Welcome to The Ivy League Look

This blog presents a historical view through articles, photographs, reminiscences, and advertisements, of an American style of men's fashion of the mid-20th century known as "The Ivy League Look" or "The Ivy Look."

This blog will not present modern-day iterations of this "look"; it will be shown in its original context as an American style worn during this specific era. Author commentary will be kept to a minimum.

This is not a commercial site and links to commercial sites will not be posted.

August 8, 2009

What You Will Wear Tomorrow, 1958



(click to enlarge)

"Within the next few years, predicts Bert Bacharach, a leading authority on men’s fashions, you may see the downfall of the Ivy League style. These slender, natural lines, he believes, are as much an exaggeration as the drape cut. Next step, he says, is moderate padding, a bit of a waistline and some semblance of a blade at the shoulders.

What about the distant future? The wonders will continue, experts claim, and before too many years have elapsed episodes like this one may be commonplace: A fellow is out to dinner with his best girl. While staring into her eyes, his hand trembles and a blob of gravy drops on his pants. He just lets it dry, then reaches into a pocket for an eraser and rubs out the spot!

That evening, the same chap surveys himself in a mirror and decides he’d look better in narrower lapels. No fancy tailoring bills for him. He merely takes out a pair of scissors and snips his lapels to the desired width.

He is wearing paper clothes and they are only one of the long-range miracles of masculine [Continued on page 145] fashion foreseen by authorities. Declares Mr. Bacharach: “The changes to come will be utilitarian, not merely a different look. Everything in apparel runs in cycles. We have now reached the zenith of durability in clothes. A suit has a life expectancy of some eight to 12 years. Soon the corner will be turned and suits will have shorter and shorter lives on the theory that men will welcome a good deal of variety in their wardrobes."


Source:

Mechanix Illustrated, October 1958, via Modern Mechanix blog
(via Ivy Style)

2 comments:

Richard M said...

Not me!

Anonymous said...

What amuses me most about this is that the "net suit" appears to be a sack cut with trim trousers hemmed on the high side. And that he's still wearing a tie.