Privileged Vessel: College Rejects Yacht Club Proposal As Elitist

The student government at Pitzer College, a small private school located in Los Angeles, has rejected the request to fund a yacht club on the grounds that it would be inherently exclusive and that the term “yacht” is offensive. Thurston Howell III would probably agree. The college plans, however, to fund a new tattoo club.



Lewis H. Lapham On Clothes, Yale, And The Product Placement Of Self

If you find yourself in the properly reflective and curious frame of mind to handle a weighty intellectual essay, there’s a piece in the current issue of Lapham’s Quarterly that you should sit down to with a full cup of tea. The periodical was founded by Lewis H. Lapham, who is also the editor emeritus


A Trad Community In Cape Cod

With apologies to Patti Page, if you’re fond of sand dunes and salty air, you’re sure to fall in love with old Cape Cod Community College. Or at least be intrigued by the photos taken on campus from 1961-1966. We don’t usually drill down to the community college level, but oddly enough, due to the


Secrets Of 346 Madison Avenue

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Brooks Brothers‘ flagship at 44th and Madison*, and yesterday Town & Country put up a fun post called “11 secrets from Brooks Brothers’ past revealed.” No mention of an internal memo to do away with collar roll. — CC *Photo above is actually of Wall Street location.


PhD In Style: Famous Cinematic Professors

Robin Williams in “Dead Poets Society”   We return to our Professor Week coverage with a gallery of film dons (and a few schoolteachers). The list must be endless, so let us know who else belongs here. Above, Robin Williams in “Dead Poets Society.” Below, John Houseman as a Harvard Law professor in 1973’s “Paper


Seventh Anniversary And Ask Me Anything At Reddit

Today marks the seventh anniversary of Ivy-Style.com. We’ve now produced 1,233 posts by several dozen contributors, with no end in sight. As per tradition, let’s review the highlights of the past year. • At the top of the list must surely be the addition of our new Millennial Fogey columnist Daniel C. Greenwood, who has


The Sprezzatuck

You probably heard the news yesterday that Ralph Lauren is stepping down as CEO from the company he founded (fear not, he will remain creative director). His successor comes from — are you ready for this? — Old Navy, so we’ll see if things start veering in a new direction. Speaking of the world of


Hoodies Beware: Revenge Of The College Sweater

We’ve featured Hillflint here at Ivy Style before, and yesterday the rising start-up got some far bigger publicity: a post at Town & Country entitled “The brand that’s making heritage collegiate gear cool again.” Goes the story: “We founded Hillflint three years ago, just after we graduated college, because we wanted to make something for our


Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Style Icon

Daniel Patrick Moynihan came up in the comments section last week, and as he was an academic as well as politician, he fits the bill for our Professor Style Week. For a tradly guy you’ll see a far-reaching embrace of the genre, including straight as well as buttondown collars, desert boots, double-breasted seersucker, olive poplin,


Sleeves & Wooster: Remembering Professor Style In ’80s Ohio

Our sure-to-be-periodically-interrupted Professor Style Week has reminded me that in my biographical storytelling for Ivy Style I have dropped little clues to the identity of my alma mater. That school is the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. The name is either immediately known or not, something alumni secretly relish. Wooster is among a cadre


Passing On The Roll Of A Lifetime

Today Brooks Brothers sent out an email blast with a graphic emblazoned with the words “The Shirt We Love.” It’s fitting that the shirt features a straight collar, because Brooks’ iconic shirt for the past century — the buttondown — hasn’t been getting much love from the trad community recently. The latest purist to bemoan the


It’s Academic: Professor Style Trend Alert

There’s nothing trads hate more than accidentally becoming trendy for six months to three years. It’s a pretty silly notion, though. People who know you are well aware that you’re about as un-trendy as they come. On the other hand, I suppose it’s reasonable to feel a small anxiety that random strangers might look at you


Boyer Book Bash

On Thursday night a book launch party was held for G. Bruce Boyer and “True Style.” The event took place at The Armoury and brought out a plethora of Boyer groupies and menswear personalities. Here’s Boyer with Alan Flusser, that other great menswear author, and who was clad in sneakers and sweats (perhaps from just playing



Cheeky Humor

This is a test to see if this post goes viral. After I mentioned that our Sewanee post shattered all traffic records, someone left a comment suggesting that it was because all the old curmudgeons and fogeys were ogling the candid shots of lovely young co-eds, rather than the more likely reason that kids from the school


Ivy Style Seeks Campus Photo Editor For New Column

Last week’s post on the University Of The South was wildly popular, shattering the record for most-viewed post. It got me thinking that with so much heyday stuff on the site and so many fogeys in the comments section, we should strike a balance and feature more college students from today, not just ones from 60 years


To Die With Your Boots On

The phrase “to die with your boots on” means to leave this earth while still doing your duty, heeding your call, following your passion. While some look forward to a long sedentary retirement, others want to work at what they love until the very end. I’m not sure if Leon Gorman was actually wearing boots when


Tigers On Top

This week US News & World Report released its annual ranking of the best colleges in America, and Princeton once again is back on top, right along with their — alas now dismantled — sartorial legacy. In the last post, on Sewanee, a reader left a comment wondering if college students during the heyday were