Before the failed mish-mash of today's designer menswear, the most important influence on mens' dress was the Ivy, or prep, look. Until sometime in the 1970s when the whole thing fell apart, a man paid little attention to labels, dressing himself from a palette of British cloth and traditional styles. Gone now for the most part (the principal exception being some of the work of Ralph Lauren), Ivy Style is currently the subject of an retrospective at New York's Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
The book coming out of that exhibit, Ivy Style: Radical Conformists, is due to be released on October 16. Edited by Patricia Mears, deputy director at the museum and the individual most responsible for the exhibit (which runs until January 5), the volume's essays trace the evolution of the Ivy look from the end of World War I until the present day.
Like many compendia, Ivy Style is uneven, but the worthwhile sections outnumber the filler. There is a very good essay on the influence of the Duke of Windsor by Peter McNeil, a piece on jazz and the Ivy look by G. Bruce Boyer and several classic excerpts from Boyer's 1985 Elegance that are worth the purchase price by themselves for anyone who does not already have the original.
Perhaps the best of the good things about Ivy Style are the more than 100 photos ranging from a selection of wonderful full page shots of the clothing on exhibit to old Apparel Arts drawings. The striped blazers, seersucker suits and Weejuns delight the eye and recall what was probably the best dressed era of modern times.
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3 comments:
I ask his as a genuine question: is it true to say that little attention was paid to labels? From historical articles and the articles on places like Ivy Style which delve into the minutiae of the period, it seems that people actually did gravitate to certain labels.
Worn on the inside no doubt, but still chosen because they gained a certain prestige. The same is in evidence today even among the people who claim to be dressing outside of labels. It's all over places like Styleforum or London Lounge. Is specifically referring to a scarf as a Drake's not the same sort of branding fetish? Even if they are fine quality there is an element of prestige in dress going on.
I'm not saying it's wrong to distinguish quality by name, but also it might be just a bit misguided to believe that 'the well-dressed gentleman' eschews labels whereas the rabble embraces them.
I agree with Roger.
Moreover, I take issue with the first sentence:
"Before the failed mish-mash of today's designer menswear, the most important influence on mens' dress was the Ivy, or prep, look"
For a start, "failed mish-mash" describes a certain type of designer that is admittedly predominant at the moment, but you only have to dig a little beneath the surface to find some excellent, talented designers with a single focus.
Also, to say that men took influence from the Ivy or prep look is just a recognition of the fashion of the time, which is not necessarily any better than what we have today.
Finally, a whole country trying to dress like Ivy Leaguers to me smacks of a weird faux-aspiration that is arguably more pretentious than brand-whorism.
I don't mind Ivy style, but I do wish that it weren't so often pronounced as being better than other modern styles.
I'm afraid that I don't agree with some of what Keith has to say.
While it is true that the Ivy League look spread beyond the confines of its origins, it is hardly the case that all those who adopted it were pretentiously grasping at "faux-aspiration." It was, as Keith noted, the fashion of the time, and while there were some who were putting on airs along with their Ivy Look clothes, it was hardly the motivating factor for most.
As for one style being better than another, I think we actually can establish that some are better than others. Those styles that make men look good, like adults and not boys, that convey dignity and authority, are intrinsically superior to those styles that do not.
Like it or not, "fair" or not, we are judged by what we wear. Why not wear something that will improve others' evaluations?
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