What role does clothing play in an epidemic, where we’re supposed to be distancing from each other? On one hand, traditional clothing is inherently about signaling. But without an audience, there is no need to signal – no need to establish allegiance, aspiration, or identity when one is home alone. On the other hand, on those brief …
Ivy League house party, because there’s no place like home!
“The Official Preppy Handbook” wasn’t the bible for me that it was for many. But at least part of the fun of reading it was recognizing the places and things that may have already been in our lives. In particular, I have been lucky enough to enjoy many of the “trad” restaurants mentioned in the …
Recently I purchased a 1926 yearbook for my alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, and was pleasantly surprised to see a Brooks Brothers advertisement on the first page of the ad section. Flipping through, I also discovered ads for a few local establishments, including a campus menswear shop called Gommy. It seemed like Gommy may …
As many readers of the site have fortified their dwellings into makeshift self-isolation zones, the perfect opportunity to work without disruption also brings the opportunity to surf Amazon Prime and Netflix in equal concentration. In this self-isolation, my thoughts drifted to a style icon often not mentioned. I am speaking about Clint Eastwood as one of cinema’s …
When I was 18, I discovered my parents’ folk albums from the ’60s. I’ve been listening to music from that era the past few years, and am going to use the virus downtime to learn guitar. What’s your COVID resolution? Below is Pete Seeger, one of the pioneers of the folk revival, in knit tie …
Next up in our archives is this column from Richard Press that originally ran in 2011. Oddly enough, the opening line is about transmitting diseases from neckties. Now more than ever we must preserve a future for the tie! * * * A new proposal in New York would ban doctors from wearing neckties after …
Practically every American accustomed to reporting to an office on a regular basis is finding himself in the midst of a new normal due to the Coronavirus pandemic. With even Senators such as Florida’s Marco Rubio publicly asking how much longer those 100 women and men will continue to meet in person, many if not …
So there’s actually some news from Tradsville to distract you from all that other news. But speaking of that, should we start a post with a thread of helpful services offered? We all have to stick together like they did in olden times, and if we all volunteered just a bit of our time to …
Take your mind off things by remembering that all things pass. Here are some photos from “Take Ivy” featuring bicycles. Get on one if you can. From Take Ivy by Teruyoshi Hayashida, published by powerHouse Books.
Are you a student or working man who’s been told to stay home? DO NOT USE THIS AS AN EXCUSE TO LET YOUR SARTORIAL STANDARDS SLIP! Put on your best outfitt, take a photo, and email it to christian@ivy-style.com for what will be the first of hopefully-not-too-many best-dressed contests as we ride out the Coronavirus. …
Recently I was perusing a 1979 Brooks Brothers catalog and this image caught my eye. I liked the contrast of the patchwork tweed cap with the otherwise “correct” clothing. This has always been the WASP approach to sartorial whimsy. I’d been on the lookout for a new cap for this fall/winter season, and decided to seek …
A little dash of humor for your weekend with a flashback to this post from a decade ago, which offers a glimpse at the sense of whimsy that ran in tandem with the modesty and sobriety of the Ivy League Look — especially when it came to the clothier Chipp. * * * When legendary …
Yeah that headline is a bit florid. Then again, this isn’t Junior-College-Style.com. If it were, it would be about what I wore for my freshman and sophomore years. Back in 2011 Ivy Style ran a series of posts we called Bicycle Week. Here’s a revisit of one of the posts that should inspire you to …
The Supreme Court has been rebuked by figures on both sides of the political spectrum as being too partisan. For all of scolding it has received, however, one justice deserves praise for having stood alone in preserving not only the law, but trad style. Justice Stephen Breyer, appointed to the court in 1994, has unknowingly …
The Yale-Vassar bike race found its origins in a drunken wager. At a meeting of Yale’s Trumbull Beer and Bike Society, one student declared he could beat another in a bicycle race all the way to Vassar. However, this valiant duel between two determined Trumbull residents quickly became a popular annual tradition in the early …
The following is a sponsored post from Hemingway Tailors. * * * With over 100 years of family tailoring history and experience, Hemingway is renowned in the UK for classic bespoke and made-to-measure garments including jackets, suits, waistcoats, trousers, overcoats, and shirts made from only the finest fabrics. Hemingway combines the best of American and British …
In response to our last post, which was penned by a young woman, frequent comment-leaver SE sent in some images of female students from the University of the South’s 1978 yearbook, depicting a mixture of masculine and feminine elements in their wardrobe. I came of age in the ’80s and dreamed of girls like Jennifer in …
Today is International Women’s Day, and so we are pleased to present a post penned by a young woman with a taste for trad clothing. * * * What makes a woman trad? It’s a tricky question, especially these days. A certain self-possession, an appreciation for the mutually beneficial relationship between form and function, and …