On this Fourth Of July 2017, Ivy Style proudly offers three cheers to the Red, White & Blue, as well as something for the hardcore JFK fan. American Trench, a new company on the neo-trad radar, has developed a reproduction of the athletic socks sported by John F. Kennedy in photos of him watching the …
Phil Sears Schoonmaker wears a black knit tie 98 percent of the time. This one preference serves as a symbol for his entire approach to dressing. Thirty-seven-year-old Schoonmaker, a New York-based business process consultant, is a living embodiment of the idea that less is more, of restrained taste and bold simplicity. With his superb balancing …
Since starting this website I’ve looked at countless hundreds of trad outfits. Some on regular guys posted on the web, some in catalogs and magazines, and some on gents I’ve met around the fair city of New York. But one outfit has stood out above all the others, and though it’s been three years since …
Kirby Allison of The Hanger Project (Ivy Style’s most prominent and loyal sponsor, so be sure and check them out for your clothes-care needs), has put up a new video on caring for your cordovan shoes. And here it is. — CC
Kamakura has a new collection on its website called “Looking Ivy Stylish” in conjunction with Graham Marsh. Included is a tab-club collar shirt, something I’ll need to consider as a change of pace from my pinned club collars. Alas Kamakura’s are alpha-sized, but that doesn’t mean a decent fit is impossible. Check out the collection here, …
Yesterday was National Seersucker Day, which began on Capitol Hill as “Seersucker Thursday.” It went on in DC as usual, with Senator Dianne Feinstein grabbing the spotlight. There aren’t any noteworthy photos of Congressmen worth running. So instead we’ll jump in our sartorial time machine and journey back to May of 1961, when Esquire called …
Castaway Clothing, which recently uveiled some new shirts made in India the old-school way, had some videos of madras fabric being loomed in Chennai, the city formerly known as Madras. At my request Castaway has uploaded the videos to YouTube so we can all see them. Click play to watch the video below: There are …
Even in an ancient culture like India, old traditions can die out — or perhaps we should say “dye” out. Last year Matt Bridier of Castaway Clothing met with Prasan Shah at the New York office of The Original Madras Trading Company, a multi-generational family-owned business that is truly one of the original madras makers …
Startup shirtmaker Michael Spencer, the dream of founder Spencer Bennett, continues to grow and has added a number of new summer shirtings. Yes, it’s fun to actually use the word “shirtings” correctly. A variety of seersuckers and poplins are now available. “We are extremely excited about the new fabrics that have been added to the …
These photos of a young man with precocious trad-dressing competence were posted over the weekend to Ivy Style’s Facebook group, where they earned instant accolades. The young man, JL, has just graduated high school but is already years ahead in the dressing department. Note the contrast of the sober J. Press suit, blue buttondown, Argyll …
Years ago I came across a quote that goes something like, “Everyone is right-wing when it comes to the things they care about.” I think it may have been attributed to the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, but my attempt to track down the quote via Google came up with nada. The argument goes that …
I get a lot of random emails of people asking me for clothing advice. I’m flattered that they value my opinion enough to reach out to me, but mine is just one man’s subjective opinion. Jean-Paul Sartre wrote something to the effect that in asking for my advice you’ve already chosen the answer. Most of …
Yesterday Duck Head updated its dormant Facebook page with the announcement that it will return — once again — this fall. The most recent owners burned through their investment capital at a rapid pace with, among other things, the most lavish booth at the New York trade show. If I understand correctly, some of the …
Ivy-Style has featured several posts about tailor Paul Winston, who worked at his family’s legendary clothier Chipp from the ’60s to the ’80s. Now we’ll hear from Paul’s brother Jim, a sexegenerian blogger based in Connecticut whose site is called Summer of Jim, and who also spent a quarter of a century at his family’s …
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 …
Pictured is freshman William Song keeping the Ivy Look alive and well at Harvard. He donned this festive outfit for what might be considered the rather serious matter of initiation into the Harvard Crimson Business Board. Wearing a vintage Brooks Brothers blazer, Song says he stopped by The Andover Shop on the same day as …
This post, originally from 2010, is being reposted again (it returned to the front page last October) as a follow-up to the recent shot of Bernie Sanders as a college student. While the bottom photo appears to be a boatneck sweater, the others all appear to be crewnecks worn high in the front on purpose. …
For your Friday we offer this shot of one of your fellow Ivy enthusiasts from around the globe. Pictured here is Rene at the Eiffel Tower in the city he calls home. Along with his Ivy Style Club Tie, he’s wearing what I assume is a slack jacket from Paris-based J. Keydge. Writes Rene: I …
This week was National Library Week. Yep, there’s a day — or in this case a week — for just about everything. I asked the college men in our Facebook group to submit a photo of them hitting the books, and one man rose to the challenge. Pictured is Ben Schmidt either studying for class …