In response to our last post, which was penned by a young woman, frequent comment-leaver SE sent in some images of female students from the University of the South’s 1978 yearbook, depicting a mixture of masculine and feminine elements in their wardrobe. I came of age in the ’80s and dreamed of girls like Jennifer in …
Today is International Women’s Day, and so we are pleased to present a post penned by a young woman with a taste for trad clothing. * * * What makes a woman trad? It’s a tricky question, especially these days. A certain self-possession, an appreciation for the mutually beneficial relationship between form and function, and …
When I arrived in Newport a few months ago, having spent the past decade in New York, I was in no hurry to buy a car. I’ve been enjoying getting around entirely by bicycle, even when dressed up for a meeting or event. That’s called “cycle chic,” which is defined by Wikipedia as “the culture …
“1986 was no ordinary year. A gallon of gas was 89¢, Halley’s Comet buzzed the earth, and a company called Dockers was about to upend what guys wear to work forever.“ So goes the ad copy for the Dockers brand, created in 1986 as a subsidiary of Levi’s, so as to differentiate the brand images. “Taking …
Nine years ago this month, I wrote a story for The Rake on The Cary Collection. Inspired by a post by Unabashedly Prep’s Fred Castleberry (who supplied the photos), I made an appointment with Thomas Cary and proceeded to crawl through what he calls “the King Tut’s tomb of the preppy era,” trying not to knock anything …
Natural-shoulder greetings to all on the first-ever International Ivy Style Day. Today is March the second, otherwise known as 3/2.
You’ve no doubt noticed in our recent coverage of the brewing Ivy trend that the mood of the photo shoots is rather glum. You can hardly blame them. It’s 2020, after all. I mean, I don’t smile very much either, and when I do, well let’s just say it’s not from joy but rather absurdity. …
Thanks to all of you who keep my inbox full with Tradsville news, in case I miss something. Let’s start to get caught up. First off, a full four weeks ago MR, the last extant menswear trade publication, ran a large feature entitled “Prep Fashion Returns For A New Generation.” Quote: But while prep started in …
We close out February with this fine example of what Ralph Lauren was doing back in 2011. The collection’s press release included the following copy: Polo Ralph Lauren presents a world of vintage preppy dressing inspired by the iconic Northeast, from a rugged Maine expedition to an urban Ivy League campus to charming New England …
You’ve probably noticed over the past couple of years that J. Press has greatly improved its bi-annual brochures under the tutelage of executive Robert “Squeeze” Squillaro (I gave him that nickname, by the way, and he’s yet to tell me not to use it). The new one for spring-summer has just been posted online, and …
Old Money Style is latest in Byron Tully’s thoughtful series of books on the habits and practices those who have known the best in clothing, manner, and deportment for generations. He puts these ideas into practice, and across the series, emphasizes that old money is about much more than the money itself – and …
Frequent comment-leaver SE sent in this vintage Southwick ad promoting the color “olive gray.” Alas as the image is in black and white, we can only see the gray. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday evening, and see you tomorrow with a stimulating Q&A on the charm — and status — of old clothes. — …
Our series of posts on the color olive comes to an end with a peek inside the armoire at Ivy-Style.com headquarters back in 2011. This is one of the Norman Hilton sportcoats that his son Nick relaunched at the time. I picked it up at the New York factory where it was made; Nick Hilton gave …
As “Take Ivy” becomes a menswear touchstone once again, we revisit this post from the last time around, in which I wrote that the lasting legacy of the book will be isolating certain motifs. It’s like rewatching a movie: First you take in the whole, and then in subsequent viewings you focus on more subtle …
InsideHook is really banging the Ivy Trendwatch drum, with more than one scribe working the beat. The latest piece is entitled “Take Ivy 2.0 is the next great movement in American menswear.” Well let’s hope they’re right, but this one seems like a stretch. Check out the link and judge for yourself. The article features …
Five years ago I asked the members of Ivy’s Facebook group if they’d like to have their uploads shared here. They agreed, and as February zooms by, I’d like to share this post once again. I’ve always particularly like the above photo. As I wrote back in 2015, you’ll notice that when it comes to dressing …
Olive and khaki were enormously popular colors for Ivy-styled civilian clothing directly after WW II, through the Korean Conflict (fighting ended in 1953), and a decade beyond. We can only surmise that the wealth of well made but inexpensive military clothing on sale in Army & Navy stores throughout the country after 1945, as well …
Over the past year or so there have been murmurings — that is, media coverage — of a nascent Ivy League Look trend resurgence, thanks in large part to Rowing Blazers. Now GQ UK has a new article entitled “How Ivy League style came back into the fold.” And to think, it was just half a …
Slate Magazine recently posted a long-winded and at times insufferable meditation on snobbery by a prep who came of age in the ’80s. The author’s resumé would certainly suggest the presence of snobbery: Mark Oppenheimer writes about religion for the New York Times. He is the author of a memoir, Wisenheimer; is an editor of …