For the Campus and Ivy Minded Man, 1961

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Source:

Lakeland (Florida) Ledger - 4/9/61

A Rare Find!, 1955

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For the small minority who prefers a natural shoulder suit we believe the Southwick Suit is a rare find. From the softness of its shoulder to the trimness of its cuff it is pure and true...pure and true to the traditional natural look. You make this rare find only in our Ivy Shop.

Source:

Spokane Daily Chronicle - 11/14/55

Natural Shoulder Models Lead in Survey, 1952

Toledo Blade editorial cartoon - May 6, 1952

Natural Shoulder Models Lead in Survey of Men Suit Sales

Woolen Types, Novelty Weaves Growing In Favor; Plaids and Checks Popular

Natural shoulder models now hold the lead in men's suit sales, accounting for 37 percent of last fall's volume, Men's Wear magazine's annual survey indicated today. Broad-shouldered drape models followed with 35 percent of sales and the "American lounge" model, 28 percent.

The survey noted the natural shoulder led in New England and the South, while the broad shoulder drape was favored in the north central area, and the "lounge" was the leader in the West.

Source:

Toledo Blade - 5/6/52

College '57

The special look of college clothes this year is an all-American look. Rarely have students, from Bowdoin to UCLA, dressed so uniformly. For this reason, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED went to the center of America to photograph this year's college fashion preview at the University of Missouri at Columbia. Columbia likes to think of itself as Collegetown, U.S.A., with its three schools: M.U., Stephens and Christian colleges.

...

The college man, even in the South and the West, is dressing in the tradition of his Ivy League brethren: combining chino cotton jackets with flannel slacks; sharing a penchant for corduroy, good tweed, for whipcord and covert, many another favorite shown here.

Source:

SI - 9/2/57

I encourage you to click on the above link, then click on "view this issue" and turn to page 37 to view all of the photos and descriptions.

Jantzen, "The Shag", 1958

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"Frank Gifford, member of the Jantzen International Sports Club, prefers 'The Shag,' made from a soft and strong blend of 25% Mohair, 75% wool."

Source:

SI - 9/1/58

That Brooks Brothers Look, 1954

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Source:

Playboy magazine, February 1954, via FNB - Talk Ivy forum

Harvard Boy in Bermuda, 1948

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Source:

Google's LIFE photo archive (click link for more related images)

"shoe"

"In the early 50s, friends of mine and I picked up from somewhere a bit of verbal play which involved categorizing almost everything and everyone as shoe or unshoe. As new alumni of an Ivy League university, we obviously considered being shoe a compliment.

I remember that in clothing, button-down shirts, striped ties and gray flannel suits with narrow lapels were shoe. Anything less conservative was unshoe. The Ivy League and kindred schools were by definition shoe. State colleges were definitely un. Professional careers were generally shoer than business ones. Shoe people were confident and casual, unshoes insecure and overeager.

We grew up and less smug, of course, but for a short time, with our whole adult lives before us, we felt unafraid, undefeatable, immortal and very, very shoe.

Winifred G. Newman
New York, New York

Source: "Gimme the Ol' White Shoe" from No Uncertain Terms, William Safire, 2003

...

"When Denny and I were at Yale, one of the adjectives in common use was "shoe" - presumably derived from "white shoe." I still see "white shoe" in print now and then, used to mean patrician or old-money WASP: the Times has referred to, say, Morgan Stanley as a white-shoe investment-banking firm. "Shoe" meant more to us than "white shoe." It could indeed indicate a background of boarding schools and trust funds - something like what "preppy" came to mean a decade later, although without the scorn that term carried with it. It could mean dress or behavior that reflected such a background, even if the person involved came from entirely different circumstances. It could also mean something approaching cool or suave."

"I've been told that a few years before we arrived the term "white shoe," which we didn't use, was often heard at Yale, along with "brown shoe" and "black shoe." The white shoe people were, of course, shoe. Apparently, the brown shoe people were the bright student council presidents from white middle-class high schools who had been selected by Yale to be buffed up a bit and sent out into the world, prepared to prove their high-school classmates right in voting them among the most likely to succeed. Black shoe people were beyond the pale...They were called weenies."

Source:

Remembering Denny, Calvin Trillin, 2005
...

