Next up from the Ivy Style archives is this lively piece which originally ran in October of 2010. “Sussed” is one of those British slang terms that suggests maybe we really are divided by a common language. It is often used by fans of the Ivy League Look in England — finding its cognate in …
Yesterday I took in a service at Trinity Church here in Newport. It was founded in 1698 and I got to sit in the pew that was used by George Washington. More interesting for us here were the few old WASPy types who were dressed in coat and tie. Each wore a tweed sportcoat (I’d …
RRP has become one of the most entertaining personalities lately in Ivy Style’s Facebook group. Here’s a gallery of some of his outfits and shots around the Los Angeles area (!), with his trademark deadpan jowl-scowl. Reading into his precise state of mind is much of the fun. “Have noticed those who have written about …
It’s kind of funny to think that standards of dress for a football game half a century ago were higher than for much of corporate America today. Several shots of the crowd reveal all the requisite gear: natural shoulders, buttondown collars, rep ties, short haircuts, and crewneck sweaters worn high in the front. — CC
There are men all over the place reminiscing and telling stories about Charlie Davidson. Everyone either knew him or knew of him. Charlie ran The Andover Shop in Cambridge for more than a half century, and saw to the sartorial needs of professors and politicians, students, jazz musicians, and mere male mortals who wanted to …
A person close to Andover Shop founder Charlie Davidson has informed me that he passed away this morning. On a very personal note, I am also heartbroken to learn that he was recently told that I was moving Newport, where he has spent much of his life, and that he said he hoped to see …
It’s hard to believe, but for the first 14 months I ran Ivy Style from the state of California. I founded the site while living in a hilltop college on a street called Princeton in the LA suburb of Glendale, and then for six months — wiped out by the recession and trying to summon …
Alan Flusser recently gave a talk about his new Ralph Lauren bio at the National Arts Club in New York as part of its FashionSpeak Fridays lecture series. Beforehand, I spoke with Flusser about the book, which was 12 years in the making. Photos below are by Jane Kratochvil and courtesy of National Arts Club. …
If you don’t live on the East Coast and are under the age of 60, the term “Boston Cracked Shoe” will not likely have any resonance. But being 77, and having spent all of my business career in the East, it’s a part of the history of the Ivy League Look that is impossible to …
As one grows older and presumable wiser, one should come to the realization that everything in the world that evokes a strong reaction — whether positive or negative — is a reflection of something within oneself. One can only be sure that an object or person is not symbolic of something that arouses unconscious feelings …
Today we revisit this 2010 Japanese interview with Arthur Tarlow, then president of Alden. In it Tarlow talks about how immigrant craftsmen from various European countries brought their own styles and techniques to the US, the confluence of which became a distinct style of shoemaking he calls “American Traditional.” — CC
A few days ago I met Tom Davis in Central Park to snap a few photos. I’m planning to share some of his spiritual wisdom at Trad Man (please chip in if you can; the Kickstarter campaign ends in a week and we’ve a ways to go), and needed a shot of him. We did …
With this post Ivy-Style brought our 2010 Preppy Week to a close, which we herein revisit for some hearty chuckles. Click here to have the Dead Kennedys’ “Terminal Preppie” play in another browser window as you rejoice in the demise of Biff and Muffy. Every trend carries within it the seed of its own negation. …
We wrap up the workweek with a roundup of recent news items. First off, today is the anniversary of JFK’s assassination. I didn’t know that there had been an earlier attempt in 1960, which was foiled by the Palm Beach Police Department. Ivy Style’s plentiful posts on the former president can all be found here. …
“If one more person comes in here and asks for Bass Weejuns, I think I’ll scream,” says an Atlanta saleswoman in a 1980 article from Time Magazine. A more muted but equally frustrated voice can be heard from a Time writer in an article several months later while writing about New York’s soon-to-be-closed Biltmore Hotel: …
Here’s a fine example of the value of the library of information we’ve built up over the past 11 years. This morning I awoke to a text message from Ivy Style contributor Trevor Jones, showing me how he’d taken inspiration from our recent “rich and dull” repost. Trevor was too young to pull off the …
A terrific vintage illustration, presumably late ’40s to early ’50s judging by those lapels. You’ll likely wish to copy everything but those. Update: original source found:
In celebration of the Ralph Lauren HBO special that aired last week (chime in if you saw it, as I didn’t), here are some vintage images recently posted to Ivy’s Facebook group. Most of these are new to me and might be to you, too. At the risk of sounding like someone who works in …
Update: As requested in light of today’s news, we revisit our interview with Roger Stone for you to bemoan or celebrate the verdict on his trial. After the publication of Friday’s story on political supervillain Roger Stone, contributing writer Eric Twardzik received an unexpected call from Stone, leading to an exclusive interview in which the …