Ivy Style asked readers who were around during the heyday of the Ivy League Look to share their reminiscences. Here are some of the responses about clothes and college life back in the day. * * * I’m a Westerner, now 58 years old. My first dealings with Brooks Brothers were when I was in …
A powerful remnant from my retail family past overwhelmed me last week at a visit to the J.Press shop on Bleecker Street. Staff member Robert Wolf showed me a battered 1949 framed magazine article about my grandfather, Jacobi Press, an artifact recovered from the demolished New Haven premises. I clearly recall it on the fitting …
David Rockefeller, grandson of tycoon John D. Rockefeller, died in his sleep at the age of 101. He was the world’s oldest living billionaire. Here’s a quick-snap of his impressive list of life highlights via Bloomberg Business News: He was also a confidant of world leaders, from Deng Xiaoping in China to Nelson Mandela in …
Chuck Berry, the poet laureate of American rock-n-roll, died yesterday at the age of 90. He’s pictured here giving a concert at UV in 1965 in a photo by Ed Roseberry. You can read our 2015 post on the photographer here. As an English major, I can tell you that Berry’s lyrics read like few …
The cold will come upon us soon and stay. In preparation I pulled out my faithful Irish handknit. It might come as a surprise to some that the source for this sweater was Lands’ End. The company was stocking their catalogs with some credible country attire at the time, such as moleskin trousers, heavyweight Viyella …
According to Atkinsons, makers of Royal Irish poplin, Huguenots brought their silk-weaving craft to Ireland in the 17th century, and where they began blending their silk with a fine local wool. The result is a half-silk, half-wool blend that makes for a necktie with great hand and character, one that belongs in every trad’s neckwear …
This is what passed for undergraduate nonchalance in 1934: three-piece suits, suspenders, lace-up shoes, topcoats and hats. From the January issue, here’s Esquire‘s take on the studied carelessness of collegiate style. — CC
One often sees the subject of watches come up here in the comments section as well as on Ivy Style’s Facebook group, usually concerning which timepieces might confer an Ivy aura. That can be a wormhole, since people wore a variety of watch styles over the decades. However, there are watches that were popular during …
Charlie Davidson of The Andover Shop turns 91 today and refuses to retire. Truly one of a kind. Happy Birthday, Charlie, from all of us here. — CC
A lot of original photos of JFK has gone on the auction block at Bonhams. There are a couple of sartorial details worth noting. The photos are from 1954, when Kennedy hadn’t fully sanitized his wardrobe of Ivy affectation in order to better reflect the American public via the medium of television. In the photo …
Here is a fascinating photo from Yale in 1928. The young man on the left looks old-fashioned to us today with his three-piece suit with plus-fours (which was actually probably part of a four-piece suit that included trousers as well as knickers). In contrast, the student on the right looks perfectly contemporary in his crewneck …
Carmelo Pugliatti is a longtime reader of Ivy Style based in Italy. He is known in the comments section and on our Facebook group for his extensive collection of historic menswear images, as well as his incisive commentary on American culture from a European point of view. It’s especially admirable that he is brave enough …
If World War II had never happened, would khakis have ever become a staple of the American male wardrobe? That’s the question I found myself pondering when my editor at Ralph Lauren Magazine said he wanted me to write a feature on khakis. What in the world was there to say that hadn’t been said? …
This post, which features much input from our Facebook group, was inspired by a recent comment decrying bit loafers for their Italian origin. It got me thinking about what other items associated with the Ivy League Look and preppy style have origins outside the UK and Ireland. Here’s what we came up with, presented alphabetically. …
While the English are often praised for laying the vestiary groundwork forthe Ivy Leauge Look, it is my biased opinion that the Scots are worthy of praise for their numerous contributions to the genre as well. I am biased because my Scottish grandmother made sure that I am not only proud of my Scottish heritage, …
Ever seen an unlined oxford-cloth buttondown actually being made? Probably not, but you can now. Michael Spencer has just released a video that examines its three shirt collar options: unlined, lined but not fused, and finally lined and fused. While purists like the comfort and nonchalance of unlined buttondowns, lining and fusing is often best …
No, not the couple. The guy’s outfit in this 1959 illustration. Check out the full image: He’s matched light blue socks to his light blue shirt. That’s a matchy-matchy no-no, to say nothing of harmonizing with the drapery. The other items are fine, including what we assume is a navy knit tie, and penny loafers …
There’s breaking news today in the world of men’s footwear. That’s right: it’s not often that velvet slippers make headlines, but last night at the President’s speech before Congress, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross took a piece of “winter White House” style with him from Palm Beach to DC and donned slippers from Stubbs & …
Happy Birthday to singer, actor and activist Harry Belafonte, who turns 90 today. Below you can check out an early recording he made with the Zoot Sims Quintet below. It features Roy Haynes on drums. Haynes was one of the jazz musicians who got hip to Ivy in the mid-’50s, and I interviewed him in …