At Yale there is a system for pigeonholing the members of the college community which is based on the word “shoe.” Shoe bears some relation to the word chic, and when you say that a fellow is “terribly shoe” you mean that he is a crumb in the upper social crust of the college, though a more kindly metaphor might occur to you. You talk of a “shoe” fraternity or a “shoe” crowd, for example, but you can also describe a man’s manner of dress as “shoe.” The term derives, as you probably know, from the dirty white bucks which are the standard collegiate footwear (you can buy new ones already dirty in downtown New York to save you the embarrassment of looking as though you hadn’t had them all your life), but the system of pigeonholing by footwear does not stop there. It encompasses the entire community under the terms White Shoe, Brown Shoe, and Black Shoe

White Shoe applies primarily to the socially ambitious and the socially smug types who affect a good deal of worldly sophistication, run, ride and drink in rather small cliques, and look in on the second halves of football games when the weather is good. They try so hard not to be collegiate in the rah-rah (or, as they would say, “Midwestern”) sense of the term that they are probably the most “collegiate” types now in college. Brown Shoe applies to the general run of those who are socially acceptable but above thinking that it really makes any difference. They constitute the general middle class of the college that overlaps somewhat into both White and Black; their ambition is to be the average citizen raised to the highest power compatible with being a cultured and relaxed gentleman. Black Shoe implies some of the attributes of the “grind” and is applied to those who participate a little too eagerly in seminars, literary teas, and discussions of life, literature, and the pursuit of philosophy. They are in college because they consider it primarily an educational and not a social institution; they mind their own business rather intensely, are probably in love with the girls they will eventually marry, and in many respects appear a good deal more sophisticated and  grown up than the White Shoe crowd.

The shoe categories obviously allow for a great deal more precise definition than this, as I have no doubt the first Yale man you meet will tell you. But pleasant as it is under the elms of New Haven, let us move into other groves of academe. We will have to take our “shoes” with us, however; the terminology may not be the same in all the colleges, but we will keep finding men whom the shoes will fit.

Source: Esquire - September 1953 "How Shoe Can You Get", Russell Lyne
...

A friend of mine was at Brown in the 1950s. At the time the phrase for being cool was "shoe."

Yes, "shoe." And the "shoe" guys wore brown or burgundy penny loafers.

Only the Slide Rule Brigade wore black loafers, according to Val. They might have been genuises, but they were not "shoe."

Source: Andy's Trad Forum

College Men Know Their Pendletons, 1958

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"On campus, it's Pendleton cum laude!"

Source:

SI - 9/1/58

The “Updated American” suit and jacket silhouette

L to R: George Bush in a sack suit, William Clark in an Updated American suit (source: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library)

"This article came about as a reaction to the generally held opinion among internet denizens—and some writers—that the only true classic American style is the “traditional” Ivy League style. In my view, the Updated American style is as genuinely and legitimately American as the Ivy League style, reflected in the fact that it has become for all intents and purposes the standard American style for most American men."

Read this very informative article in its entirety:

The Paul Stuart Variation: Classic American Style

HS&M, designed for life on the campus, 1952

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Source:

Cornell Daily Sun - 12/2/1952

Note: $65 - $75 at the time of the ad is roughly equivalent to $515 - $600 today.

HS&M, 1958

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Source:

SI - 8/25/58

nothing measures up to Wool

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Source:

SI - 4/28/58

Southwick, 1950

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"Shoulders that are natural, not overstuffed. Construction that is soft, without heavy canvas stiffening. Lines that are easy, with no "pinch" at the waistline. These are the comfortable and gentlemanly features that distinguish SOUTHWICK suits and jackets from commonplace clothes."

Source:

FNB Forum

College Man Has 'Own Look', 1968

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"Looking good is a matter of choice. Traditional three-button vested and Ivy? Fine, but dig those glen plaids, the black and white houndstooth checks and the wider stripes. Not only are colors new and fresh, there's also shape - the biggest idea to hit men's wear since the double-breasted look was revived."

Source:

The Daily Collegian (Penn State Univ.) - 3/8/68

Ellsworth Bunker, 1965

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Wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellsworth_Bunker

Additional photographs (from the LIFE archives):

Andy's Trad Forum - AldenPyle post 1

Andy's Trad Forum - AldenPyle post 2

Et Tu, Brooks Brothers?

image from the 2009 summer vol. II catalog

Yes, yes, we have been told. Philosophers tell us that change is life's only constant. Poets tell us that the center cannot hold, and all that is beautiful drifts away like the waters. Scientists say even the continents are adrift.

