Madras Sport Coats and Rowing Blazers at The Harriman Cup

The 40th Annual Harriman Cup Polo Match between alumni teams from Yale University and the University of Virginia featured lots of classic Ivy style, including madras sport coats and rowing blazers.

Here are a few photos of Ivy Style editor Matthew Longcore and other revelers, including Jack Carlson, the founder of Rowing Blazers.

Matthew is wearing a madras sport coat from J. Press, a white Oxford cloth button down shirt from Brooks Brothers, a vintage bulldog tie from the Yale Co-op, and Nantucket Reds from Murray’s Toggery Shop.

The sport of polo and the fabric madras share a common cultural heritage. India is the birthplace of modern polo. The game of polo – which is known as “the sport of kings” – is derived from Manipur, where the game was known as pulu. The anglicized form of pulu, referring to the wooden ball that was used, was adopted by the sport in its slow spread to the west.

The fabric madras takes its name from the former name of the city of Chennai in south India. Dutch traders arrived in India in the early 17th century to trade in the local calico cloth, followed by the British.

Cotton plaid madras reached America in 1718 as a donation to the Collegiate School of Connecticut, now known as Yale University. Elihu Yale was an English merchant, official of the East India Company, and benefactor and namesake of Yale.

 

5 Comments on "Madras Sport Coats and Rowing Blazers at The Harriman Cup"

  1. A sharp looking jacket! Sadly, summer and warmer fall weather came and went this year without my own making an appearance. Well, there is next year. The perils of not teaching or being on campus (much) during the warmer months. Although Madras shirts loom large in my May-September attire.

    Kind Regards,

    H-U

    • Matthew Longcore | September 29, 2024 at 12:45 pm |

      Thank you! The madras sport coat is from the photoshoot for the J. Press Icons campaign from this past spring. I was finally able to wear it again for the Harriman Cup which comes at the end of the summer season.

  2. Charlottesville | September 30, 2024 at 2:31 pm |

    I second Heinz-Ulrich’s comment on the sharp madras sport coat, Matthew. And, congratulations to Yale on their victory over our local team. There is always next year.

    In other Charlottesville news, longtime trad clothier Eljo’s is up for sale. The store opened in 1950 and Miles Thurston, the current owner with his son Trent, has been with the shop since 1964. Hopefully, the owners will find a buyer to keep the tradition going. More about it here:
    https://news.virginia.edu/content/historic-charlottesville-menswear-store-eljos-market

    Also, I made it into J. Press a week or so ago for the first time since the move to the Yale Club and, in a stroke of good fortune, met Richard Press, who happened to be there with his son and granddaughter. I have to say that he looks at least 15 years younger than his driver’s license would indicate.

    I saw some really beautiful tweeds there, including incredibly soft cashmere tweed sport coats, although I limited my purchase to a snap-tab-collar shirt. Like the club collar, it’s a true Ivy classic that doesn’t get much attention these days, and I was quite pleased to see that Press has brought it back.

    I also popped into the Pennant Label shop where I saw some more tweeds that looked quite good, especially for the price. Although I had to go up a size to 44R, the length and fit were good and the styling was great (lapped seams, swelled edges, hook vent, 3/2 sack). There was a green herringbone that tempted me, but the last thing I need is another sport coat.

    • I was in there just last week and splurged for one of those cashmere sport coats!

      I find that the photography on the J. Press website does not do its tweeds any favors — all of them are much more beautiful in person.

  3. Any visit to a J. Press store is like being the proverbial child in a candy store. On Christmas morning. And while the look-book (sp?) is a reasonable substitute for a physical visit, the D.C. store is always on the itinerary whenever I visit my sister, who lives a stones throw from it. But I agree. Who has the closet space for another sports jacket? That said, my new J. Press ‘Made in Ireland’ Prince of Wales pattern necktie arrived yesterday. I know, I know. . . Neckties (both kinds) will be my downfall.

    Kind Regards,

    H-U

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