comes to dressing …
Olive and khaki were enormously popular colors for Ivy-styled civilian clothing directly after WW II, through the Korean Conflict (fighting ended in 1953), and a decade beyond. We can only surmise that the wealth of well made but inexpensive military clothing on sale in Army & Navy stores throughout the country after 1945, as well …
Over the past year or so there have been murmurings — that is, media coverage — of a nascent Ivy League Look trend resurgence, thanks in large part to Rowing Blazers. Now GQ UK has a new article entitled “How Ivy League style came back into the fold.” And to think, it was just half a …
Slate Magazine recently posted a long-winded and at times insufferable meditation on snobbery by a prep who came of age in the ’80s. The author’s resumé would certainly suggest the presence of snobbery: Mark Oppenheimer writes about religion for the New York Times. He is the author of a memoir, Wisenheimer; is an editor of …
For devotees of The Ivy League Look who live in 2017 but who aspire to buy clothes in 1957, there are two pieces of technology that can help. While the best option is a time machine, it is unfortunate that they are still notoriously unreliable, as any number of movies illustrate. The second option is …
Someone over at InsideHook (formerly Real Clear Media, for which I wrote a few pieces) is an Ivy stylist. The site just put up an ode to J. Press’ classic Shaggy Dog sweater, which comes in an extra-high number of flavors this year. Writes Jason Diamond: The Shaggy Dog, for those that don’t know, is …
There’s something about light-colored socks that puts a spring in your step. As you move, you catch the light color from the corner of your eye, especially if you’re wearing pants with a barely-there break. Gradually this sinks into your mind so that you’re always slightly conscious — which is not the same as being self-conscious …
Reposting this in light of a comment on our previous post “The Chase And The Catch,” regarding white socks being dorky. No personal opinion on the matter, as I believe it depends primarily on whether or not the wearer is a dork. — CC
Some people are lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. Others have a hand in making that time and place the right ones. Chase Winfrey (Instagram: @chasehwinner) falls into the latter category. At only 25 years old, the Ohioan-turned-New Yorker is proving why he is one of the leading young …
In 1977 Hampton Hawes, a woefully underrated pianist, composer and writer, died at the age of 48 from a brain hemorrhage. Known only to the most astute jazz musician and aficionados, Hawes had accomplished a great deal to be considered a bonafide jazz legend. His brief time here included performances with Dexter Gordon, Teddy Edwards …
There’s so much news in Tradsville it might take a couple of posts to get all caught up. First off, never doubt the evergreen nature of the Ivy League Look, as even a repost here from a decade ago can make news again. Our recent revisit of Christopher Sharp’s fine history of the Yale Co-op caught …
After our pipe post it seemed logical to look at cigarettes — specifically vintage ads with a campus setting. You may think it foolish to smoke cigarettes, but the planet will likely die of cancer before you do. Above, Chesterfield ad from the ’40s, while below is a Pall Mall ad from 1962 depicting campus …
Recently we revisited an old post on the Yale Co-op. Back in 2011 it was followed by this post mentioning The Owl Shop, the tobacconist serving the Yale community, so let’s light up this 2011 puff piece again. Frequent comment-leaver and one-time contributor Old School has dug up a 1962 Owl Shop catalog: Keeping with …
Over the past week devoted readers have left comments suggesting that something was going on at Southwick. I can now confirm the disheartening news. In November, shortly before leaving New York, I met with a Southwick representative. Oddly enough, it was in the new cafe Brooks Brothers opened on the first floor of its Madison …
Someone this morning requested a post, in light of yesterday’s big game, on Vince Lombardi. Well here you go. * * * There’s only one sure-fire bet today when it comes to the Super Bowl: no one will be better dressed on or off the field than Vince Lombardi was 50 years ago. When you’re …
It was a lazy Sunday afternoon and I was reclining on the sofa listening to Fred Astaire’s album with Oscar Peterson leading an all-star sextet and floating on a stream of reveries. Astaire cut the album in 1952, and swung his way through songs he’d introduced to America a generation before in those glorious black-and-white …