Editor’s Note: Jonathan Boorstein is a regular contributor who also has curated an image library of the most fantastic automobiles. He can be reached on the Facebook Group as well. “Christmastime is prime time for tartan plaids,” proclaims the latest catalog from The Vermont Country Store, which, like Yankee Magazine, is one of those minor, …
You want a sculptor making your shoes. Justin Jeffers is the founder of Jay Butler shoes. That’s the site, go there. It is a collection of fantastic surprises. Let me keep going. I spent some time on the phone, texting, emailing Justin. In one of our first calls, we discovered that we had corporate turnaround …
Context: I had the chance to speak to Mr. Robert Squillaro, who is the Senior Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer of J. Press about this project, which is a collaboration between Todd Snyder (if you don’t know who Todd Snyder is, he is a VERY NYC designer, successful for sure, launched his own …
A stupid title for this post would be: If you aren’t dressed, you are the turkey. This is why we edit. I was going to do a post about why one should dress for Thanksgiving. And I was going to pepper it with pictures of people who are examples. And do you know, aside from …
In the comments, the Filson briefcase got a lot of exposure. I carried one for 10 years +. That’s good, but then again… I carried one so much that I added an ACK patch to it. ACK are the call letters for the Nantucket airport, which is incredibly bougie EXCEPT I’ve been going …
Editor’s Note: Jack Lee is a member of the FB group who posted this review yesterday. I will be posting other reviews as well as they come in, but his perspective is great. – JB   My 25th birthday is this week so I decided to treat myself with a trip to the local Brooks …
I went through Take Ivy a few times yesterday, first for reference and subsequently to make sure I was right. I counted zero bags, for men anyway. Stacks of books for sure, bike baskets, but no bags. This of course does not rule out bags being Ivy, they are, but it does put forward …
EDITOR’S NOTE: On the Facebook Group we are exclusively clothes oriented, but we also find the history fascinating. If you don’t know about WaterhollowTweed, it is a very small, eclectic online shop that offers a few Ivy Grail finds a week at very reasonable prices. The purveyor, James Taylor (every time he comments on …
If you are a member of the Facebook Group (and if you are not, you should be) then you know Evan Everhart. If you have posted, you definitely know Evan. There are various iterations. The definitive Ivy Expert (we write each other a lot, and I tell him all the time he has forgotten more …
The Wall Street Journal has piled on and it is safe to say now that we can stop posting articles about the comeback of “formal style” and just be grateful that the pendulum swung our way. Here’s their article, if you care to read it. Articles by yours truly and others to the contrary, …
Here’s the article in the October issue of The Rake. We have gone from Chensvold’s literary death sentence of the necktie to Boyer’s plea for clemency to a user’s manual. What are we to make of this? I reviewed Christian Chensvold’s book here, and in reflecting now on that review I realize that the …
When I got the gig, I set out to meet the existing advertisers. Had coffee with some, went to the offices of others, the stores of even others. Started with a few emails, then phone calls, you know the drill. Ivy has the potential to be a stereotype. The boss’s son taking over the company …
I have worn a Columbia ballcap to Columbia before with predictable results. I have now worn Duck Head khakis to a cigar room on Madison Avenue, and gotten unpredictable results. If you are from parts south you might be more familiar with Duck Head. The company has everything we love here, including starting as a …
EDITOR’S NOTE: Nathaniel Means was kind enough to offer up this review of Alan Flusser’s book on Ralph Lauren. It’s a thought and reaction-provoking review, and if you haven’t read through the book, you should. I revisited the book itself in preparation for this article, and here is what I was left with. First, it …
Here’s the article. Three observations, then have at it yourself. First, the using of Ivy and Prep as interchangeable. I know they aren’t, you know they aren’t, how does Kareem Rashed not know they aren’t? Easily explained dear reader – because for him they still are, and he is the window shopper we are looking …
The problem with picking a strong lead image for an article is that since a picture is worth a thousand words one has to start in the middle of the piece to avoid repeating one’s self. Since not everybody is a visual learner, here: the death of the necktie has been predicted almost as …
My favorite Rodney Dangerfield joke has nothing to do with the rules about madras and white bucks and Labor Day, which the rest of this article will be full of. Here’s the joke. “I asked my wife, Honey, how come you never make any noise when you have an orgasm? And she says, how would …
I have always been a fan of Chukka boots. The desert boot’s close cousin, Chukka boots are essentially a beefed-up version of their relative. While the basic outline remains the same, Chukkas have a slightly more streamlined silhouette and are made of sturdier leathers and more durable rubber soles. All around, the Chukka is …
J. Press is Ivy’s North Star, and the catalog, which you can see if you click here, strikes the perfect balance between letting us know North is still North and inviting a new audience. We’ll take a quick tour here, but really, go look for yourself. J. Press has not only stayed true to its …