Mind
Tradified
From The Editor
Ivy is a fashion born of a mindset manifested in a lifestyle. There are values attached: dignity, the value and power of thought, ethics, hard work, aesthetics, appreciation of all things classic, and the dogged pursuit of excellence. While Ivy evolves (I haven’t worn socks since Easter) the values don’t. If you are a …
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CC Debuts Op-Ed Site, Bids Sad Farewell To Latest Comments Preview
Gentle readers (ha!), I have some news to share. I’ve been writing op-eds and essays for my entire career — in fact my first professional publication was a piece of social commentary in my local daily. I’ve always felt like a columnist by temperament, and in the present volatile climate we live in, I figured …
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Two Things An Ivy Mind Should Know About
Clothes And The Man by Alan Flusser – A Technical Manual
Ivy Notes S1 E12 – Chipp Off The Old Block
Presidential Valets
The State Of (some) Fashion Reporting and Where Are We With Denim Now?
What’s Dry Cleaning?
Late Night With Dr. Claire-Marie Brisson
Good Morning, Part 1 of 3
Dignity Again.
The passing of Sidney Poitier is being covered, rightfully, in such detail and so well elsewhere that I would only be dragging the remembrances down with my own respect. Here is the NY Times obituary, a good place to start. I heard a story this weekend too about dignity that I wanted to share. …
Hip Ivy, Square Ivy, and Ivy
Editor’s note: I didn’t edit this at all, not a stitch, but I will tell you my favorite sentence comes at the end. “And much the same could be said of Ivy, which breathes easiest and wears best when it worries least.” Thanks to Robert Archambeau for the submission! Ivy style has fostered some great …
Science (a little bit of it), The Last Word On Collar Whatevers, And Pippa Middleton
What does Men’s Health do after they team up with the Opinion Research Corporation and conduct a study which finds that, overwhelmingly, the most important physical attribute of a man to a woman is his sense of style with musculature and facial features lagging way behind? (I got the study in my inbox – not …
The Spice Of Life, Collar Pins vs. Collar Bars, And More On How To Talk To People
Yesterday was Ivy-interesting. First, I get this great email from Chris with an article from the Washington Post about Socrates and our lack of civil discourse. A subject on which, as an aside, I think we have turned a corner, having moved now from “I can’t tell you what it is but I know …
The Ivy Resolutions – Part 2
Editor’s Note – A wish for you for a tremendous 2022. I have a good feeling. Perhaps without foundation, but most joy springs out of nowhere anyway. We will be back on Monday, January 3rd. I never say “Be safe” because who remembers that, ever? No one does. You will not be out tonight and …
Ivy Resolutions For 2022 – A More Tradified Life (Part One)
If you think that traditional aesthetics cannot be applied to a non-traditional life, what about a guy who makes his living wearing Ivy clothes when he isn’t a singer/songwriter with an earring who tells stories about mental health maintenance and how his 6 year old daughter saved his life? Still, things can always get more …
A Not Coincidentally Timed Profile In Minimalism – Sarah Bogart Cooney
“I don’t come here for this,” he said. Or she said. Or they said. Or just about everyone was saying when we took over the Facebook Group. So we curated. These are not the days for curation. Curation implies providence, and there is precious little providence to be had. Even issues where there is …
Dr. Claire-Marie Brisson Talks Ivy, Zoë Talks Ducks, And A Few Other Notes
Dr. Claire-Marie Brisson is a faculty member in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Harvard University. She resides in Cambridge, MA and is originally from Metro Detroit. A foodie and oenophile, Dr. Brisson recognizes that a life well-lived combines aesthetics, form, function, and (of course) food. It’s often been said that Ivy is …
I’m Ivy, You’re…
I am a touring musician, this summer anyway. Used to tour a lot. Write my own stuff, have a kind of unique (I know, things can’t be kind of unique but this is, it is the guitar-is-a-piano thing James Taylor does but different) way of playing guitar, been on the radio, in a past life …
Metacognition From A Frequent Commenter
EDITOR’S NOTE: On social media we discuss the difference between Ivy Style and dressing for affectation. My answer is always that Ivy Style comes with an inherent value system, and that if you represent that value system in whatever form it works for you, it is nearly impossible to be inauthentic. Mr. Heinz-Ulrich von Boffke …