Unless you wear high-end or vintage clothes, you might feel a bit insulted looking under the lining of your suit jackets and sportcoats. While jacket in the past typically featured half or quarter linings requiring inner seams to be finished cleanly, sometimes even decoratively, many mid-tier jackets today use a full lining to hide shoddy workmanship. I …
To paraphrase an old adage, some men are born with the sense for clothing, others acquire it, and still others have clothing thrust upon them. I was born with a feeling for clothing: that part is fixed. What isn’t fixed is the protean part, the urge to explore and express with different items, combinations and …
My Kinda Clothes is a charming term coined by the late Charlie Davidson of The Andover Shop, and is an occasional series in which readers talk about their personal style. If you’d like to tell us about your own quirks and proclivities, please use the contact button above. * * * I love wearing a …
Recently we revisited the topic of crest ties. Well leave it to Chipp to have the last laugh.
Heraldic club ties: So handsome to look at, so foolish to wear — or are they? Trad clothiers bring out crest-emblazoned ties every fall — including, this season, Lands’ End (above)— but who actually buys them? Do they make you a royal ass, shield you from the commonplace, or leave you a crestfallen subject of ridicule? …
At a moment when the necktie is facing an uncertain future, a new label is seeking to recreate the Brooks Brothers ties of decades past with an Italian flair. Grange Fine Neckwear is the brainchild of J. Mueser’s Chase Winfrey, who announced the project last month on his blog The Grange. Winfrey, a collector of …
Winter is a good time to bunker down and take stock of your wardrobe, especially when there aren’t many occasions to get dressed up. You can always become a more perfect version of yourself. Nietzsche actually said words to that effect, though I wouldn’t take any style advice from him. Or grooming tips. When and …
With a little bit of luck — as the song goes — the year is off to a good start, all things considered, and you’re feeling flush. Congrats, and your good fortune continues, as Leffot is taking orders until February 7 for its limited-edition shell cordovan bit loafer made in collaboration with Rancourt. We live …
k Since 2011 Ivy Style has honored Black History Month by helping tell the story of the many African Americans who have donned the Ivy League Look since its heyday. Throughout February we’ll revisit some of our previous posts, and welcome fresh ones. Interested contributors may use the contact button above. * * * On …
Despite the assertion that college men are the best dressed in America — a statement made by Apparel Arts or some such in the 1930s — in general men dress better as they age. Their tastes refine, they’ve got more money to spend, and most of all they’ve put in practice — about 10,000 hours …
In 2010, Ari Samsky wrote an essay for Splice Today called “Prep To Death.” I was alerted to the piece a couple of years later, in the first iteration of this post, which we shall revisit now in light of what may have changed since then, and what may remain the same. Here were my …
Dressing The Part From “The English Gentleman Is Dead: Long Live The English Gentleman!” By Douglas Sutherland, 1992 In the second half of the 20th century it is true that the English Gentleman has had to shed something of his country image and assume the trappings of an urban life. This does not, however, mean …
As a follow-up to our last post on “Main Street” Ivy brands from the heyday, herein a reader reminisces on one from more recent times. * * * I’m hoping readers will enjoy a little bit of nostalgia via the Spring 1995 catalog from Huntington Clothiers, the last one I have. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, …
Rugged types love herringbone so much they wear it everywhere!
Junior’s, the one-man Philadelphia haberdashery founded by Glenn Au in 2020, has marked the new year by debuting its made-to-order shirt program online. Presently, two fabrics are offered: a heavyweight blue oxford cloth priced at $165, and a highly limited tan-and-white university stripe at $185. Those still smarting over Brooks Brothers’ retreat from North Carolina …
Shortly after arriving in New York I developed a men’s style column at The Huffington Post which lasted for a short time. This article on the rules of dress is still up on the site and I think is worth revisiting at a moment in time when standards of dress are in grave danger. (You …
Biltmore Clothes has offered good taste since 1912. The jacket above is a perfect example. Actually, perhaps the company’s taste was questionable: It doesn’t seem to be in business anymore. Pity, as this is a fine jacket to wear with black tie on New Year’s Eve in a place like Palm Beach. De gustibus non est …
The shade known as kelly is the sanctified preppy shade of green. After all, it appears in the holy breviary known as “The Official Preppy Handbook.” And so we revisit this post from days of yore with the suggestion to break out this shade of green, which is normally associated with summer, during this yuletide …
Black is the verboten color of Tradsville. It is castigated in “The Official Preppy Handbook,” even though Lisa Birnbach at the time wore black Lacoste polos while working at The Village Voice, just to show that she could be preppy and Downtown, too. In “Try For Elegance,” the 1957 novel centered around a men’s shop …