Designer Forum January 2011 Recap
This week is menswear market week in New York, and so I headed over to the Warwick Hotel for the CTDA’s Designer Forum show. Here are some highlights.
Haspel: Not Just For Seersucker Anymore
Since 1909, Haspel has made its name as the leading purveyor of seersucker. But the company is currently expanding its offerings, some of which were on display at a recent trip to its New York showroom. What most caught my eye were a dozen natty tweed sportcoats that Haspel will be releasing in fall of …
Yale Homecoming: Gant on Returning to New Haven
Last month Gant returned to its New Haven birthplace with the new Campus Store at 268 York Street, right next to J. Press and a stone’s throw from Yale University. Gant’s return to New Haven drew much press attention for good reason: The brand, which is now owned by a European company and boasts stores …
Real Deal: Ralph Lauren’s Dartmouth Sportcoat
Gradually I’ve come to the decision that the two most important characteristics in a sportcoat are natural shoulders and the right lapel width. Everything else — two or three buttons, darted or undarted, patch pockets or not — is negotiable. Things like lapped seams and hook vents are cool Ivy details, but are far outweighed …
Ivy Trendwatch: GQ at Princeton
GQ has dispatched photographer Gordon von Steiner to capture contemporary Princeton style (for an appreciation of vintage Tiger style, see our post “The Princetonians“). Unabashedly Prep‘s Fred Castleberry is one of the subjects. I recently recruited Fred to shoot for The Rake team and he’ll be heading up to Cambridge soon to take photos for …
Old School: Road Trip to Cambridge
The site will be quiet this week while I take my first road trip since moving to New York. I’m renting a car — let’s hope I remember how to operate it — and driving up to Cambridge on assignment for The Rake to profile The Andover Shop and its legendary founder, Charlie Davidson. In …
Life of the Party: Orvis Patch Tartan Sportcoat
It’s never too early to plan your office Christmas party outfit. Suggestion: This patchwork tartan sportcoat by Orvis, which is presumably the same DS Dundee jacket we saw at the ENK menswear show back in January. Guaranteed to make you and everyone around you drink too much eggnog. — CC
Fall News Roundup
Here are some news tidbits as well as things that have caught my eye recently. I recently visited the remodeled Ralph Lauren Rhinelander mansion and no surprise the elegance and style are absolutely suffocating (above photo by Michael Williams; check out the rest of his shots here). What a tactile experience: I don’t think there’s …
Ivy Trendwatch: Northern Exposure
If you’ve ever wondered where my patronym comes from, the answer is Norway. My paternal grandfather came over in the ’30s and settled in San Francisco, where he married my grandmother, who had about the plainest English name imaginable: Betty Jane Smith. We’re one of only two Chensvold families in the US (the other is …
Brooks Brothers: The Story of Our Ties
New video from the Brethren with tour of their Long Island City tie factory, just down the street from Ivy Style headquarters.
Ivy Trendwatch: The Return of Norman Hilton
During the heyday of the Ivy League Look, Norman Hilton was a leading natural-shoulder brand sold at many campus shops and regional clothiers. Hilton was also Ralph Lauren’s first major investor, and made many of Lauren’s suits and sportcoats in the ’70s. His son Nick Hilton has continued the family tradition, running a clothing shop …
Ask And Ye Shall Receive: Trad in a Toaster
I love the message-in-a-bottle quality of the net. Send a note out and see what comes back. So on day three or so of tweeting — which is actually pretty fun — I hear about this new site Fuck Yeah Menswear, which runs “on point” stream-of-consciousness parodies of fashionable pretension. So on Friday I tweeted …
Lost Treasure: O’Connell’s Uncovers ’60s-Era Tweed Stash
O’Connell’s is a big place. How big? Big enough for 26 tweed sportcoats to get lost for decades. Owner Ethan Huber recently discovered a stash of two dozen tweed sportcoats made shortly after the store opened in 1959. The jackets have all the Ivy details straight from the heyday: natural shoulders, three-button fronts, narrow lapels, …
True Blue: Gant Returns To Yale
Originally founded in New Haven in 1949, Gant is returning to Yale with a “campus store” opening next month, the company announced today. Gant will also recreate “a limited-edition shirt collection featuring the historically significant Yale Co-op label,” set to debut in early 2011. The shop will be located at 268 York Street and Broadway, …
Sophomoric No More: Ivy-Style Completes Year Two
This Friday marks Ivy-Style’s two-year anniversary. With our sophomore year behind us, we’re upperclassmen at last. The year was full of highlights. For starters, I coined the acronym PITA (for Preppy-Ivy-Trad-Americana), which has been picked up by at least two people, and, less significantly, moved to New York. Ivy-Style added a new category called Ivy …
Brooks Brothers Spring 2011 Preview
I know, fall is here and you’re eagerly breaking out the woolens. No one could be happier than me, as I get to spend my first autumn in New York. But apparel brands are always working well in advance, so I need you to temporarily shift your brain back into warm-weather mode and have a …
Ivy League Killers, 1959
Just how much was the Ancient Eight a part of pop culture during the heyday of the Ivy League Look? Enough to inspire a B movie like 1959’s “Ivy League Killers,” whose title, reeking of both murder and elitism, was sure to have kids across the nation flocking to drive-ins. The film (which was made …
Exclusive J. Press Fall Preview
J. Press has given Ivy-Style a sneak peak at items from its Fall/Winter 2010 collection. The full collection will be posted on the Press website on August 19.
Home of the Gentry: The Allen-Edmonds Beefroll Penny Loafer
Last week Allen Edmonds unveiled the Kenwood model to US consumers. Previously — and inexplicably — the classic American beefroll penny loafer, made in the company’s own “Gentry” leather, was only available in foreign markets. The lone penny option for US customers was the beefless Walden model. The Kenwood will be available in Allen Edmonds …