Given the tense national climate due to the current presidential administration, The Intercollegiate Committee For Admissible Halloween Costumes has been especially strict this year. Few getups have been deemed “acceptable” to wear on campus properties, and so, according to reports, here are the costumes you’re most likely to see at American universities for Halloween 2017. …
In 1969, when the Ivy League was shedding Weejuns and growing sideburns at an alarming rate, three students — Andrew Tobias, Arnold Bortz and Caspar Weinberg — published “The Ivy League Guidebook.” Exactly as its title would suggest, the book is aimed at incoming freshman and devotes a chapter to each school, plus general sections …
Speaking of khakis, as we were recently with Duck Head (BTW, the company reached out to me and I should have some interesting info to divulge in a follow-up), Ivy Style contributor Eric Twardzik alerted me to current offering from Ralph Lauren depicted below. It’s called The Iconic GI Khaki Chino, and comes with a …
In 1966, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner was a guest on William F. Buckley, Jr.’s TV show “The Firing Line.” Here’s how it all went down.
When I was an undergraduate at Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA, there was a wonderful campus shop on Main Street called Tom Bass. It served three colleges and a university (Moravian, Muhlenberg, Lafayette and Lehigh University), and it stocked many of the iconic Ivy League labels: suits by Southwick, buttondowns by Gant and Sero, Pringle …
This summer G. Bruce Boyer published a lengthy think piece in the magazine First Things called “Dress Up: What We Lost In The Casual Revolution.” I’ve only neglected sharing it here in a post as Bruce and I have brainstormed about recording a discussion about its main themes. Astute readers will recall that I’ve mentioned …
As part of our year-long look at the year 1967 — a time of immense social change, including the fall of the Ivy League Look — we present this lengthy New York Times Magazine feature from last week. The story recounts the first African American boys to integrate the South’s elite prep schools. The piece …
On this long holiday weekend we revisit this 2013 post, which is dedicated to longtime reader RM. * * * Earlier this month the Dallas Morning News did a style tribute to JFK. There’s plenty to nitpick in the story, including the awkwardly oxymoronic line that Kennedy’s style influence is “arguably eternal,” but there were …
I was browsing at the newsstand the other day and saw one of those LIFE photo collections on the Rat Pack. I flipped through, saw an interesting outfit on Dino, and brought it home to share with you guys Forgive me for taking snapshots rather than scans; I don’t want to anger the folks at …
Part two of James Kraus’ survey of what was happening in American culture from 1954-67, the heyday of the Ivy League Look. * * * Favorable demographics and consistent sizable gains in productivity continued to fuel prosperity in the 1960s throughout the industrialized world. Between 1954 and 1967, Australia, Germany, Italy, Japan and Sweden suffered not …
Speaking of American music during the Ivy heyday — as we are on the “Optimism And Prosperity” comment thread — here’s a terrific pop culture find. Frequent comment-leaver “GS” uncovered a reference to Ivy League suits and desert boots in the song “Have You Got Any Castles, Baby?” recorded by Bobby Darin in 1960. GS noted …
Today we revisit this post from 2009 that examines the Kennedy Clan’s ability to make simple clothes look rich via the wearer and context. * * * In the wake of Edward Kennedy’s death, The Washington Post has a fine appreciation of the Kennedy clan’s perfectly imperfect style. Fashion writer Robin Givhan puts a nice …
Today is Hey Day at the University of Pennsylvania. The tradition, now in its 101st year, involves juniors rising to senior status by marching in similar outfits, which today consists of “fake straw hats, red t-shirts, and canes.” While Penn students enjoy this special day, the rest of us can enjoy this video of just …
Three more years until shaggy hair, sideburns, and possibly new clothes. Or would that be old clothes? — CC
A reader submitted the fascinating graphic above that supports the assertion around here that the 1967/68 academic school year marks the rapid fall of the Ivy League Look. The chart shows not the wearing of buttondowns and penny loafers, but the beginning of a sudden spike in facial hair, even mere sideburns. The spike trends …
Thanks to regular comment-leaver “SE” for the recent head’s up on the 1969 Davidson College yearbook, from which I took these screenshots. Yearbooks always provide a fascinating look at college life from the past, and you’ll find several things noteworthy here from a dress and deportment angle. Davidson is located in North Carolina, and the …
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 …
Yesterday I was looking at some images by Japanese illustrator Kazuo Hozumi and came across one that had five of his signature smiling figures in a random assortment of outfits. Something clicked and I realized that two of the figures, who were side by side, formed a clever cartoon parody of the fall of the …
It’s been well noted that the South has hung onto classic American attire better than any other part of the country. It’s certainly a region where traditions are deeply valued. Which is why students at the University Of The South did not jump the Ivy ship en masse like their peers in the Northeast. These …