In case you missed the calendar, here it is. It was made in 2012 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of a retailer called Select Store Septis. But please don’t use it as a dress code: always let the weather be your guide. — CC
Corrected comment:
It might be an interesting exercise to identify which details Mr. Watatani got wrong in each illustration.
Sorry about the extra preposition
Did people really wear yellow mackintoshes? I don’t recall ever seeing one (let alone wearing one), although the P G Wodehouse character “Ukridge” is usually described as wearing one. Yellow slickers and similar foul weather gear is pretty standard, so I guess a yellow mackintosh isn’t all that unusual. Of course, there are those who might note that Ukridge is not without his character flaws.
I noticed that many of the cartoons depicted the subject wearing canvas shoes which begs a question: what is the most ivy sneaker? Chuck Taylors, Jack Purcell, Keds? Perhaps it’s worth an entire pose.
@Plumdale
I believe that much of what George Steiner said about language applies to the Japanese approach to Ivy style and illustrations of Ivy style:
” So much … is correct, so little is right.”
Here’s what Steiner said:
”The externals of English are being acquired by speakers wholly alien to the historical fabric, to the inventory of felt moral, cultural existence embedded in the language. The landscapes of experience, the fields of idiomatic, symbolic, communal reference which give to the language its specific gravity, are distorted in transfer or lost altogether. One need only converse with Japanese colleagues … to realize how profound are the effects of dislocation. So much that is being said is correct, so little is right. Only time and native ground can provide a language with the interdependence of formal and semantic components which ‘translates’ culture into active life.”
Yes, Rock…well…Nor…man… was the correct answer. Well done all those who spotted it. For those who didn’t, you must have thought Ivy Style’s political parenthetical departures had finally tipped me over the edge.
It may be done to appear better on the page. Something more reflective of the actual color might have looked too drab. See the blue blazer; it’s a much lighter shade of blue than it would be in reality.
Let me try my hand at pointing out things that Mr. Rockwell would never have gotten wrong:
Illustration nos.
1: the yellow raincoat; carrying a briefcase (not a portfolio) under the arm; no socks are fine, but not with a necktie.
2: polishing shoes in pajamas
4: ketchup with hotdogs?
6: a hibachi rather than a barbecue grill
10: wearing that jacket to repair a motorcycle
12: the girl’s pants and shoes
14: poncho duffle. Was there ever such a thing? The guy’s scarf looks like one from a British university, not a US one
I believe the yellow coat is just the artist’s rendition of British tan. The rest I don’t have a problem with, the calendar is from 2012. The women’s’ poncho duffle exist, this company sells them.
I will agree on the “fuck me pumps” that women seem to love, the problem is that they only look appropriate on hookers.
Regarding the comment from “Baker” above; the automobile illustrated in the lead image is not a pseudo-2CV (Citroën), but a well-rendered Fiat 500 C Topolino.
I was pleased to see the word “Tradly” at the head of this post. Yes, there is such a term as “Trad”, despite objections to that term in/on this blog. Not only a term, but a category which differs from Ivy and Preppy, although there is admittedly some overlapping.
@Orange Fiji:
George Steiner, in his Aspects of Translation wrote about Japanese proficiency in English “So much is correct; so little is right”. That often applies to proficiency in illustrating: the technical details of the loafers and topsiders are correct, but their being seen on a basketball court isn’t right.
@Tweedy Prof
By “correct”, Steiner, of course, meant “grammatically correct”; by “right”, he meant “situationally appropriate”. In the illustration, as you pointed out, the depiction of those shoes is technically correct, but situationally inappropriate.
Beautiful pictures. Too bad that illustration was pretty much taken over by photography in this country by the 1970s. Is it still common in Japan? OCBD recently posted some similar Japanese art on his site. Even the Brooks catalog stopped using painted illustrations around the late 80s I think, and it was one of the last holdouts. Part of it is nostalgia for a bygone era, of course, but the artwork itself is lovely. When looking at a heyday-era magazine today, the ad illustrations are often the most interesting items, as shown in some of the ad pix Christian posted here on Christmas. I never tire of them.
Tweedy Prof and Philologue:
If you look back at earlier comments (Jan 5, 2015), you’ll see that Jonathan Mitchell already made the same point and gave the full Steiner reference.
They rock, and very well too…
I love the UNC representation in the basketball picture. Go Heels!
I cant’ decide if I like the pseudo-2CV or the Audrey Hepburn doppelganger better.
I love the addition of the labs in all the pictures, even the motorcycle has a picture of one on the wall.
I like the Breton sweater in the “beach picnic” picture. But the, err, duffle poncho in the last one confuses me.
Corrected comment:
It might be an interesting exercise to identify which details Mr. Watatani got wrong in each illustration.
Sorry about the extra preposition
Great piece, Christian. Thank you for sharing.
The first picture is simply iconic and certainly a favorite; gucci loafers and all. I love the representation of the Wagoneer as well.
Nor is he a man to misrepresent anything…
And that’s your final clue, I’m afraid.
Dennis
Labs?
Did people really wear yellow mackintoshes? I don’t recall ever seeing one (let alone wearing one), although the P G Wodehouse character “Ukridge” is usually described as wearing one. Yellow slickers and similar foul weather gear is pretty standard, so I guess a yellow mackintosh isn’t all that unusual. Of course, there are those who might note that Ukridge is not without his character flaws.
Emsworth
I noticed that many of the cartoons depicted the subject wearing canvas shoes which begs a question: what is the most ivy sneaker? Chuck Taylors, Jack Purcell, Keds? Perhaps it’s worth an entire pose.
