If you know anything about Ivy, you know that it is the only place where trad and irreverence meet. In 1978, Duck Head was only 113 years old. But the college kids were letting their hair down ALOT. ALOT. So, what do you do to be traditional and relevant at the same time? You keep the trad measurements and fashion, and you stick a BIG gold duck on the back.
… and it worked. The thing to do, back in the day, was to wear these during the year and then, after finals, cut them off (make them shorts) and go see the Dead. Or Frampton.
Ivy can tend, now, to take itself a little too seriously. What I love about Duck Head is that their recent release is pure Ivy, a flex of their baked-in trad DNA. Then they follow that up with a wink and a nod to their heritage, and how they were successful in staying pertinent and right in their lane at the same time.
Again these are limited edition, so if you (a) are like me and were around in 1978 or (b) love Duck Head or (c) have a sense of humor or (d) have been working out and want a little more attention drawn to your posterior chain then first watch this.
An interesting observation about “Ivy,” which was/is essentially/functionally a term for the purpose(s) or marketing/advertising a style that was, at its best, a sartorial manifestation of slightly Americanized Anglicanism.
“Interesting” as in gosh-that’s-curious (with a squint), especially as I reflect on observations shared by longtime and once-upon-a-time peddlers of the look– the retailers-as-curators. Several have, at various moments, reflected that there was a studious, unsmiling, no-nonsense elegance to this look, which served as a robust counterpoint to several styles, all of them silly and/or goofy and/or unserious. “Compare old Brooks Brothers, which is what we were all doing, with the wide-shouldered drape cut crowd and the Apparel Arts looks of the 30s and 40s, and you’ll realize how ‘severe, churlish vestryman’ it was…” Point made and received.
Which is to say: for all the collegiate frivolity and outrightly puerile sophomorism that some (still) affiliate with versions of this look, I’ll venture an educated guess that without the doleful fogeys, it’ll fade and disappear (mostly). In a world where “dressed up preppy” often means fitted blazer, five-pocket pants, and point collar sans necktie (ugh), Ivy remains a standing-athwart-history-yelling-stop salute to, say, the Williams College board of trustees circa 1965.
Persistently more George F. Will/Jacob Rees-Mogg/T.S. Eliot … than, well, southern state u university frat-bro. The few remaining vendors of this style-as-sensibility will do well to remember this, lest they spiral downward (with the rest of the culture) into dumb jocularity.
Unfortunately seems like a missed opportunity to add the gold patch to their Gold Glory Chinos that are made in the US.
I was around in ‘78, I have a sense of humor, and I have been working out. The reason I like to wear a jacket with a proper length is to obscure my posterior chain, which is doing just fine, thank you. Trousers with an adequate rise, for me, is as much a matter of comfort as it is a matter of decorum.