The first line of the Origin Story on their new website is, “Original Madras Trading Company is a family business with a checkered past.” I am friends with Prasan. I didn’t make that joke on our site before this, but I should have. The Original Madras Company is The Source. For madras. Not surfing. Their …
Here are your choices. It is nonsense to care THIS MUCH about how you dress (you’re on an Ivy site friend) and still argue that you don’t care about packaging. Rhys Moore, the CEO of St John Bay Rum, may have found that perfect middle ground between historic preservation and cultural relevance. Layered is a …
“Out of all the pearls I can buy in the world, I need my college best friend’s two dollar necklace.” – Vaishali College is not the given it once was. I am fashioning this divining rod for college as my daughter graduates her freshman year in high school. And I am struggling. She has the …
So the WOCBD OCD thing is kinda worked out, I got a bunch of blue shirts, and when I wear them I don’t itch or walk in circles. One must always pursue growth. Not wearing a repp tie though, that was Lithium-Withdrawal- Hard. But this tie from Mountain & Sackett: Here it is, …
If you have a Presidential Memorial Day quote you would like us all to see, please post it in the comments and I will find a photo to go with it and post it between now and Tuesday morning. Tuesday is our review of Mountain & Sackett’s Spring/Summer ties, but until then have a safe …
This is J. Peterman. I am not at all sure how Ivy this is. The company was founded in 1987. The company did not appear on Seinfeld until 1995, and if you ask USA Today it wasn’t until then that fame came. I would argue that fame happened long before or else why …
What’s that cover image? It is the St. Leonard’s Women’s Lacross Team, 1890. Why is it here? Two reasons. First, it is a cool image and lacrosse is Ivy. Four Ivy League schools in the final eight for national title this year. Second, got my butt beat doing a boxing training with a female trainer …
I would like to think that if Roger Angell were a guitar player with a teen daughter, he would wear an earring. He definitely combined worlds. As a word-by-word best-in-class editor whose mother married E.B. White (and didn’t tell him), Angell could have written anything, and he chose to focus on a game. Baseball. Roger …
Next week we will be moving the site, AND signing off on final design changes. Last call for thoughts, contributions, etc. A few ideas still kicking around. First, that you would have to subscribe to comment (not a paid subscription). That would take a few months to implement, just verifying the subscriptions, but the …
I don’t get why the white buck is not the second thing you buy if you are building an Ivy wardrobe. First of course is the WOCBD. But as you are walking out of the store, or back in your house from the mailbox depending on how you shop, look down, and ask yourself. …
Thank you to J. Press for hosting a wonderful evening. A number of great things happened. First, I FINALLY got to meet Laura Arnold in person. Mountain & Sackett, the company that is 3rd generation family owned and makes their silk-on-both-sides ties, has their spring collection out. I am going to review it later …
My friend Chapman is looking for vintage Tretorns, women’s, Size 10. If you know of any, leave it in the comments? I am working on a piece about the WHY of Ivy looking good and wanted to bounce three theories off of you first. If you do some online research, you find, well, …
Was at the gym Saturday morning. Guy walks in with a shirt that looks like it came in a spray can. I always carry a bag, the bag has a notebook in it. Here’s what I came up with: Bro you are not an Avenger. In working with Dylan and Duncan (and Elena, which …
Editor’s Note: I am right there with you, but Charles Bellinger makes a point. Like almost everything, the 70’s weren’t all bad, and he has made a case here. – JB If aesthetics must be judged within the context of their time, then the watch world of the 60s and 70s was a lot …
Thank you, Matthew Reichlin over at the FB Group. I know, you don’t like FB. You should join just for this group. In fact, if you click on the picture… That’s Maria Popova. She has an interview policy I do not understand. I understand asking for donations for your site, the thought has occurred. But …
J. Press will be there. Because it is at J. Press. On Tuesday, May 10 at the store in D.C. (that’s 1801 L Street NW #2) from 6 – 8PM, and on Thursday, May 12 at the store in NYC (that’s 51 E44th Street) J. Press is hosting an event, and you are invited. Rhys …
Is lipstick on a pig Ivy? I refer you to some Ivy reference points. Davis. McQueen. Kennedy. Poitier. Bush. Astaire. O’Rourke. You can wear what they wear. You probably own some of what they wear (except maybe Bush’s latter day socks – which were the apex of elegance but easier to pull off once the …
I don’t know what the secret to a good collaboration is. But I know a guy who does. Robert Squillaro is the Chief Merchandising Officer for J. Press, and has been key in the last several successful J. Press collaborations. This time out, Squillaro and Press are working with Frances Valentine, and if it is …
I wanted to introduce you to another company that insists on Made In America, is downright fanatical about quality, and whose CEO has a Vision Board above her desk of images of who her customers are, and asks every day if she is giving them what they want. And to borrow from our phone conversation …