My favourite outfit of mine  is  my navy blazer(natural shoulder, cut pretty short, really slim fitting, patch/flap pockets, 3/2 lapel), white Brooks tab collar, burgundy, green and yellow repp tie, short-ish and slim(14.5 inch bottoms) POW check trousers, burgundy socks, brown Italian style basket weaves shoes.

Sometimes worn with a navy cardigan - I like the idea of knitwear under a jacket to make it more casual.

Italian cut, but with ivy details?

The super-slim Italian cut, however, presents problems with footwear - many's the time I've stood infront of the mirror with the basket weaves exchanged for black Sebago Classics and just thinking it looked horrendous. Don't get me wrong, I like my basket weaves - but ivy they ain't!

And, of course, Daniele's input would be most interesting!

It might also be interesting to find out what that Italian look at the time was like... I guess, there was much more change/ modification than with the Ivy League Look...

What's often mentioned is:

-"bumfreezer jackets": very short box jackets with narrow lapels, a one-piece-back, sometimes with a half belt, usually short side vents

-"drainpipe trousers": narrow trousers, often with a slit or a buttons at the trouser bottoms, sometimes slanted bottoms or stepped bottoms, usually they had very narrow trouser bottoms (that's why they were called drainpipes), but there

-"winklepicker shoes": pointed toes, elongated, often suede, sometimes fancy things such as "alligator hide" or unusual colours, side laces were popular, as well, Venetian Loafers and loafers with a higher vamp, too... after the pointed toes came chisel toes and almond toes...

-"giraffe shirts": high collars, often tab collars, small, rounded club collars and button down shirts had also higher collars

Most jackets were single-breasted, but those that were double-breasted were different from the traditional British style of DB suits, they had a very small crossover.

High button stance, high gorge, usually.

I guess, the shoulders were broader than the Americans shoulders, but there might have been soft constructions, too. JS mentions the rounded sleeveheads.


The jackets became longer, later on, and eventually, the trousers had a lower rise... Jackets with a lot of waist suppression also became popular...


There must have been a lot of variation.



The originators of that Roman style were companies such as Brioni, Caraceni and Cifonelli.... Brioni was most popular. Americans went there, too.

The Neapolitan style is often mentioned, as well, on the MBs. This shirt shoulder thing seems to be similar to the natural shoulder, but I don't really know about it...

Someone else might know a little bit more... (the expert seems to be a certain Antongiovianni )

What about Milan, Venice etc...?

I guess, most cities, or even most tailors, would have their own personal style....

Maybe Daniele can help here....

Another good example of what works within an IL context IMO is the high collared Italian button-down shirt as can be seen in this thread :

http://forums.filmnoirbuff.com/viewtopic.php?id=2656

Also their idea of a good tie is a lot more adventurous than the repp tie, their footwear more streamlined than what, say, Alden has to offer and their fine and soft, colourful knitwear appeals a lot more to me than the humble shetland for instance. Having said that there is a place and a time for everything I've just mentioned so it's up to the individual to pick and choose if they are so inclined. Obviously wearing an Italian suit w/a BB shirt, repp tie and weejuns wouldn't work as well as the sack suit worn with my earlier suggestions, but I guess that's open to debate...

Last edited by Alex Roest (2009-10-04 01:25:47)

Last edited by Alex Roest (2009-10-04 03:19:04)

... And I think that the Italian crossover then fed into Jivey Ivy and so on to The Rat Pack...

'Continental' was the term that the US used for all this slimmed down Ivy. You see it in the old ads - Especially for Trou/Chinos. Later 'Continental' was to be the term for the 2 button updated American suit.

"The 1950s were a very good decade for Brooks Brothers. After the wide, two-button, double-breasted suits and heavily padded shoulders of the previous decade, men seeking progress up the corporate ladder, especially on Wall Street and among Madison Avenue advertising agencies, turned in the early 1950s to the look dubbed "Ivy League." This style echoed Brooks Brothers by the adoption of natural shoulders and narrow lapels, with narrow ties the necessary accessory. (Brooks Brothers, however, refused to take this look to the "jivey Ivy" extreme popular at the time, keeping its lapels three inches wide and its ties 3 1/2 inches wide.)"

"In men's wear, by the late 1950s "Ivy League" was being challenged by the Continental Look, a chestier two-button style. After John F. Kennedy, wearing a two-button suit, outpointed three-buttoned Richard Nixon and won the presidency, Brooks Brothers, in 1961, unveiled a new two-button suit. It retained the company's natural shoulders, notched labels, and center vent, but was trimmer and more tailored, with a longer roll to the lapels and slightly more waist suppression."


http://www.answers.com/topic/brooks-brothers

Nice hair on Mr. USA. I might go that way next.

Last edited by Hard Bop Hank (2009-10-04 04:04:47)

Last edited by Alex Roest (2009-10-04 04:11:49)