A couple days ago I participated in a little forum banter, pointing out that in my opinion the ubiquity of the Ivy League Look during the heyday can sometimes be overstated. What’s more, once certain items became so mainstream they certainly ceased to have any direct connection to the campus and Eastern Establishment, even …
On our last post a commenter mentioned the Southern retailer Parisian carrying Duck Head. Here’s a 1992 commercial highlighting the Duck Head brand. — CS
I believe it was Derek at Die Workwear! who stumbled upon this, or stumbled upon another stumbler. Either way, it’s a great chronicle of student dress during the Ivy heyday, including plenty of white socks, shorts hems, and penny loafers. — CC
You’ve probably seen the recent trailers for “Monuments Men,” in which George Clooney and Matt Damon play a special unit during World War II assigned with recovering works of art stolen by the Nazis. The movie opened this weekend, though the rating at Rotten Tomatoes is rather low. If anyone’s seen it, let us know. …
Philip Seymour Hoffman, who plays the WASPy Ivy jerk Freddie Miles in “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” was found dead today of an apparent drug overdose. I’d been out all afternoon and heard the news while shooting the breeze at the neighborhood wine shop. “Ripley” is one of my favorite movies. I watch it at least …
This morning we were alerted to a sportcoat made for Cary Grant in “Monkey Business” for the scene in which a youth serum gives the 48-year-old Grant the tastes and behavior of a college student. The jacket, currently for sale from a movie memorabilia company, did not make it into the film. It was made …
The other night I was browsing the streaming Netflix options and ended up watching “Monkey Business,” the 1952 screwball comedy with Cary Grant and Marilyn Monroe. I hadn’t seen the movie since starting this website, and a very interesting scene caught my attention. Grant plays a chemist who thinks he’s discovered a youth serum (which, …
I just did a story for Billionaire.com on the Plaza Hotel’s Gatsby tie-ins, and now here’s Brooks’. Downmarket companies get Pixar tie-ins and put toys in Happy Meals. This is what plays upmarket.
Update, 3 July, 10:04 AM: Last night Ivy Style crossed the 10,000-comment threshold with these infamous words that will echo across America this summer as families pile up the station wagon and head out on the road: Are we there yet? The comment was left by none other than regular reader Henry, who will finally …
Today Brooks Brothers announced that it was the official clothier of Baz Luhrmann’s “Great Gatsby” adaptation, which opens December 25. Under the direction of costume designer Catherine Martin, Brooks created more than 500 outfits for the male principals and extras. Women’s Wear Daily has an ungated feature on the collaboration complete with slideshow. Below is …
Yesterday the trailer was released for Baz Luhrmann’s “Great Gatsby” adaptation, due out this Christmas. And don’t forget, the theatrical version will be in 3-D. Will the glasses be shaped like the ones on Dr. Eckleburg’s billboard? — CC
In his new film “Moonrise Kingdom,” which kicks off the Cannes film festival on May 16, writer-director Wes Anderson is stepping up the prep. Anderson has consistently shown a keen eye for style in his films, at times incorporating prep elements, such as the uniform of blazers, blue oxfords and rep ties at the eponymous …
Don Cheadle’s Miles Davis film project is apparently climbing slowly but surely through the rings of development hell, though the light of day may be miles away. According to reports, the music rights have been secured and there’s a script that focuses on one 36-hour period of the jazz great’s life. Perhaps befitting a small …
Today in 1925 F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” was published. A cage-match between old money and new, it is regarded as the greatest American novel by many literary critics. As you’ve probably heard, a new film adaptation is scheduled to be released this year on Christmas Day. It is directed by Baz Luhrmann and …
March Madras carries on, but now it’s back to madness — mad as in “Mad Men,” which returns to TV this Sunday night after a 17-month hiatus. The setting is now 1965, so the clock is ticking in the closets of these Ivy-clad* Madison Avenue guys. Pictured above is a still from the new season …
Perhaps this post should be called “Coming Repulsions,” either because you believe that tampering with the 1978 classic — which is set at a college fraternity house in 1962 — is sacrilege, or, like me, you were eight years old when it came out and when you saw it later you didn’t think it was …
Hollywood’s status as an epicenter of impeccable sartorial taste is long gone, but there was at least one guest at Sunday’s Golden Globe Awards who gave a nod to the well tailored days of yore. That man was talent agent Ben Press, son of former J. Press president and Ivy Style columnist Richard Press. Company …
On Thursday evening writer-director Whit Stillman, auteur of the Preppydämmerung film “Metropolitan,” will host a screening at “online movie theater” Constellation.tv. Through online chat the fillmmaker will answer viewer questions and will also present the trailer from his upcoming movie “Damsels In Distress.” The viewing costs $3.99 and the Wall Street Journal has this handy …
The battle between old money and new wages again as Leonardo DiCaprio takes on the role of Jay Gatsby in a new adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1926 novel “The Great Gatsby.” The film, which begins shooting soon in Australia, will be helmed by director Baz Luhrmann (“Moulin Rouge,” “Romeo + Juliet,” “Strictly Ballroom”). While …