k Since 2011 Ivy Style has honored Black History Month by helping tell the story of the many African Americans who have donned the Ivy League Look since its heyday. Throughout February we’ll revisit some of our previous posts, and welcome fresh ones. Interested contributors may use the contact button above. * * * On …
Legendary Yankees announcer Bob Sheppard was raised in Queens and went to St. John’s University, where he won seven letters and served as senior class president, and later returned to serve as a speech professor. While best known for his announcement work, Sheppard, who died in 2010 at the age of 99, always considered his teaching …
John Koethe’s poem, “Sartor Resartus,” recalls his education in clothes. Composed several decades after the fact, it longingly remembers hallmarks of the Ivy style, “The perfect khaki pants, the madras shirts, cordovan Florsheim / Shoes,” and namechecks beloved stores, both those that survived changes in fashion and those that did not: Style was the point—a …
Who’s that stylish Frenchman in yesterday’s post? Why this fellow right here, who we originally profiled in 2010. * * * How influential are blogs? Influential enough to make at least one guy from the nation that invented chic to start taking his cues from America. French guys aren’t exactly short on style. Nor on having …
In 2010 Francis Cazal from the Paris-based blog Greensleeves To A Ground had this shot taken by Laurent Laport of Where Is The Cool?, reading “The Official Preppy Handbook” in an urban alley, and at night, no less. It remains eerily atmospheric and open to interpretation.
The wide, wooden floorboards are creaking beneath your feet. You hear the saxophones and stand-up basses — so characteristic of Golden Age jazz — just audible over the bustle of conversation from a few guys in the corner; today’s topic is the latest cricket match, but it could just as easily be the newest café …
Those of you familiar with the Great American Songbook will recognize the headline as a lyric from the tune “California Here I Come,” memorably recorded by Al Jolson and Judy Garland, among others. I am indeed right back where I started, in the most Twilight Zone way imaginable. But first, let’s recap. Thank you for …
As a follow-up to our last post on Taylor-Made shyoes, here’s another Main Street retailer that used the term “Ivy League” in its ad copy once the look became popular. These two Stetson ads are from 1953 and 1955 (coincidentally the same years as the Taylor-Made ads). Thanks to frequent comment-leaver “Old School” for alerting us …
Once the Ivy League Look gained popularity during the silver age of the ’50s, Main Street clothiers used the term as an advertising buzzword. Needless to say, Brooks Brothers and J. Press never had to resort to the term, and in fact dismissed the term “Ivy League” with mild scorn, as they’ve always done with …
Once upon in a time in 2012, menswear writer Eric Musgrave wrote a piece for Yale University Press’ London Blog ran a story on the MFIT book “Ivy Style: Radical Conformists.” After calling for historians to focus more attention on largely anonymous retailers instead of big-name designers, Musgrave makes the following plea that will surely resonate …
Today Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States. He holds the distinction of being the commander-in-chief whose college years are the farthest behind him. May peace and prosperity reign o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
In 1941, Count Basie release “Harvard Blues,” which opens with the following immortal lines: I wear Brooks clothes and white shoes all the time I wear Brooks clothes and white shoes all the time Get three “Cs,” a “D” and think checks from home sublime The lyrics were written by George Frazier, close pal of …
A couple of weeks ago we posted a collection of vintage Dexter advertisements, and now here’s an interesting follow up. In 1968, as the Ivy League Look was plummeting in popularity, the shoe that would cement itself as a preppy staple in the 1970s was gradually garnering greater attention. The above ad is from The …
Despite the assertion that college men are the best dressed in America — a statement made by Apparel Arts or some such in the 1930s — in general men dress better as they age. Their tastes refine, they’ve got more money to spend, and most of all they’ve put in practice — about 10,000 hours …
In 2010, Ari Samsky wrote an essay for Splice Today called “Prep To Death.” I was alerted to the piece a couple of years later, in the first iteration of this post, which we shall revisit now in light of what may have changed since then, and what may remain the same. Here were my …
In 1950, when I was 12 years old, Grandpa Press took me to Brooks Brothers for my Bar Mitzvah suit. He brought it back to J. Press for alterations and the first thing he did was rip off the Brooks Brothers label and replace it with one of ours. Grandpa Press’ dismemberment of a Brooks …
Dressing The Part From “The English Gentleman Is Dead: Long Live The English Gentleman!” By Douglas Sutherland, 1992 In the second half of the 20th century it is true that the English Gentleman has had to shed something of his country image and assume the trappings of an urban life. This does not, however, mean …
As a follow-up to our last post on “Main Street” Ivy brands from the heyday, herein a reader reminisces on one from more recent times. * * * I’m hoping readers will enjoy a little bit of nostalgia via the Spring 1995 catalog from Huntington Clothiers, the last one I have. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, …
The “Main Street” Ivy brands that flickered briefly during the heyday often touted their wares as “authentic natural shoulder fashions,” as if one were buying an ethos along with a jacket cut. Of course, among the original arbiters of the Ivy League Look, the natural shoulder was an expression of values and culture. But because they …