The use of the campus was the perfect marketing tool too, as seen over on the Ivy-Style blog yesterday - To sell Ivy clothes to non-Ivy attendees (ie, most of the population) you could just say that you'd seen them at Princeton or wherever with absolutely no proof that you had to back you up.

The campus worked  (As the Prep School was to later with 'Preppy) because it fed into and combined all the insecurities of the age: Class, income, education, taste, youth. Insecurities which still sell clothing today. Not many institutions combine all those five aspirational elements and are so easily marketed.

I still love the clothes with a passion and the realities about them above don't matter to me in the least as I just love the style. The ones who get cross about the real story are those preoccupied with the five insecurities I list above - Rob Ivy of those five elements and it ruins the clothes for them... Because they're not really into clothes anyway.

Ivy is a wonderful marketing story & should be celebrated as such. The fact that drawing the curtain aside to show what was really going on bothers some people so much just shows the power of that marketing.

And to think... All of this was just made up. It's like a Nescafe version of culture... Instant Aristocracy! You too can be posh just by wearing mass-produced, factory-made, ready-to-wear schmutter - Genius !

Absolutely.

There are the 'rules' that make Ivy Ivy - Those defining elements like the Natural Shoulder - And then it's all up to you. You can even break the 'rules' too !

three posts in a row!! I recently went into the Harvard University Bookshop on Harvard Square, there in pride of place was "The Ivy Look" nuff said?  Anybody who, like Christian, seems to take what Jazz musicians, or any musicians for that matter, at face value, is probably naive in some sense of the word.  in light of American culture he makes the incredible statement that Movies, advertizing and Modern Jazz are 'secondary sources': secondary!! what planet does he come from? ahh I know California!  California Schmalifornia who cares about The Gipper any more?! at least he knew that in American Presidential politics anyway Movies are the Primary source...

Last edited by 4F Hepcat (2013-02-07 12:43:27)

It all (UK/USA)  looks different from over here and I should say a bit.

But I've got a vinyl fair tomorrow at the Spiegel Tent
http://spiegel.artscentremelbourne.com.au/2013/the-vinyl-evolution/

And Chinese New Year at night, yum yum, with an expected 70,000 (I'm a bit suss about the 70k)

Oh dear,
The Clarney looks like it's inspired by an old Victorian 'school uniform' tho' I can't remember which 'lesser public school' had/have those as standard day wear.
Turnbull and Asser defintely still do that style, I think there may be  (hang on to your hat Shooey) a Masonic connection there.