Today we revisit this post that originally ran in July of 2010 with the publication of “Take Ivy.” When powerHouse Books releases the first English-language edition of “Take Ivy” on August 31, eager readers will finally get a chance to see its enchantingly atmospheric photos as they were meant to be seen: within the hardbound …
With his wholesome looks and penchant for the Ivy style, Anthony Perkins was perfect to play the apparently good-natured but in fact deranged killer Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho.” He also had a taste for our style.Here’s a quote about Perkins from Tab Hunter’s autobiography: As I toweled off, someone approached and formally introduced …
I’ve previously presented two articles on Brooks Brothers from the troubled Marks & Spencer era. This one, from four decades earlier, was featured in the September, 1950 issue of the Esquire-owned digest Coronet, and also reflects a time of corporate management change. In 1946 Brooks Brothers was bought by the Washington, DC department store known …
Esquire has a feature on the way we dress now that includes the fellow above, who’s combined trad elements with workwear and whose quote reads “Everybody forgives a well-worn navy blazer.” Click over here to see the way the other men dress. There’s even a guy outfitted in FE Castleberry‘s Wes Anderson look, proving that, …
When it comes to classic Americana, the Japanese are meticulous in their research and sticklers for details — at least most of the time. Nick Sullivan, Esquire‘s fashion director, lent me the latest addition to his style library: “The Ivy Pictorial Dictionary” by Toshiyuki Kurosu (who’s associated with the brand VAN, according to our man …
Back in the heyday there was only one white sock for the college man to wear with his Weejuns: wool ones by Adler. Though the ad above testifies to Adler’s pristine whiteness, it was actually much cooler to bleach them a sickly yellow color. I stumbled across the above image (which you can find on …
Rowing Blazers’ Fall/Winter 2019 lookbook features a campus setting and a vaguely “Take Ivy” feel. Check it out here.
The annual Harvard-Yale football game presents one of the best opportunities of the year to put together traditional preppy ensembles and turn out in force. My great-grandfather graduated from Yale in 1916, and I’m the proud owner of several sartorial artifacts from his time in New Haven, among them a pipe, a smoking jacket embroidered …
Most parents dream of their son getting accepted into an Ivy League school. On the other hand, the number of parents who hope their pride and joy goes on to become a cartoonist is probably close to zero. Whitney Darrow, Jr., the cartoonist we featured in yesterday’s post, had the ideal sensibilities to be a …
I’m sure you can think of a lot of things that make you just want to give up. Whitney Darrow, Jr. could certainly sympathize. He was a midcentury cartoonist whose work appeared in The New Yorker, among other places. These panels are from a 1966 collection, and many of them are strangely apropos to the …
The College Man By Albert J. Beveridge From ‘The Young Man And The World” Go to college. Go to the best possible college for you. Patiently hold on through the sternest discipline you can stand, until the course is completed. It will not be fatal to your success if you do not go; but you …
Another 180-minute Democratic debate has passed with few fireworks aside from ex-HUD secretary Julián Castro accusing Joe Biden of forgetfulness. Castro’s arrow may have missed its mark, but newly uncovered evidence suggests that the former vice president once left a glen check Ralph Lauren sportcoat at a Delaware dry cleaner, and it can now be …
While going through the archives, I found this post on Danish photographer Sergei Sviatchenko from January of 2010. Turns out he is still doing his “Close Up And Private” project, which consists of atmospheric, artistic shots of midcentury and preppy style. Below are a few shots from his spring/summer 2019 edition. Head over here to browse …
As a child in the suburbs of Los Angeles, I was about as far from the Ivy League schools of the Northeast as one could get. The San Fernando Valley, where I spent my childhood in the 1970s, was very blue collar at its core. Most of my friends’ parents and neighbors worked in the …
If you’re already planning on a new overcoat for this season, you might want to slim down. That is, with the cut of the coat. That’s according to this vintage advertisement from Hickey Freeman, which advocates “comfort and natural lines” with “lapels narrow to emphasize smartness.” Finally, “shoulders are normal,” because abnormal shoulders are so …
While clearing out Ivy Style headquarters I came across an amusing clipping in a box of ephemera. It’s a letter to the editor that ran in the San Francisco Chronicle in 1994, when I was 24 and was publishing anything I could, anywhere I could. It’s in response to a columnist who had written about …
Update: Well that wasn’t much of an absence. The camp moc is back already, and looks pretty much the same, which could be good or bad. It could have been reintroduced with great fanfare, made in the US, and triple the price. * * * After being alerted by an Ivy Style reader, …
It may be too soon to wear one, but in case this vintage ad inspires, you can start shopping now. The ad appeared in Cornell’s student newspaper in 1955, suggesting that even Ivy Leaguers wanted to make sure they got the authentic Ivy model.
Update: We have a winner, and it is Robert Staehling. Please email me, sir, at your convenience. * * * Back in April we ran an interview with Ken Yamamoto, the man behind Japan’s Boston Tailor. Yamamoto-san has kindly donated a superb piece of craftsmanship for one lucky winner who can wear a size 38 …