On the Ivy Style Facebook group, we started a playlist of songs that were Ivy for one reason or another. Click here for the playlist as currently constituted. The reasons varied. The artist dressed Ivy. It was jazz. The artist attended an Ivy school. It reminds one of an experience one had at an Ivy …
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Ivy is a fashion born of a mindset manifested in a lifestyle. There are values attached: dignity, the value and power of thought, ethics, hard work, aesthetics, appreciation of all things classic, and the dogged pursuit of excellence. While Ivy evolves (I haven’t worn socks since Easter) the values don’t. If you are a …
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Legendary menswear historian G. Bruce Boyer offered this piece to Ivy Style ten years ago. Much has changed since then, most notably that Bill Thomas is no longer at his eponymous label, and presently works for Duck Head. * * * Khakis and jeans are the iconic American work pants, both having been around for …
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The fall of Brooks Brothers wouldn’t be complete without a drawn-out denouement of ignominy. And so the $27 billion Del Vecchio family is being sued by a former Hong Kong investor (suggesting perhaps globalism just isn’t good for American companies). Reuters reports: The billionaire Italian family that until recently owned Brooks Brothers has been accused …
Greetings, gentlemen, and hope that wherever you are your spring has sprung. We’re long overdue with a catchup on all the news in Tradsville. We’ll start with something rather salacious and really quite incredulous. We’ve known that Alden has done phenomenally well over the past decade, indeed apparently well enough to misplace $30 million. Former …
After yesterday’s post on George Will, a reader sent in this column on Brooks that the trad columnist wrote for the Washington Post back in 1997, when the appearance of buttondowns in odd colors were enough to spark fear of the end times. Will opens his lament with: Yes, yes, we have been told. Philosophers …
Do not let this post mislead you, for the necktie is not dead but will rise again. Happy Easter, everyone. * * * Amid the egg hunts, chocolate bunnies and flower bonnets, how can the menswear aficionado add some style to Easter Sunday? How about dyeing Easter eggs, but with the unique twist of transfering …
I will try to write this without vulgarity and profanity. Partly because someone’s son might read this. Partly because, well, it is a gentlemen’s site. Lived off of Lands’ End buttondowns for most of my career, back when they made a wide variety. Wore Brooks blazers, suits, ties, accessories, and even one pair of wingtips, …
Today the New York Times has a lengthy feature on the abandoned Brooks Brothers warehouse we posted about earlier this week, along with a summary of the present situation of the company. The Times writes: The office attire segment of retailing as a whole was battered last year as many Americans worked remotely, ditching entire …
After a two-Manhattan lunch with the guys, I would occasionally go and sit with “my guy” at Brooks Brothers and go through swatches and order up a couple of MTM suits. One of the tailors, Sal, an impeccably-dressed Italian gentleman, would measure me. Pick-stitching, working sleeve buttons, pen-pocket, mid-break, no break, 1 5/8” cuffs, etc. At …
Yesterday I realized that Brooks Brothers is gone and it gave me a real sadness. A year ago this weekend, on a sunny day much like today, I took one of my nephews into Brooks Brothers and showed him around. I told him that one day I would buy him something there, when he was …
The following is a message from one of Ivy Style’s loyal sponsors. Focusers is renowned for premium quality tortoise shell, metal and rimless eyewear. We offer classic frame styles, from our Windsors frames based on Ben Franklin’s original metal ovals on through traditional Ivy League frames of the mid-twentieth century. Elegant gold and silver rimless …
Why do the prettiest girlfriends always end up being the worst relationships? Years ago I was involved with a striking beauty who was half-Norwegian and half-Chinese. I met her swing dancing, and for one of our first dates we went to a retro event held on the USS Hornet, an aircraft carrier museum located in …