Did you know that nine out of 10 men prefer chemically treated non-iron shirts that feel funny and look artificially perfect to pure unadulterated cotton? And I’m not talking about the general population, but specifically shoppers at that bastion of traditionalism, Brooks Brothers. Some years ago Ralph Gardner had an interesting write-up in the Wall …
After Ivy Style founder Christian Chensvold announced his 12-year anniversary on October 1, two associates came forth with an offer to take the site into a whole new direction. Ivy Live, in partnership with Ivy-Style.com, has bold plans for 2021, positioning itself as a broad-reaching men’s lifestyle brand and media outlet geared towards guys with …
In 2012, and in part because of Ivy-Style.com, which helped bring Richard Press back onto the stage of life, the former J. Press president once again became a citizen of Manhattan, leaving the suburbs of Connecticut for an Upper East Side apartment. Since then Richard has become a part of his family’s firm once again, …
In 2012 English photographer Nick Clements did a photo shoot entitled “The Ivy House” for the retro magazine Men’s File. The shoot combined modern and vintage clothing and sought to recreate the mood of a ’60s fraternity house. While it’s tough to tell the new clothing from the vintage, the fraternity house mood could hardly be called modern. …
Twelve years ago today, brimming with enthusiasm for a new project and no idea where it would take me, I unveiled Ivy-Style.com. I was in Los Angeles at the time, and the town had long maxed out what it could do for me. I was in a benign rut that perpetual sunny weather tends to …
Summer 2020 was certainly a summer like no other. In addition to the pandemic and chaos, it was my first summer in Newport. It’s also my 50th summer, and I found myself retracing my steps back to the beginning of my life, like a man reborn and going through a second childhood. For the past …
Recently I again found myself swimming in a sea of sneakers and t-shirts that cost unholy sums. You may be thinking I was pillaging a Neiman Marcus Last Call in the wake of its financial woes, but you would incorrect. In fact I was reacquainting myself with the college campus I call my own as …
Boola, Boola: American Internationalism and The Ivy League Revival By G. Bruce Boyer Forbes, 1999 At a fund-raising dinner in Miami, back when he was running for the Presidency, George Bush (Senior) told his audience how upset he was by an attack on him in Cuba’s daily newspaper Granma. “They called me a fascist in …
Yesterday Richard Press opined on his days at Dartmouth among “college guys with bloody bloodshot eyes,” and today we offer a hangover cure in the form of videos from the heyday of the Ivy League Look. You could call it a hair of the bulldog, except that’s Yale.
In 1958 Larry Elliot, fellow Chi Phi at Dartmouth and trombonist leader of the Dartmouth Indian Chiefs Dixieland Band, wrote the music and co-authored the book and lyrics with me for “The Chuck Sturdley Story,” a one-act musical. The theatrical event won a college award for best presentation at the inter-fraternity theatrical contest sponsored by the …
Ivy Style had the somber privilege of sharing the news of Norman Hilton‘s death back in 2012, and now, lest his name be forgotten at this tumultuous time in American retailing and American society, we revisit this post. May it serve as a reminder that the qualities of being both uncompromising and visionary can carry …
College football game with scarf and sweater, no mask. Those were the days.
You’ve no doubt noticed a number of artist profiles over the past few months. We continue the ongoing tribute to those keeping alive the great tradition of menswear illustration with this interview with Andrew Mashanov conducted by Ivy Style contributor ZG Burnett. * * * IS: Please tell us about yourself, and about your background …
It’s September and time — or almost time — to put away the Indian madras for another year. The term “Indian summer,” incidently, refers not just to a meteorological phenomenon (which actually happens in fall), nor to wearing madras for three or four months of the year. It’s also the name of a haunting tune by …
In September 1746, the British succumbed to a French attack on Madras (now Chennai) as part of a larger struggle for the control of India. But the Battle Of Madras is notable less for its strategic importance than for the fame it bestowed on Robert Clive, a brave and enterprising young clerk who was a …
Our impromptu Madison Avenue series continues with unconfirmed reports that the supreme symbol of the Ivy League Look in New York — Brooks Brothers’ flagship store at 346 Madison Avenue — will not reopen. The building is evidently owned separately from the company and is not part of the deal with the new owners. If …
I was just down at the popular Cliff Walk here in Newport and lamenting the change of seasons that’s in the air. That line from “The Great Gatsby” popped into my head, the one about wishing you could reach out and grab onto summer and keep it just a bit longer. But the seasons come …
When the Spanish Flu struck a century ago, J. Press was already in business. It survived that pandemic, the Great Depression, two World Wars, and everything else — including constant changes in how men dress. And so despite the coronavirus, the company is releasing its Fall/Winter 2020 brochure right on time. Expect it to hit mailboxes …
Last week the New York Times ran a major feature on the men who now own Brooks Brothers, and are bent on “reshaping the American retail landscape.” Of new co-owner David Salter, the paper writes: “Last year, we said within five years, we want to be at $20 billion,” he added, referring to the overall …