@Plumdale
I believe that much of what George Steiner said about language applies to the Japanese approach to Ivy style and illustrations of Ivy style:
” So much … is correct, so little is right.”
Here’s what Steiner said:
”The externals of English are being acquired by speakers wholly alien to the historical fabric, to the inventory of felt moral, cultural existence embedded in the language. The landscapes of experience, the fields of idiomatic, symbolic, communal reference which give to the language its specific gravity, are distorted in transfer or lost altogether. One need only converse with Japanese colleagues … to realize how profound are the effects of dislocation. So much that is being said is correct, so little is right. Only time and native ground can provide a language with the interdependence of formal and semantic components which ‘translates’ culture into active life.”
@JDD http://wearingtheivyleaguelooksince1958.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/sneakers_5.html
@JDD @C. Sharp Several pictures of tennis shoes from the Ivy archives.
http://www.ivy-style.com/what-the-deuce-a-tennis-image-miscellany.html
Love it when readers know our archives better than I. I don’t think one man can keep track of all thousand posts off the top of his head.
If there’s anyone who comes close, though, it’s C. Sharp. Guy has a photographic memory for anything trad that’s ever appeared online.
C.
Yes, Rock…well…Nor…man… was the correct answer. Well done all those who spotted it. For those who didn’t, you must have thought Ivy Style’s political parenthetical departures had finally tipped me over the edge.
@Emsworth
It may be done to appear better on the page. Something more reflective of the actual color might have looked too drab. See the blue blazer; it’s a much lighter shade of blue than it would be in reality.
@Plumdale
Let me try my hand at pointing out things that Mr. Rockwell would never have gotten wrong:
Illustration nos.
1: the yellow raincoat; carrying a briefcase (not a portfolio) under the arm; no socks are fine, but not with a necktie.
2: polishing shoes in pajamas
4: ketchup with hotdogs?
6: a hibachi rather than a barbecue grill
10: wearing that jacket to repair a motorcycle
12: the girl’s pants and shoes
14: poncho duffle. Was there ever such a thing? The guy’s scarf looks like one from a British university, not a US one
Nothing wrong here:
http://acontinuouslean.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/WillieGillis11.jpg
Perfect:
http://www.crisismagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Father-and-Son-in-Church-Norman-Rockwell-619×320.jpg
Lamberton
I believe the yellow coat is just the artist’s rendition of British tan. The rest I don’t have a problem with, the calendar is from 2012. The women’s’ poncho duffle exist, this company sells them.
I will agree on the “fuck me pumps” that women seem to love, the problem is that they only look appropriate on hookers.
Good eye, Lamberton.
The Japanese love to put ketchup on hotdogs. It is the most barbaric aspect of their otherwise refined food culture.
@Henry
Just as bad as Germans who habitually put mayonnaise on Turkish doner kebab and Turks who habitually put mayonnaise and ketchup on pizza.
More from our archives http://www.ivy-style.com/grab-this-sperry-75th-anniversary-canvas-sneaker.html
http://www.ivy-style.com/index.php?s=keds
I am sure we have covered Van and maybe some other stuff. Got some hits in the search field for other popular brands but could not see quickly were the mention was in the story or comments. I think Billax’s piece is a nice round up of hayday brands.
@ C. Sharp
Never understood why anyone would choose Sperry’s unlovely canvas sneaker over their quite beautiful (and original) Topsider.
I love these illustrations, thank you for sharing!
That’s fantastic!
Regarding the comment from “Baker” above; the automobile illustrated in the lead image is not a pseudo-2CV (Citroën), but a well-rendered Fiat 500 C Topolino.
What’s that ballet dancer doing in the basketball game?
The guy on the right in the sailboat picture has a striking resemblance to Cary Grant!
There are some darn attractive women in there. I love the heels.
@rmpmcdermott,
You derailed my thread on AAAC, stop trolling!
Who plays basketball in loafers or topsiders?
I was pleased to see the word “Tradly” at the head of this post. Yes, there is such a term as “Trad”, despite objections to that term in/on this blog. Not only a term, but a category which differs from Ivy and Preppy, although there is admittedly some overlapping.
“Buff Yellow” was the best Wagoneer color.
@Orange Fiji:
George Steiner, in his Aspects of Translation wrote about Japanese proficiency in English “So much is correct; so little is right”. That often applies to proficiency in illustrating: the technical details of the loafers and topsiders are correct, but their being seen on a basketball court isn’t right.
@Tweedy Prof
By “correct”, Steiner, of course, meant “grammatically correct”; by “right”, he meant “situationally appropriate”. In the illustration, as you pointed out, the depiction of those shoes is technically correct, but situationally inappropriate.
Beautiful pictures. Too bad that illustration was pretty much taken over by photography in this country by the 1970s. Is it still common in Japan? OCBD recently posted some similar Japanese art on his site. Even the Brooks catalog stopped using painted illustrations around the late 80s I think, and it was one of the last holdouts. Part of it is nostalgia for a bygone era, of course, but the artwork itself is lovely. When looking at a heyday-era magazine today, the ad illustrations are often the most interesting items, as shown in some of the ad pix Christian posted here on Christmas. I never tire of them.
I love the pictures of Muffy Aldrich’s dog and hope she got some royalties.
Tweedy Prof and Philologue:
If you look back at earlier comments (Jan 5, 2015), you’ll see that Jonathan Mitchell already made the same point and gave the full Steiner reference.
Kenny:
How gentlemanly of CC to allow a reference to Mme. Aldrich on a blog notorious for
Muffy-bashing.