This distinguished gentleman was discovered and shared on our Facebook page, where he was much admired save for the few members who work in law, accounting, or other corporate environments, and resent men who have beards, and say that a gentleman must be clean-shaven. This, as Ibsen would put it, is the noble lie they …
In 2009 The New York Times ran a profile on Manhattan District Attorney elect Cyrus Vance, Jr. that makes a passing reference to Brooks Brothers and Chipp. In Ivy-Style’s interview with Chipp’s Paul Winston, Vance Senior, who served as Secretary of State in the Carter administration, was mentioned as a frequent customer. Though Winston recalls making …
Over the long weekend America celebrated its 243rd birthday. Jay Walter, who runs the made-to-measure program at J. Press’ New York store, isn’t quite that old, though he did reach the milestone age of 90 not too long ago. And he still works, Monday to Thursday, dressed impeccably and always in good spirits. Ivy Style …
Behold former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in his 1954 yearbook photo at Princeton, the year the Ivy League Look and “Princeton haircut” were to become household names across America. Rumsfeld had been third-string quarterback his freshman year. He certainly looks more like a football player in the photo above than how we thought of him during …
A reader sent in this 1982 Playboy interview with William F. Buckley, in which WFB confesses to being an unimaginative dresser stuck in Ivy League mode. He also notes that his political foes tend to be tweedier and drive Volvos.
Happy Father’s Day from the father-and-son duo behind R. Hanauer/BowTies.com, whose neckwear has been proudly made in South Carolina since 1985. The collection has recently expanded — the collection of Hanauers, that is — ensuring the tradition has an auspicious future. Check out R. Hanauer’s bow ties here, and neckties right here.
Today oodles of Americans will turn on the news and see a man with a messed-up shirt collar. There was a time when such recalcitrance around the neck (often accompanied by an asymmetrical tie knot) was a sign of trustworthiness. Alas our nation has lost faith in its institutions. May it never lose faith in …
When Timothy Thompson, an 18-year-old from Ashland, Oregon, was chosen by LIFE Magazine to have his first semester at Yale chronicled, a massive challenge lay before him. Not only did he have to adapt to the school academically and socially, he had to do so while a reporter and photographer followed him around campus, capturing …
Vintage clothing dealer Sean Crowley takes a curtain call in this video produced by Matthew Karl Gale, who helped design the Ivy Style club tie and belt.
Update: part two is up. Scroll down. I’m what’s known as an anomaly: a millennial without social media. It’s been two years since I deleted my accounts across the board and I certainly feel more free to live my own life and spend less time worrying about what my friends are doing every second. It …
Last night’s J. Press was one of my favorite menswear events in some time, the kind of night where you feel exhausted from conversation. The event was packed, with nearly a hundred RSVPs, virtually all of which seemed to show up at some point. With moderation by Zachary Weiss, G. Bruce Boyer and Richard Press …
We’re celebrating the Far East this week at Ivy Style. First the David Marx lecture video, then the interview with Ken Yamamoto of Tokyo-based Boston Tailor, and now another interview with a Japanese legend. This one comes to us via the website Gear Patrol, and the legend in question is Saddasue-san of Kamakura Shirts. In it, …
On one of my many trips to the mid-century American oasis amid the typical British High Streets, that special place called John Simons, I found a really neat navy blazer that had all the right details: 3/2 button stance, undarted sack fit, patch pockets, two-button cuff, stitched edges, hook vent, and of course, natural shoulders. …
Playboy in its early years was certainly an innovative magazine. In contrast, or rather complement, to the buxom beauties, the magazine’s inclusion of jazz and literature, plus references to Nietzsche and psychoanalysis, gave it a highbrow edge not found in today’s magazines, in which articles on socially relevant topics, rather than aesthetic matters, provide the weight. Moreover, …
John Lindsay, mayor of New York from 1966 to 1973, personified the resolute confusion with which clubby, liberal WASPs faced the social upheaval of the era. Entering politics as a successful young lawyer, Lindsay represented the wealthy Upper East Side of Manhattan, known as the Silk Stocking District, in Congress from 1958 to 1965. While serving, …
Note: Post updated; scroll down to section marked Part Two. When I first arrived in New York, I was told about an old guard legend named Tom Davis, who had been running the custom shirt program at Brooks Brothers for going on half a century. That’s interesting enough, but Davis’ story has a fascinating twist: he …
We’ll let George Hamilton take a curtain call after yesterdays post. It is Spring Break for the college kids, after all, and yesterday on Twitter I shared the above image of what things were like — at least in the mythologized Hollywood version — before twerking contests and chugging beer from a callipygian vessel. The …
If George Hamilton’s long career in TV and film has taught us anything, it’s that cultural relevance depends almost exclusively on one’s ability to reinvent oneself. Known today primarily for his permanent tan and penchant for self-parody, it’s easy to forget that Hamilton began his career looking very much the part of a clean-cut collegiate …
In 1954, after serving 44 months of a 10-year sentence, convicted perjurer and alleged Communist spy Alger Hiss set out to exonerate himself. Accusations against Hiss first surfaced in 1948, when Whittaker Chambers testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee that Hiss had acted as a courier for an underground Communist network operating in Washington …