Ah, the halcyon days at an all-male prep school, mid-century. Here we have two future lawyers shining their shoes while debating the merits of the various Ivies. The Hill School in Pottstown, PA, 1942.
Argyle socks and cuffed flannels:
Pants so short they go up to your knees when you cross your legs. The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut, 1954:
Wrinkled chinos, ties under crewnecks, light socks and loafers:
Rep tie, signet ring, freckles:
Breaking in the new teacher.
Finally, Steve McQueen visiting his old dorm room at the Boys Republic School in Chino Hills, CA, 1963. — CC
Excellent. I live right up the road from the Boy’s Republic in Chino Hills. They don’t dress like that anymore, unfortunately. I didn’t know Steve McQueen was a resident, either.
yeah boys republic isn’t exactly a prep school. it’s more like where you get sent as a teenager as your last chance before being turned over to the penal system. but it’s true, steve mcqueen was an alum!
The student sitting directly in front of the teacher, underneath the caption “Wrinkled chinos, ties under crewnecks, light socks and loafers” is DEFINITELY not thinking about the lecture!
The Hill School still remains one of the most ivy-influenced school today. It is still very traditional- practically identical to “Dead Poets Society” except with girls now. Nantucket Reds and Brooks Brothers oxfords can be seen left and right.
Do you work there? Alumnus? Live nearby? Why not do a story for us.
I’m a student there. Livin’ in the glorious days of good ol’ prep school. 🙂
I’m Hill School class of 1964. Tobias Wolff was one of my classmates. Looking at those pics, and from what I saw of Upper School when last I visited a couple of years ago, it doesn’t appear that there has been an enormous amount of change. That freckled, signet-ring kid is wearing a Hill School tie, right? Sure looks like it.
The Hill School! Haven’t thought of it in years. Didn’t attend myself, but was friends with a kid who did in the late 70s and first half of the 1980s. He owns a restaurant in the area now, and I’m a professor in the Upper Midwest. Go figure.
Best Regards,
Maybe a string of articles on locales where Ivy/prep/trad dress is still a natural occurrence rather than something out of the normal. Lake Forest, Illinois comes to mind.
I spy a less exaggerated version of Oxford Bags. (aside: an early Heyday Norman Hilton ad referenced Oxford Bags alongside a Norman Hilton blazer).
Speaking of that era–
https://webspace.yale.edu/Yale-golf-history/images/0483.jpg
https://webspace.yale.edu/Yale-golf-history/images/0388.jpg
https://webspace.yale.edu/Yale-golf-history/images/0390.jpg
Check out the khakis/chinos on the left:
https://webspace.yale.edu/Yale-golf-history/images/0386.jpg
Steve McQueen used to request extra razors in his movie contracts, and no one knew why for years, until it was revealed that he was sending them to the students at the Boys’ Republic School. He also personally answered correspondence from students there.
In the end, he wasn’t cured of the worst excesses of rebellion until he was confined to the brig while serving in the Marine Corps. By his own admission, that stay in the “cooler” marked a turning point in his military experience, and in turn, in his life.
No one will ever convince me that alum is anything other than hydrated double sulphate of aluminium. I am pretty certain the term being sought regarding McQueen is alumnus.
At least they didn’t use “alumni” to refer to a single alumnus, like those license plate frames sold at college bookstores.
Now considered the “scene of the crime” by many.
Look at all of those white males grooming themselves and seemingly plotting for their eventual rise to power.
Those pictures must look diabolical to the delicate eyes of our liberal friends.
Funny how they seem comfortable enough without having to resort to pajama bottoms, flip flops and tees. Maybe, just maybe, if you buy clothes that fit…..
truthseeker, you speak the sad truth.