I recently discovered the movie “White Squall,” directed by Ridley Scott and starring Jeff Bridges. Set in 1961, it’s a coming-of-age film crossed with maritime adventure. The story centers around a group of prep-school flunkies who get to redeem themselves in a kind of nautical reform school, doing their studies at sea while they learn sailing …
Here’s an amusing year-end and rear-end piece of ass-tounding entertainment from Ivy Style’s salad days. * * * Harvard’s financial troubles have been well publicized. The university also made news several months ago when it was announced that it had licensed its name for a contemporary fashion collection called Harvard Yard, and was criticized for …
Once again, as we wind down 2019, we take a look at some of the more obscure posts from our early years. This one, from the fall of ’09, features a trouser alas no longer offered by LL Bean, though perhaps there are others out there. * * * Of all the background characters in …
We continue our 2019 year-end wrapup with a revisit of this 2009 post based on the five-year anniversary of “trad” on the Internet. * * * Five years ago today a man who goes under the username Harris posted these immortal words on the Ask Andy About Clothes forum: I live in the Northeastern US …
There’s much news to catch up on, beginning with The Andover Shop. Almost right after the passing of founder Charlie Davidson, the shop’s legacy was given a huge burst of life with major revamp of its website. Head over here for goods and inspiration from a singular American institution. Speaking of revamped websites, Country Club …
Gentlemen, Newport is an absolute dream. I’ve been in a daze since I arrived. Stars, moonlight, ocean, sunsets, church bells, mansions, cottages, ancient trees, snow, crows, and rabbits running around. May I go deeper into dreamland and never wake up. Back in the real world, alas, things are changing and for the worse. But then …
Next up from the Ivy Style archives is this lively piece which originally ran in October of 2010. “Sussed” is one of those British slang terms that suggests maybe we really are divided by a common language. It is often used by fans of the Ivy League Look in England — finding its cognate in …
It’s hard to believe, but for the first 14 months I ran Ivy Style from the state of California. I founded the site while living in a hilltop college on a street called Princeton in the LA suburb of Glendale, and then for six months — wiped out by the recession and trying to summon …
Today we revisit this 2010 Japanese interview with Arthur Tarlow, then president of Alden. In it Tarlow talks about how immigrant craftsmen from various European countries brought their own styles and techniques to the US, the confluence of which became a distinct style of shoemaking he calls “American Traditional.” — CC
In celebration of the Ralph Lauren HBO special that aired last week (chime in if you saw it, as I didn’t), here are some vintage images recently posted to Ivy’s Facebook group. Most of these are new to me and might be to you, too. At the risk of sounding like someone who works in …
Today WWD reported that Brooks Brothers has hired the investment bank PJ Solomon with eyes on a possible sale. As heard through the grapevine, there was talk that Claudio Del Vecchio would get through the 200th anniversary in 2018 and then perhaps look into unloading the brand. WWD content is blocked by a paywall, but …
Update: Kamakura has just edited and uploaded a longer version of its interview with me: * * * Kamakura Shirts took a big risk when it opened a shop on Madison Avenue in the heart of Midtown Manhattan. After all, no one had ever heard of them. But it was the dream of owner Yoshio …
It’s Halloween 2019 and this is me wondering if I should post another satirical “trick” about campus culture or if nothing’s funny anymore. And then I get the perfect idea for a Halloween post…. Me wearing a double-breasted waistcoat and watch chain! Peter Lavelle, Ivy Style’s new Japanese reporter, certain thinks it’s funny. Here he …
I remember being a poor college student and picking up a cheap bottle of bay rum at the drugstore. No doubt many of you had the same experience. Now that we’re older, wiser and richer, we also want to smell better. St Johns Bay Rum is the original purveyor of the “scent of Madison Avenue,” …
By now you should have noticed a new company in our sponsor tower. Dapper Woodworks was founded by Justin Trewitt and is surely set to corner the market on tie and pocket square racks made-t0-order. Thanks to Mr. Trewitt for coming aboard, and kudos for tapping a select niche, not to mention the skills to …
Esquire has a feature on the way we dress now that includes the fellow above, who’s combined trad elements with workwear and whose quote reads “Everybody forgives a well-worn navy blazer.” Click over here to see the way the other men dress. There’s even a guy outfitted in FE Castleberry‘s Wes Anderson look, proving that, …
Rowing Blazers’ Fall/Winter 2019 lookbook features a campus setting and a vaguely “Take Ivy” feel. Check it out here.
While clearing out Ivy Style headquarters I came across an amusing clipping in a box of ephemera. It’s a letter to the editor that ran in the San Francisco Chronicle in 1994, when I was 24 and was publishing anything I could, anywhere I could. It’s in response to a columnist who had written about …
Update: Well that wasn’t much of an absence. The camp moc is back already, and looks pretty much the same, which could be good or bad. It could have been reintroduced with great fanfare, made in the US, and triple the price. * * * After being alerted by an Ivy Style reader, …