Today we revisit the sequel to “Take Ivy,” which shows how fast things changed following the fall of the Ivy heyday.
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The global Ivy Trendwatch continues as a Japanese publisher has re-released “Take 8 Ivy,” photographer Teruyoshi Hayashida’s follow-up to his 1965 tome “Take Ivy.”
Sequels are rarely as good as first offerings, and while “Take Ivy” captured the last rays of twilight of the heyday of the Ivy League Look, “Take 8 Ivy” is devoted to a 20-year span, most of it the 1970s. Needless to say, things had changed significantly.
But there are some shots from the ’60s that evidently weren’t used in the original book. Below, Mr. Slim Fit wears his penny loafers with dark socks, while Mr. Traditional Fit wears his loafers with no socks:
But Weejuns are few and far between in the pages of “Take 8 Ivy,” as most of is devoted to the Boat Shoe Years:
Looks like shoes and socks have provided us with a fitting leitmotif. This guy has the destroyed sneakers look down pat. His canvas tennies look rescued from some sort of trad burial ground:
“Take 8 Ivy” is disappointing, not for the photographic content, but for the rather jarring reminder of how wholeheartedly the Ivy League Look was jettisoned on the campuses from which it takes its name. For the entire 20th century it was a breeding ground of good taste and innovation tempered by tradition. This is what made students from the Ivy League models for college students across America.
By the ’70s, however, following what many social critics have called a complete inversion of values, students across the nation no longer wanted to look “Ivy League,” and instead Ivy Leaguers began to look just like any other students across the nation. — CC
Re: “For the entire 20th century it was a breeding ground of good taste and innovation tempered by tradition”.
Unfortunately, “innovation tempered by tradition” (style) lost out to novelty tempered by nothing (fashion).
So, wait, you’re saying knee-high tube socks aren’t Ivy?
This is quite disappointing, but I think the juxtaposition of the classic, Ivy style mixed in with the “knee-high tube sock” wearing masses is quite interesting. I am loving that third photo, though!
preppiness.tumblr.com
Hi Christian,
Do you know who the publisher is? Or where I can buy a copy?
Good thread. First photo shows a part of the Ivy look that has almost faded from view. White socks have been replaced by no socks.
However for the purist, the originals are still available, although difficult to find.
http://www.sockcompany.com/husky.html
These are the real deal. Heavy, stay up, and guaranteed to yellow a bit after several washings. Exactly as they were in the 50s.
About 6 months ago, Wigwam came out with the same socks in charcoal.
Thank you. I will give them a call. I am a big fan of the work you’re doing on this website.
That first pic is great. I think it is interesting to look at the ebb and flow of a style.
Christian,
Thanks for letting us know about this book. This is a great place to keep Trad alive, well and in the minds of those that love it as well as the curious.
I also agree with oxford cloth button down – the first photo IS great!
Ivy style was the prevailing look on Southern college campuses right into the 1990s and continues to be popular with the Greeks and (ahem) older faculty members like myself. The young folks in the photos from Take 8 Ivy wouldn’t look out of place on the Quad outside my office window today.
@Page Turner
Do your students really still wear jackets and ties?
If so, I think I’ll look for a teaching position at a Southern college.
Embarrased to say that the tube sock picture is taken in front of Van Pelt Library at Penn. Willing to bet neither of the young men pictured pledged St. A’s.
I was doing my British tourist bit around the green at Harvard in March last year. There was snow on the ground but I saw a couple of guys wearing weejuns with no socks, now that’s commitment for you.
In response to Old Timer, the Greeks and Panhellenics kit out here for Thursday classes. Coats and ties for the men, smart dresses for the women. From personal observation, I think this is fairly typical of most colleges in the South today.
For what it’s worth, the Take Ivy look is not dead, it is just harder to find. Consider that today my son had a non uniform day and went to school wearing Reds, JPress blue BD with flap, high top Clarks boots and a Barbour. Most of his friends were dressed like him….khakis, bd shirts etc. Having visited our daughter at college, I can attest that most of her male friends would not look out of place in Take Ivy. Caveat is that we do reside in the south.
Hi Christian,
My copy of Take 8 Ivy arrived this week from Japan. I’d like to pass on a tip.
I live in London, so taking your advice ( in a round-about kind of way) I placed my order with JP-Books, located in the basement of Mitsukoshi; a Japanese department store on Lower Regent Street.
I have been shopping in their food hall for years and remembered they had a bookstore downstairs. They hooked me up.
Imagine if you will being an 18 year old Baby Boomer female college freshman in 1964. You get to college, look around to find there are more — by FAR — 18 year old freshmen females than soph/jr/sr men TOTAL in the rest of the school. So, WHAT did frosh BB girls do? Why they, of course, hemmed their skirts as high as possible, burned their bras, and put on paper-thin tank tops. The soph/jr/sr men found out they didn’t need a nice sports coat to talk to an eager young lady. THAT demographic killed Ivy League clothes more than anything else. It also changed a lot of other social behavior in this country. It even gave rise to the term used in business in the 1970’s, 1980’s, and a bit into the 1990’s “chasing a shorter skirt” when a guy would change jobs in hopes of increasing his take home pay.
Re: “Ivy Leaguers began to look just like any other students across the nation”
They continue to dress just as badly as students across the nation.