Part two of James Kraus’ survey of what was happening in American culture from 1954-67, the heyday of the Ivy League Look. * * * Favorable demographics and consistent sizable gains in productivity continued to fuel prosperity in the 1960s throughout the industrialized world. Between 1954 and 1967, Australia, Germany, Italy, Japan and Sweden suffered not …
We’ve got one more post — for now — on pop music from the 1950s. I mentioned in the comment thread on the “Optimism And Prosperity” post about discovering my parents’ record collection, which included some 45 RPM records from the late ’50s, when my father was a teenager, and which he later converted to …
How cool was it to dress Ivy during the heyday? Cool enough for the El Capris, an African American doo-wop band from Pittsburgh, to cut a B-side called “Ivy League Clean” in 1958. The song failed to chart, however, and the band became just another forgotten doo-wop band whose name starts with “El.” That is …
Speaking of American music during the Ivy heyday — as we are on the “Optimism And Prosperity” comment thread — here’s a terrific pop culture find. Frequent comment-leaver “GS” uncovered a reference to Ivy League suits and desert boots in the song “Have You Got Any Castles, Baby?” recorded by Bobby Darin in 1960. GS noted …
Contributing writer James Kraus is an arch-connoisseur of the 1950s and ’60s. Herein he takes us on a tour of the years of the Ivy heday, giving us a broad overview of what else was going on in American life besides penny loafers and buttondown collars. Part one covers the first half of the heyday, …
Kamakura has a new collection on its website called “Looking Ivy Stylish” in conjunction with Graham Marsh. Included is a tab-club collar shirt, something I’ll need to consider as a change of pace from my pinned club collars. Alas Kamakura’s are alpha-sized, but that doesn’t mean a decent fit is impossible. Check out the collection here, …
Yesterday was National Seersucker Day, which began on Capitol Hill as “Seersucker Thursday.” It went on in DC as usual, with Senator Dianne Feinstein grabbing the spotlight. There aren’t any noteworthy photos of Congressmen worth running. So instead we’ll jump in our sartorial time machine and journey back to May of 1961, when Esquire called …
Castaway Clothing, which recently uveiled some new shirts made in India the old-school way, had some videos of madras fabric being loomed in Chennai, the city formerly known as Madras. At my request Castaway has uploaded the videos to YouTube so we can all see them. Click play to watch the video below: There are …
Even in an ancient culture like India, old traditions can die out — or perhaps we should say “dye” out. Last year Matt Bridier of Castaway Clothing met with Prasan Shah at the New York office of The Original Madras Trading Company, a multi-generational family-owned business that is truly one of the original madras makers …
George Axelrod’s play “The Seven Year Itch” lit up Broadway in 1952 and stayed there for 1,141 performances. The star, Tom Ewell, a dedicated J.Press aficionado, won a Tony Award, although his performance was later dimmed in the movie version when he was paired opposite Marilyn Monroe. Taking time out from my mainstream obligation running the …
“Entry E” is something of a pulp novel, telling a tale of Ivy League life in America that was considered startling on its release in 1958. But for all the adolescent angst and raucous action in this story, there is plenty of mid-century Ivy League style and quiet consideration of the “Ivy Man,” described in …
Last week we ran a photo from 1954, the dawn of the Ivy heyday. The post was entitled “The Ideal” and featured tennis player Vic Seixas wearing a J. Press sportcoat for a Sports Illustrated clothing spread. Now, as promised, is the rest of the article. The piece is entitled “The Not So Odd Jacket” …
Startup shirtmaker Michael Spencer, the dream of founder Spencer Bennett, continues to grow and has added a number of new summer shirtings. Yes, it’s fun to actually use the word “shirtings” correctly. A variety of seersuckers and poplins are now available. “We are extremely excited about the new fabrics that have been added to the …
These photos of a young man with precocious trad-dressing competence were posted over the weekend to Ivy Style’s Facebook group, where they earned instant accolades. The young man, JL, has just graduated high school but is already years ahead in the dressing department. Note the contrast of the sober J. Press suit, blue buttondown, Argyll …
As Marily Monroe once sang, “Happy Birthday, Mr. President.” Today JFK would have been 100. We mark the occasion by revisiting a 2011 column by Richard Press. * * * The epic saga of President John F. Kennedy’s individual travail and public triumph is recounted with explicit and captivating detail by Chris Matthews in his …
Updated 5/26 at 2:15 PM Today J. Press made it official on its website: It will reopen a New York store this fall in the most ideal of locations. Not only will J. Press return to 44th Street, the historic epicenter of Ivy in New York during the heyday, it will take over a ground …
This photo may be familiar to half of you, while the other half are seeing it for the first time. It’s floated around Tradsville for years, but I’m not sure we ever posted it here, and even if we did, it’s due for a curtain call. Why today? Because it was recently posted to our …
Years ago I came across a quote that goes something like, “Everyone is right-wing when it comes to the things they care about.” I think it may have been attributed to the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, but my attempt to track down the quote via Google came up with nada. The argument goes that …
Today we revisit Chris Sharp’s 2012 piece on artist LeRoy Neiman. * * * As the Olympics draw to a close, my thoughts turn to the 1976 games in Montreal, which coincided with the American Bicentennial. If America had some maturity under her belt, I certainly did not. I was eight years old and the …