But Brooks Brothers, the clothier founded in Manhattan in 1818, was supposed to be the still point of the turning world. For generations it has defined conservatism in men's dress - blue and gray natural-shoulder suits, blue and white oxford cloth shirts with button-down collars, striped ties.

So why in recent years have the clothier's display windows become a silent pandemonium of scandalizing colors? What are those lavender dress shirts - about the coral-colored ones, let us not even speak - doing in Brooks Brothers stores, even the flagship store that opened in 1915 at the corner of Forty-fourth and Madison Avenue?
...

In 1955, when William F. Buckley, a Brooks Brothers customer, founded National Review (not far from that cultural epicenter, Forty-fourth and Madison), he said the magazine "stands athwart history, yelling 'Stop!'" For an iconic institution such as Brooks Brothers, there is a duty to stand athwart fashion fads and say, as insistently as commercial imperatives will permit, "Not so fast."

Source:

Column dated December 28, 1997; also published in With a Happy Eye, But...: America and the World, 1997-2002, George F. Will, 2003

Tale of the Tenacious Tassel

Brooks Brothers Tassel Loafer in burgundy cordovan leather

"Just about the time the penny loafer was solidifying its power as BSOC (Big Shoe On Campus), those graduates who had gone from prep school to Ivy League to Wall Street began looking for a comfortable, casual shoe that had a bit more sophistication. They were used to the idea of a comfortable slip-on, but needed something a bit dressier for life in the business world."

Source:

Tale of the Tenacious Tassel - Cigar Aficionado, G. Bruce Boyer, March/April 1998

Additional Reading:

NYT - The Politicization of Tasseled Loafers

Circling the Square, 1940

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Tweedy Trio

"Chipp, Press and Ross, Cambridge custom clothing's big three, have a unique business technique. The three-button-natural-shoulder-loose-fitting long coats which they produce are, in their eyes, works of art, and they should be sold as such. The ordinary good tailor won't sell a suit unless it fits well; he's a piker compared with the Mount A. Street trio. They won't sell a suit unless it fits the personality of the buyer. Every piece of clothing that goes out of the little brick shops is designed to fill a definite function in the wordrobe of its owner."

Read the entire article here:

The Harvard Crimson - 11/20/40

Image source:

Bulldog: J. Press 1940 and 1941

Note: You might notice that the ad shown above is taken from the Yale Daily News. Same year, different Press location, but more than likely the same copy.

Joseph Abboud, ca. 1967

"When I was coming of age in the mid-1960s there were two schools (at school) of dressing: the collegiate kids and the rats. The rats wore little Beatle boots and pointed shoes and tight pants. We weren't The Lords of Flatbush, but in seventh and eighth grade we thought we were pretty tough, so we slicked our hair back and wore black. The collegiates were wholesome, very Kingtson Trio, very Harvard Square - madras jackets, cuffed khakis, navy chinos, blue button-downs, yellow barracuda jackets, and Weejun penny loafers with barrels on the sides.

I started out a rat and morphed into a collegiate. I liked all those interesting madras colors and chino pants I was seeing in the epicenter of Ivy League, Harvard Square, and was beginning to understand that this was how the blue bloods dressed. I never sat down and analyzed the situation or decided that this clothing would make me look more intelligent. I just knew it was a nice way to dress."

...

"Came the junior prom. I tossed caution to the wind. I had a date with Auta, the most beautiful girl in high school, the girl every guy wanted - a flower child with long, dark hair who looked as if she'd just come from a hootenanny - and this was my moment. First move: the suit. It was a navy three-piece natural-shoulder from Rogers Peet, and it cost an inconceivable $100. I had no right to be spending that kind of money, and if my mother had known she would have shot me, but I was buying more than a suit. Rogers Peet was one of those blue-blood bastions where the customers' first and last names were interchangeable — like Stewart Graham or Patterson Elliot - and even if Joseph and Abboud didn't quite operate the same way, I figured I could work at it, keep my hair short, dress like the establishment, fly under the radar, and be accepted. It was sort of like The Great Gatsby. Not as beautiful and sad, not as romantic, but I was buying my way into another class. I thought that by simply showing the salesman that I could afford the suit, I'd make him realize that I was legitimate, and I'd command a certain respect. So I took out my envelope of twenty $5 bills (I didn't have a wallet) and endowed my future."

