Khakis, Chuck Taylors, And Cashmere Socks

Here’s another interesting image posted to Ivy’s Facebook group. The year is 1969, and you can try and guess the subject, who is directing a film (a task he is not chiefly remembered for). He is reportedly wearing his casual uniform, which consisted of khakis, Chuck Taylor canvas sneakers, and — because he’s a bit …


‘Tis The Season — For Skulls And Bones

Ah late October, the season for fall clothes — and skeletal remains. This photo was disinterred by a member of Ivy’s Facebook group, and alas the grave marker was undated. It also looks like springtime. 


Golden Years: Bow Tie Laugh Riot

An extraordinarily witty and cleverly packaged new book by James Gulliver Hancock succinctly titled “The Bow Tie Book” addresses the idiosyncratic cravat style alternately viewed as eccentric, erratic, professorial, bohemian and Churchillian. The book is loaded with a compendium of bow tie history from many eras in an uproarious agenda. Social Primer K. Cooper Ray …


Like Father, Like Son

One of the characteristics of traditional clothiers across the years is how many of them were family businesses passed down through the generations. That’s how Brooks Brothers began nearly 200 hundred years ago. And J. Press went through three generations. There aren’t many businesses like that left, but one of them is R. Hanauer (aka …


Dateline 1967: Ralph Lauren Anniversary Book + GI Chino

Speaking of khakis, as we were recently with Duck Head (BTW, the company reached out to me and I should have some interesting info to divulge in a follow-up), Ivy Style contributor Eric Twardzik alerted me to current offering from Ralph Lauren depicted below. It’s called The Iconic GI Khaki Chino, and comes with a …



Quack From The Dead: The Return Of The Duck Head Brand

In light of our last post about the re-relaunch of the Duck Head brand, here’s Chris Sharp’s 2014 piece on the last company to try and resuscitate the dead duck. It includes much company history and how the brand became a favorite among college students. * * * Some time later today, according to the …


Fowled Out: Once Again, The Return Of Duck Head

Duck Head has been sitting on the bench since the last time the heritage brand fowled out. Now it’s back in the apparel game with a new coach, or rather owner: Oxford Industries, which also owns the Tommy Bahama and Southern Tide brands. You can see by the newly relaunched Duck Head website that they’re …


Tom Davis To Run MTM Shirt Program At New J. Press Store

Tom Davis, one of the few octogenarian haberdashers who has worked since the heyday of the Ivy League Look, will be joining J. Press at its new New York location, which is scheduled to open within the next few weeks. Mr. Davis spent some four decades running the made-to-measure shirt program at Brooks Brothers’ Madison …


Finding The Classics

As mentioned a week or so ago, the latest issue of Japanese magazine Popeye is entitled “Finding The Classics.” Apparently the best means of transportation for this search is via skateboard, as half the magazine features streetwear-clad boys on skateboards. Of course, maybe they’ll go from skaters to trads some day — it happened to me. …


When The King Of Cool Found The King Of Kings

No matter how cool and detached you are, with an aura of earthly immediacy and cynical skepticism, you can’t run from the question “What does it all mean?” And when you grow up in Western Civilization, you might find yourself in old age doing things that you never imagined. Such as taking up golf. Or …


The Rowing Blazers Pop-Up Shop

With a Ph.D. in history from Oxford, a World Championships medal, and books authored since the of eleven, Jack Carlson would seem poised to do just about anything (I didn’t even mention his global network of distinguished contacts, including myself, of course). Which is why it’s a bit surprising he’d want to dive into the …


M Magazine, 1991: Unbuttoning Brooks Brothers

The March, 1991 M Magazine article — of which scans are presented below after the jump (click “Continue”) — is our second article on Brooks Brothers during the Marks & Spencer era. Along with the previous one from Forbes, the article is part of a cache I collected while doing a paper for a Business …


But Is It Art?

The Museum Of Modern Art here in New York has a new exhibit entitled “Is Fashion Modern?” I went to check it out on Friday, when the museum is free in the late afternoon. The scene was a perfect illustration of the genius behind the law forbidding yelling fire in a crowded building. I deftly …


Papa’s Pennies

Penny loafers: suitable for everyone, including old bearded men who like safari-hunting, sea-fishing, arm-wrestling, bullfighting and hard drinking. Shout-out to longtime comment-leaver “Old School” for submitting this great photo. — CC Addendum: photo info:  “Ernest Hemingway at his standing writing desk on the balcony of Bill Davis’s home near Malaga where he wrote The Dangerous Summer.” …


Strap Yourselves In: The Ivy Style Heyday Belt Sneak Peek

Yesterday I met with MKG, my partner on the Ivy Style Club Tie (of which there are still a few left; order info here), to see the samples from our latest project: The Ivy Style Heyday Commemoration Belt (until we come up with a better name). In a handful of motifs, the belt cleverly illustrates …


Eye-Popping

Last month, when we shared G. Bruce Boyer’s piece on cardigan vests for Drake’s, someone remarked that cardigans are fine under sportcoats, but never under blazers. Naturally we followed it up with a series of images from Ralph Lauren that included — what else? — cardigans and blazers. And then the new issue of the …


Im-Press-ive: Much News At J. Press

J. Press is brimming with new energy. For starters, construction is moving along at the new New York location, and we’ll announce the opening date as soon as we hear it. Next, the company has revamped its website, which is now easier to navigate and features a bunch of live humans wearing the clothing, as …


Can They Keep A Secret?

There’s a new book — with a whopping 800 pages — devoted to one of the things Yale is most noted for, besides being the mecca of the Ivy League Look. And that is the secret society, which flourished during the simultaneous heydays of the Ivy and the Cold War. Many a buttondowned Eli went …