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
Hey guys, flu got me. First time at my desk in 48 hours. Chew on this for a bit, courtesy of commentariat member Carmelo. — CC
Stanley Turrentine, the Pittsburgh-born tenor saxophonist known for a big soulful sound, lyrical delivery and erudite harmonic sense, was one of the few jazz instrumentalists to have crossover success as a popular artist. Known to play his black-lacquered Selmer tenor saxophone while his R&B star was in the ascendant, Turrentine’s sartorial presentation was always elegant …
This 2012 piece for The Rake features quotes from The Andover Shop’s Charlie Davidson. * * * Passive Form: Don’t be fooled by those pulse-slowing tunes: self-destructive jazz prodigy Chet Baker — the most stylish man ever to not give a hoot about clothing — was a man of sheer, energetic brass By Christian Chensvold …
Today I have a special message on what is a for me a dubiously special day. Exactly one year ago today a traumatic disruption fell into my life like a meteor. Although in retrospect it was a fairly small stone, at the time it was more than enough to shatter my world. I eventually realized that …
Politics is a dirty business, and people on Twitter can be nasty. Last night, after the State Of The Union address by President @#$%!&, the Democratic response came from a member of one of America’s greatest dynasties: Joe Kennedy III. Reaction on social media to this Kennedy kin was less than kind, and even major …
Gentlemen, I just found out that photos and video of Richard Press’ talk at J. Press last week have been delayed and it will be a couple more weeks until they’re ready. So in the meantime, let’s do one more piece from Princeton before we give the Tigers a break. Apparently 1964 was a watershed …
Next up in our series of heyday-era reports from The Daily Princetonian is this piece called “Out of class, sloppy dress and a new morality,” also from 1964. It includes a topic dear to my own heart — or rather feet — namely the breakdown of social dancing, after centuries of waltzes, country reels, minuets, …