Sorry for being MIA the past few days; I came down with a sudden strange malady. Here’s a news quickie spotted by an alert reader. Robert Earle, host of the TV show College Bowl, died last week at 93. College bowl was a quiz show. Below are the boys from Princeton in 1966, while below …
Some various images from the LIFE archives. First up are several shots from Bowdoin College in Maine. Above, 1952; below, 1957: No date on these three Bowdoin shots. The one below looks like a good starting point for a Ralph Lauren Home collection inspired by a ’50s college dorm room: Moving on, freshman class arriving at …
Brooks Brothers showed its Spring 2020 collection recently. Exactly when or where I don’t know, since they no longer invite Ivy Style. I could blame that on the commentariat cranks, but no, it’s firmly on me. WWD reported about it on Tuesday, writing: The 201-year-old brand updated many of its staple pieces — dress shirts, …
Arthur Ashe in 1966 in patriotic colors. Check out the accompanying SI story on the groundbreaking legend here. And this is my new racquet. It’s not as pretty as Ashe’s old wooden ones, but nor is it completely ugly by today’s standards. For years I’d been stuck where most recreational players get stuck: the dreading ratings-system …
Kamakura Shirts, in case you were unaware, devotes a part of its website to what you could call “dynamic content.” That’s another way of saying a brand blog. Since 2014 fashion critic Toshiyuki Kurosu has been writing pieces for Kamakura, and a number of them have been translated into English by “Ametora” author W. David …
A recent piece by Richard Press from his “Threading The Needle” column at J. Press delved into the topic of black, the verboten color of gentlemanly menswear. But while black is often the schmuck’s stand-in for patrician navy, it may actually be worse to wear blue, at least from a certain point of view. You see, …
Over the years I came to develop a great affection for director Blake Edwards. Sure he made a lot of stinkers, but he also made “Breakfast At Tiffany’s.” Later in his career he made “Skin Deep” with a brilliantly cast John Ritter; it remains one of my favorite comedies from the ’80s and contains my …
This week I met with the new owners of The Andover Shop. First off, they can report that Charlie is hanging in there at the ripe age of 93. The team that took over has only modest upgrading plans, which mostly include a new website and perhaps some store events. Certainly no collaborations with Urban …
Today oodles of Americans will turn on the news and see a man with a messed-up shirt collar. There was a time when such recalcitrance around the neck (often accompanied by an asymmetrical tie knot) was a sign of trustworthiness. Alas our nation has lost faith in its institutions. May it never lose faith in …
These Life magazine images of Newport, Rhode Island, date from 1962. They feature some plaid/madras jackets to get you in the mood for summer, a guy who looks like Tony Curtis (above), and, in the final shot, a visit from JFK, whose birthday is today.
This latest installment in our occasional “call for collective wisdom” series boasts a nice pun on “collective,” given that the author’s family fled Communism. If you have advice for the young man, please leave it in the comments section. * * * When you’re growing up as a first-generation American in a neighborhood in Queens, …
This 2008 post is one of Ivy Style’s earliest, and is being revisited with updated photos as a nice compliment to our previous football-themed post. The Benjamin Bixby line didn’t last long, and there are only a few surviving items currently on eBay. * * * Along with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Andre …
In 2008 I did an assignment for the late Rugby Ralph Lauren blog about the movie “The Express.” This post became one of the earliest posts on Ivy Style, dating from early October 2008. It’s worth revisiting as the film has likely fallen into obscurity, and while not a masterpiece, it’s worth checking out for …
Earlier in the week I wrote about how we’re all adapting to living in an age of contradiction, and on Friday two items came across my desk today that exemplify the strange case of 21st-century Brooks Brothers. The general public is always behind the times when it comes to fashion, so while Brooks has been …
There’s still much news in Tradsville to catch up on, so here’s a double-shot of your favorite titans of the Old Guard. Earlier this month Troy Patterson, who has linked to Ivy Style several times over the years, attempted to unravel the mysteries of business casual for The New Yorker. The piece ends with J. …
When Timothy Thompson, an 18-year-old from Ashland, Oregon, was chosen by LIFE Magazine to have his first semester at Yale chronicled, a massive challenge lay before him. Not only did he have to adapt to the school academically and socially, he had to do so while a reporter and photographer followed him around campus, capturing …
Last night a TV commentator opined that one of the dominant strains in Western lands at the moment is that the “elites are rising up to overthrow the masses.” Right on cue, humorist and former Harvard Lampoon scribe PJ O’Rourke came out with a piece in the Washington Post this morning arguing that it’s time …
You’ve probably noticed during the past two years of extreme polarization in American life that everyone can agree on one thing: the country is headed in the wrong direction. It’s just that each side of the debate — and increasingly within each side — has a completely different set of reasons. Part of navigating such an …
There’s much news to get caught up on, and we’ll start with a few dispatches from the world of late capitalism. Ralph Lauren released a quarterly report revealing that spring merchandise underperformed. No idea if this comes from the neo-prep department. Check out Put This On for some market analysis. Watered-down, Main Street post-prep brand …