Source:

Threads: My Life Behind the Seams in the High-Stakes World of Fashion, Joseph Abboud, 2004

Rogers Peet, 1949

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Source:

The New Yorker - 9/3/49, courtesy of OldSchool

Link: Rogers Peet history

The Natural-Shoulder Look Across the Board, 1964

Here's just a soupcon of the natural-shoulder apparel you'll find at H&H. Take it from the top: Lord Jeffs V-neck pullover of pure lambswool. Fully fashioned with saddle shoulder. Many colors, 15.95. Corbin slacks of worsted flannel. Trim, plain front with belt loops. Conservative shades, 23.95. Gant traditional shirt in oxford cloth. Button down or tab styles, box front, back pleat and hanger loop. Solid colors, 6.50, stripes 6.95. Exceptionally well tailored PBM's herringbone sport coat in classic herringbone, 3-button, with welt seams, hook vent and patch/flap pockets. In grey, olive, brown...39.95. Hughes + Hatcher.

Source:

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - 8/24/64

Brooks Brothers, Madras, 1961

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Source:

Cornell Daily Sun - 4/21/61

Polo Fashions, 1968

"(Ralph) and Joe Barrato, his friend from Brooks Brothers, had been lunching out regularly ever since Barrato got out of the army and joined Corbin, a trouser company, in 1963. In the mid-sixties, the well-dressed Traditional customer wore Rivetz ties, Corbin pants, Southwick natural-shoulder jackets, Gant shirts, a Canterbury belt, and Bass Weejuns. Ralph told Joe he wanted to bring them all together - in slightly more sophisticated versions - under the Polo banner. But Ralph also wanted the Brooks customer at every age - prep schooler, Ivy Leaguer, privileged adult. And then he wanted to go beyond that, and reach out to the likes of Ralph Lifshitz and Joe Barrato, and give them the tools to turn their insecurity into aspiration and motivation. "I design for my world, for the people I know, whose lives I understand," Ralph would say. "Someone like me." His pitch hit a chord."

Source:

Genuine Authentic: The Real Life of Ralph Lauren, Michael Gross, 2003

Florsheim Natural Shoulder Shoes

Source:

Pittsburgh Post Gazette - 8/22/66

Arthur M. Rosenburg, 1968

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New Haven's finest custom tailor since 1898

Source:

Yale Daily News - 9/16/68

Clothing Moves Toward Greater Comfort, 1954

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"The most important trend in men's suits is the swing to natural shoulders. The natural-looking suit is in sharp contrast to the exaggerated lines and padding of older suits. The width of shoulders is the outstanding feature of this model. It has minimum padding, narrow lapels and higher notch."

Source:

NYT - 9/26/54 via the FNB Talk Ivy Forum

Saks - The University Shop at Yale, 1967 and 1968

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Source:

Yale Daily News - 2/23/67

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"With suits and jackets, expertly tailored along natural lines, furnishings are coordinated to complement the classic styling, we know, college men prefer."

Source:

Yale Daily News - 9/16/68

J. Press Poplin, 1967

Source:

Yale Daily News - 5/17/67

J. Press Luxury Workshirt, 1967

Source:

Yale Daily News - 5/17/67

Flusser on Ivy

...The 1950s are best remembered for the “gray flannel suit” worn by the conservative businessman. Now men were back to the natural-shoulder silhouette. As reported in Apparel Arts ‘75 Years of Fashion, “No style was ever so firmly resisted, so acrimoniously debated - or more enthusiastically received in various segments of the industry. Natural shoulder styling eventually became the major style influence. Brooks Bros., once a ‘citadel of conservatism,’ became a font of fashion as the new ‘Ivy Cult’ sought style direction. Charcoal and olive were the colors.”
...

The Sack, or Brooks Brothers Natural-Shoulder, Suit

The sack, or the Brooks Brothers natural-shoulder, suit has been, for almost a century now, the backbone of American clothing. First popularized near the turn of the century, it was a silhouette characterized by a shapeless, nondarted jacket with narrow shoulders (which were soft and unpadded) as well as by flap pockets, a single rear vent, and a three- or four-button front. Designed large in order to fit many sizes, it was the first mass-produced suit and it looks it. After all, it was not called the sack suit for nothing.

Perhaps the biggest strength of the sack silhouette is also its basic weakness: it hides the shape of its wearer and takes away any sense of individuality. The reason it has managed to exist successfully for such a long period of time is simply that it appeals to the common denominator. Since it is so anonymous, it offends no one, enabling the wearer to walk into any environment and be acceptably attired.

