May is here and with it the season of white bucks, the Ivy wardrobe item that lent its name to the term “white shoe,” usually applied to a law or financial firm that hired WASPy guys from elite universities and catered to an Old Money clientele. In 1997, language expert William Safire wrote an essay …
Over a year ago Gregg Donnelly, founder of Jack Donnelly, known in the Ivy Style community for its American-made trousers, was hospitalized for three months after suffering a severe allergic reaction to a prescribed prescription medication. After leaving the hospital, it took Donnelly another twelve months to fully recover. Faced with financial trouble from hospital …
While mostly stuck at home, let us remember more active times with this tribute to “manly trad” courtesy of Japanese clothier Kent and a little inspiration from Steve McQueen. Always remember that trad is man’s clothes, and that nothing compliments a three-piece sack suit, buttondown oxford and rep tie like a Ferrari Berlinetta Lusso. Running with the …
Yesterday Bloomberg reported the following: Brooks Brothers Inc., the two-century-old menswear company that set the standard for aspiring Wall Street bankers, is seeking to sell itself. The retailer has extended a sale process begun last year, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because it wasn’t public. Depending on …
In my storybook “These Are Our Failures,” which was released in January, one of my characters argues that a change in mindset is necessary for the clothes-wearing men of today. We are fast becoming “retro-eccentrics,” relics and remnants of past standards, or, one could say, ghosts. The situation of the coronavirus will surely reveal much …
In his previous columns, Richard Press has shared his memories of the Ivy heyday and his decades at J. Press. This time he shares something he wrote in 1955 while a freshman at Dartmouth. It has the triple importance of being authored at an Ivy League college by a family member of one of the …
On Sunday the New York Post reported that Peter Elliot, an Upper East Side menswear shop (referred to erroneously as a “tailor,” and then repeated by other media), has reopened despite orders from the governor. During my years in the city I enjoyed very much browsing the shop, which has trad appeal especially in the accessories …
Keep sending in your photos!
As time creeps to a standstill under the virus lockdown, I’ve taken to going through my email inbox. People have been sending me random Ivy stuff for over a decade, and there’s a lot I still haven’t gotten to. So going forward I’ll start mixing it in with the news. Cue the soundtrack, which comes …
Each year J. Press, Brooks Brothers and many other menswear stalwarts launch their big summer sale, reminding me of the mayhem that would followed “cash sale” postcard mailings during the heyday of the Ivy League Look. In the area of Madison Avenue between 44th and 46th Streets — in front of Chipp, J. Press, Brooks …
The French preppy blog Greensleeves To A Ground dug up a series of photos depicting couples at Eastern Kentucky University from 1963-1964. Plenty of chinos, penny loafers, collegiate haircuts, and third button on the back of shirt collars. Not to mention young couples gazing longingly into each other’s eyes at the most feverish “should we or …
A few nights ago I realized that I should probably get a mask to wear when I go grocery shopping, so I looked online for something I could buy, but everything I found was either too expensive, sold out, or had a long wait time. The recent Ivy Style post about Kamakura’s oxford-cloth masks made …
During the Covid-19 lockdown, the question arises for each of us: To dress properly, or not? To maintain one’s appearance, and deportment, and flair, or not? To continue to do what one does, what ones believe to be correct, even if no one else is looking? We all know the correct answer. Standards are to be maintained …
Like many other Americans, I am willing to adopt whatever measures I can to stop the spread of COVID-19, and that includes wearing a face mask in public for the foreseeable future. Just so long as said mask is not black and not made from synthetic materials. Fortunately, Kamakura Shirts has announced that they are …
In our last post, a comment was left asking me to speculate what if the heyday of the Ivy League Look had never happened, that it had remained the relatively closed, little-known aristocratic style that it was in the 1930s. Would this have been better or worse in the long run for preserving authentic …
Arnold Steiner isn’t your typical fashion designer. He isn’t sickly thin, he doesn’t dress in black, and he rarely has a dour expression on his face. In fact he seems downright jolly, like that encouraging high school teacher that we all wish we had. Or like a dad who enjoys fatherhood because he finally gets …
By 1980 it was crystal clear: “The sport shirt of choice is Lacoste,” declared The Official Preppy Handbook. “Only the all-cotton model will do, the one with cap sleeves with the ribbed edging, narrow collar and two-button placket (never buttoned).” How did a French shirt with a crocodile for a logo become the go-to preppy polo? …
This year the scene above is not allowed to take place because of the virus outbreak. Still, we may meditate upon it and note that its ultimate meaning can never be taken away. And we can also once again enjoy these words from contributor Charlottesville, which he originally wrote two years ago. * * * …
The May 2011 issue of Japanese mag Free & Easy carried these illustrations based on photos from “Take Ivy.” Despite the sedate outfit, the copy accompanying the image above is the same phrase on the cover of the magazine: “Bankara Ivy no susume,” or “In praise of roguish Ivy.” Perhaps Mr. Salaryman has a dark side. Breathe well …