If you’re reading this, it’s highly likely you’ve already received the new J. Press brochure in the mail. If not, contact the store by phone or email and ask for one, because it’s terrific. In the meantime, you can check out a PDF right here. The brochure features graphics taken from heyday-era catalogs, the much-improved shoulder …
Four years ago today I lost my dear friend Michael Mattis, who unexpectedly died in his sleep at the age of 49. We had met in our mid-twenties through a mutual intellectual and historical interest in style (specifically, the long literary history of dandyism). As we got older we both found our taste in clothing …
There are several bits of news surrounding John Simons, the so-called patron saint of English Ivy (it’s been so long I’m not sure who coined that term; it might have been here). First off, the documentary about him, “A Modernist,” by Jason Jules and Lee Cogswell, is complete and has been getting theatrical screenings in …
Sorry to disappoint you all, but after much delay, the video of Richard Press’ chat at J. Press’ New York store last month is finally ready and…. — brace yourself — it’s been professionally and stylishly edited down to 90 seconds, making it quite literally a case of shoulda been there.
As a follow-up to our recent post on hook vents, here are two new finds from frequent comment-leaver Carmelo Pugliatti. The first shows a hook vent from the 1890s, when men carried walking sticks and wore bowler hats. Note the lapped seams as well. Below that is is a flash forward two-and-a-half decades later, to …
Things aren’t always what they seem. Activists don’t always dress like paramilitary revolutionaries, and those clad in traditional clothing aren’t always so traditional. As part of our Black History Month coverage, Ivy Style presents a gallery of images of Civil Rights icon Julian Bond, who attended Morehouse smack in the middle of the Ivy heyday, …
First off, apologies to everyone who’s had trouble logging on the site for the past few days. Apparently we’re under attack by robots and are working to block the little devils. In the meantime, what better move than to send you to another website! Well, it’s my duty to report the news. So a couple …
One of the most salient characteristics of the Ivy League Look is the hook vent on suits and sportcoats. Though primarily associated with J. Press — where it became a brand signature along with the combed Shetland sweater and the button-flap oxford shirt — the hook vent was also a common feature on jackets from …
Tonight at 9 pm PBS is airing a documentary about Historically Black Colleges & Universities, entitled “Tell Them We Are Rising”: To get you in the mood, here are a few shots from the 1964 Howard University yearbook. — CC, JR & LJ
A couple of years ago I posed the question “Is trad clothing politically incorrect?” The general consensus was that the answer is “no,” and the reason is because Democrats and Republicans have historically and currently worn traditional American natural shoulder clothing in equal measures, so the look doesn’t belong to the Kennedy dynasty anymore than …
The recent cocktail blast celebrating the new J.Press flagship store on 44th Street, prompted a question from MC media maven, journalist, man-about-town Zach Weiss about my brief time with Robert Frost at Dartmouth. Frost attended Dartmouth in 1892, joining Theta Delta Chi fraternity, but problematic family circumstances forced return to his home in California after …
How selfish are people today? Pretty selfish, it would seem. As in willing to file a class-action lawsuit against LL Bean for dropping its much-abused lifetime return policy. Reports Bloomberg: “The warranty, promising that there are ‘no conditions’ and there is ‘no end date’ has been a core component of L.L. Bean’s marketing and has been …
“My Funny Valentine” certain has staying power: it was already a classic when it appeared in 1958 in the movie “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” still one of the great jazz-Ivy movies. May cupid bless you on this day. — CC
Today is Fat Tuesday, and we have a perfectly apropos post courtesy of G. Bruce Boyer. For our continued Black History Month coverage, Mr. Boyer has given Ivy Style an exclusive piece on Fats Domino. Although the artist didn’t get hip to Ivy duds as other musicians did during the heyday, he was a popular …
Midcentury pop crooner Vic Damone has died at the age of 89. He’s pictured here looking every bit the country gentleman in herringbone jacket, tattersall buttondown, vest and pocket square. And here he is doing the title track from the 1957 Cary Grant film “An Affair To Remember.” — CC
Recently menswear historian G. Bruce Boyer was asked to collaborate on a shirt collection with an Italian brand named Marol. The results are now available. The shirt collars are all semi-spread — they’re also priced way, way beyond the budget of most trads. But as Bruce is an old pal of Ivy Style who’s written …
Update: since this post was first written in 2012, a highly praised Lee Morgan documentary has been released. * * * While the perpetually stylish trumpet player Lee Morgan was a consummate musician, bandleader and composer, he was nothing if not a prodigious swordsman. It was, in fact, this libidinous inclination that brought about his …
I actually had no idea how generous LL Bean has been for the past century with its return, exchange and replacement policy. It took our Millennial Fogey to explain that for a certain kind of consumer, a one-time purchase was a lifetime guarantee of replacements. New England kids would even source old Bean Boots and …
Slowly recovering here at Ivy Style HQ, thank you. And so here’s a space-age shortie by Allen Edmonds called “The Shoe Of Tomorrow,” from the late ’40s or early ’50s. The future sure ain’t what it used to be. — CC