"I've written about my pre-Ivy days in my 'Fogey' threads dotted around the web. Doing a search on FNB will pull up the subject. The aesthetic was a very mean one, very drab & lifeless. I hated it all. But then I'm an ungrateful little sod!
'76 was my turning point - I was so badly beaten at school for not trying hard enough at Rugger that I was in hospital. When I came round I wouldn't talk for ages & then when I did try to talk I had a stutter which I'd never had before (Hence 'The Rolling Stutter' threads on Modcult.). This just made me more tense & wound up. But because I couldn't communicate the analytical & mathematical side of my brain really took over so oddly the experience helped me a lot in the long run. I very rarely stammer today, btw.
From '76 to '78 I spent a lot of time running away. I focused on Soho & Chinatown because the place scared the crap out of me & I loved that feeling after having been wrapped up in cotton wool for so long. I've recently written a bit about that stage of mine on 'Talk Ivy'.
'78 I got sent to Yorkshire to straighten me out (another mini essay on that on the 'Ivy Style' site) but I discovered Jazz & clothes instead and at last I had a plan & a purpose.
After all that you know the story because it's in the JS 'A visit to...' essay.
My first ever heroes were the Cambridge Spies, with Ivy style I saw a way to do what they had done. To look one way but to be another, and only those who could read the code would know what I was really like. I could pass for a good son of the establishment & take advantage of the whole set up but still hate it in my heart & be myself, putting up two fingers to the whole lousy world of unfair privilege, whilst fully milking the system. The last laugh is the only one which counts.
I loved the attitude of punk, but never the obviousness of it. What I wanted was a way to really subtly fuck with the world and to get away with it. The joke always being that the 9 to 5 world hasn't got a clue about anything. I could be in my office at 9am after being up till 3 the night before in some club & nobody would ever connect me with that kind of life.
I'm aware that I've just written another one of my rambling mini-essays. A very bad habit of mine.
So in a nutshell a part of why I like Ivy is because it is English clothes transfigured and made into something 'other'. If I wear a blazer & flannels they're not what you might think they are if you don't know Ivy. My blazer isn't just some sad bastard's MCC wannabe blazer, it's something else from another world: It's NYC & MJQ. And you have to be hip to know that.
If you're not hip then I just look square, which suits me as I can then take advantage of your preconceptions. But If you are hip then you'll enjoy what a walking piss-take I am.
I like Ivy for many other reasons, mainly aesthetic, but the subversive side of it all really appeals to me a lot.
Bill Evans has to be one of the greatest to ever play this game - So square looking but really so hip. A junkie genius who looked like a Bank clerk.
Because what does a rebel really look like? And if you can spot a rebel then how effective can he be?
Etc.
Enough!
Fershtay?
Best -
Jim the Momzer!"
awesome, wicked good, amazing post. I find myself agreeing and identifying so much, except over here its the 'ol middle finger raised. Same sentiment though.
The best compliment I've recieved lately is that my look is deceiving, which means I must be on too something.
A dank.
I wrote the above for Gibson Gardens a while back via email. Glad it connects with other people too.
Jim
An odd bit of catharsis there Uncle for a Monday. You've had a bit of a tough time really haven't you. Cheer up old chum.
Last edited by Beatnik (2009-11-09 09:49:17)
Last edited by Russell_Street (2009-11-09 12:22:00)
^But you already have written something on the offensive and defensive nature of clothes; There's a message in there for the hip and style savvy, use your sartorial armoury to defeat your enemies. Ivy-style is an artform, and like all art, only those really in the know get it.
Sadly Bill Evans never stayed with the nerd bank clerk look, he ended up dying with a hairy beard. Not the way to go out. Gerry Mulligan was the same.
Bit of a hard run of luck you had, in your early days. But it's amazing what a clean haircut and sharp clothes can do for you!
It's a topic which grows stale I know, but the revolt into style (to steal a phrase from George Melly) which we all must have gone through at some stage to end up where we are now is a subject which I find fascinating.
We all wear Ivy for a reason. Mine is mainly positive but it does have a lot of negative stuff mixed in there if I'm honest. There is a lot that I'm rejecting in my adoption of the Ivy League look.