In the 1980s, there was a trend at my high school in sunny California for LL Bean’s classic rubber boot, worn year-round, of course. Fashions come in cycles ever generation or so, and today the morning news is carrying the story that there are some 60,000 backorders for Bean boots, with another 40,000 expected by …
Stuff your stocking with stocking ties from White of New Haven.
Be thankful for then — and now.
From the article “Old School: The Photographs Of Ed Roseberry” in the UVA alumni magazine. — CC
Bill Cosby is invoking his right to remain silent, so to speak, on the flood of allegations against him. Cosby was the subject of an Ivy Style post during year one for his role — and wardrobe — on the TV show “I Spy.” As seen in the photo above, taken during a performance at …
Somehow I don’t think Benjamin Braddock looked like this much longer after the film ends. From a 1962 issue of Esquire. — CC
There’s a new biography on preppiest president George HW Bush, written by none other than his son, the other George Bush. Father and son are pictured above. The Washington Post has an excerpt and review here. OK, so 41 was wearing sack suits and striped watchbands when Reagan’s look was what Paul Fussell calls “LA …
In the opening scene of Mike Nichols’ 1967 film “The Graduate,” an airplane captain intones the chilling words “We are now beginning our descent into Los Angeles.” Nichols has died at the age of 83. “The Graduate,” one of my favorite films, is truly directed — that is, crafted by a man with a vision. …
The 1930s was the time of the Great Depression, yet simultaneously it was also the golden age of Hollywood glamor and of masculine elegance. It was also the time when the Ivy League Look flourished, though within closed corridors, the aristocratic golden age versus the postwar, democratic silver age. This article from the Yale Alumni …
A few days ago we introduced you to the blog “Wearing The Ivy League Look Since 1958” and its author, “Billax.” This morning Billax left a thoughtful comment on the post, along with what sounds like a mission statement. It’s worth quoting nearly in full to stretch out what Billax calls his 15 minutes of …
Several things are afoot in Ivyland across the pond. • First off, a new edition of “Hollywood And The Ivy Look” has garnered press in The Telegraph, where Hollywood is said to have had an “obsession” with the Ivy League Look. • Also in the press department, the John Simons shop got a write-up on …
Yesterday comment-leaver “Billax” took the time to kindly correct one of my many typos. I wish you guys did that more often. Billax has been a regular on the blogs and forums for some time, and while many amateur blogs are dimming the lights, Billax actually recently started one up with the name Wearing The …
The Heckscher Museum Of Art on Long Island is currently running an exhibit on the brilliantly whimsical work of Richard Gachot. Gachot attended Yale in the 1950s, and, as you can see in the video above, never lost his taste for buttondown oxfords. With so many artists eager to desecrate icons while sporting the physicial …
Five years ago today, a fresh-faced young pup, I left California for New York. Now I’m a big-time big-city bigshot with a Chipp on my natural shoulder. It’s a smelluva town. The Bronx is up and the Battery’s down. And people in cars run you into the ground. — CC
Martin Greenfield, the Brooklyn-based tailor who has, over his long career, made clothes for Brooks Brothers and J. Press, has just released his memoirs. Entitled “Measure Of A Man: From Auschwitz Survivor To President’s Tailor,” the book is available from Amazon for $16.79. To learn more about Greenfield, check out this great video, which is …
Last week some of you may have heard on the news that a guy in Philadelphia is selling signs to small businesses that say “No Hoodies.” It created something of a stir, as some people complained it was unfairly biased against contestants of Jeopardy’s college tournament and Mark Zuckerberg. Hoods are much better when attached …
For your autumn touch-football games, or your holiday shopping for the man who has everything (which may very well be you), consider a traditional football wrapped in Harris Tweed. If ever there was a way to reconcile clotheshorse and jock, this is it. I spied it a couple of weeks ago at the opening for …
In my junior year of college my dorm room was decorated in a retro manner. One day a salesman hocking fake Polo and other fragrances popped his head through my open doorway. He took a look at two pictures on the wall and said, trying to break the ice, “Are those your folks?” Slightly annoyed …
Yesterday on our Facebook group a young lad wondered where he could read the famous essay by George Frazier mentioned in our previous post. While it’s certainly googleable, we figured why not present it here. There is a section on New Haven and the natural-shoulder look, plus plenty of fine general observations on dressing. Also, …