For those seeking anonymity in their clothing, or wishing to hide an ungainly figure, this may be an acceptable style. But for anyone else, the sack-style suit is woefully inappropriate.
...

The Button-Down Collar

The button-down collar was first introduced in this country by Brooks Brothers, patterned after the polo shirt worn in England. As explained earlier, the collar was originally fastened down in order to prevent flapping in the player's face during a match. This collar, unlike all others, is soft and meant to remain that way. It is without doubt the most comfortable collar and represents nothing less than the American spirit by producing a casual image so in tune with our heritage. It has been popular every decade since the twenties, and since its origins are definitely in sport, it is not considered a particularly dressy collar. Since it never lies exactly the same way, it offers an unpredictable buckling about the neck, thereby reflecting the wearer's individuality. It is a collar long associated with the Ivy League look and is especially complementary to the natural-shoulder suit. It is appropriately worn with tweed sports jackets and women suits. The Brooks Brothers original model remains the best version, for its points are long, permitting a "roll" that changes as the wearer moves. The button-down collar will accommodate a Windsor knot or a four-in-hand, and when worn with a bow tie, it projects the ultimate professorial image.

Source:

Alan Flusser, Clothes and the Man: The Principles of Fine Men's Dress, 1985

Adler crew socks (still $1), 1962, 1965

Ad from The Cornell Daily Sun, 10/18/65 (click to enlarge)

Ad from The Tech (MIT), 11/7/62 (click to enlarge)

"They were the rage at Southern universites in the late 50s-early 60s.They were sort of fuzzy, and the tag carried a strong warning against ever bleaching them. Therefore, everyone did bleach them and, as a result, they turned slightly orangish-yellowish. They also wore holes at the heels awfully quickly. With their unique color, they were just the thing to wear with your BD short sleeve madras shirt, khaki trousers, tan Baracuta G-9 jacket and Weejuns."

Source:

Andy's Trad Forum - Ken C. Pollock, 6/16/07

HS&M, 1959

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All models follow 1959 lines - slim, trim, natural.

Source:

SI - 5/11/59

Funky cats displace the sack, 1969-1970

"Even in the 'natural shoulder' realm, insurrection was becoming orthodoxy and the establishment was on the run:

Rather than confuse "traditionalism" with a way of life, these young businessmen [retailers] are making the world of the natural shoulder swing. Why not, they reason, their customers are. And that's been the problem of traditional clothing and selling during the past five years. Today's young men have taste and they hardly need the sober respectability of a sack suit. They welcome change and want a contemporary approach to clothes that really meshes with their way of life. In short: Their lives aren't dull and they don't want to dress that way. - "Traditionals Again Lead the Way," Men's Wear, March 14, 1969."
_____

"(McCloskey) characterized the considerable changes that had shaken the clothing industry during the 1960s as no less than a revolution in "gestalt," "a national change of consciousness" brought on my the insurgent hip: "For some - the young - it was easy," he wrote.

But the transition from a conditioned, receptive, Ivy-oriented, drinking, middle-brow national gestalt in the U.S. during the Sixties to the heady freedom and spontaneous bliss of doing your own thing (staying young forever) was to create a gulf in the mind too vast for bridging by many older Americans. By decade's end, the man in the gray flannel suit had been dispelled by the undeniable look of funky cats and frontier princes, and the millions who followed Moses out of Egypt were to catch a glimpse of a brand new Promised Land. - Jason McCloskey, "Aquarius Rising," GQ, March 1970."

Source:

The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism, Thomas Frank

U.S. Modifies Continental Look, 1960

Subdued olive green jacket of a fine wool basket weave has Ivy League

look. Eagle Brand jacket is trimmed with gray pearl buttons.

"Several seasons ago, the Italian look in men's fashions swept the country, threatening to replace the Ivy League styles. But the Italian and Ivy came together in the Continental look and now this year more home influence has made the newest look the American Continental."

Source:

Ebony - April 1960, p. 132

Saks - University Shop, 1959

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Source:

SI - 4/27/59

Wigtown Plaids, Brooks Brothers, 1935

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Although not strictly "Ivy," this advertisement is notable for the illustration by Paul Desmond Brown.

Source:

Newsweek - 11/9/35, via The Retro Press blog

Ivy Look goes massive, 1959

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Source:

SI - 5/11/59

Plateau, 1955

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Source:

Saturday Evening Post - 3/26/55, via The Retro Press blog