I suppose once I stated that I'd spent the last month in my dressing gown arguing online it was hard to doubt the veracity of my tale.
What is Ivy ? Everyone has a different opinion of it, some like to look like Anthony Perkins or any of the others in the Hollywood and Ivy Look book, some like the Take Ivy Princeton approach or the Harvard Professor. I think as long as you have some of the elements you can call it Ivy. When you look back at JS, JG & KL they were all different but all in most peoples eyes Ivy clad. My own take on it most of the time is the Ian Strachan look, BD, Shetland, Denim & loafers (A/W) Madras, Polo Shirt, Denim, Loafers or Boat shoes (S/S), occasionally I add Paraboot or Desert Boots, some would say this isn't Ivy or an Ivy look.
All the time I shopped at Hill Rise I never saw IS in a 3/2 Herringbone or Corduroy sack jacket, in fact most of the time his coat of choice was a Barbour jacket, but to me that was the Ivy look I wanted and also felt comfortable with and still do.
JFM once mentioned a particular Alan Paine sweater Ian Strachan used to wear: dark with a kind of fleck in it. I always liked the sound of that and I'm sure it was responsible for my addiction (still in existence) to vintage Alan Paine. I've just bought another of their v-necks: sage in colour. Should look nice with a white button-down, dark Levis and loafers.
RG,
Great post. Yes, Less is more as long as it's done with aplomb.
Yuca had me fooled too. I did wonder about the nature of the shop.
Still not as elaborately dressed as Tibor in top hats and tails in the ice cream parlour.
However, Tibor transcends satire. His is more performance art.
JFM once mentioned a particular Alan Paine sweater Ian Strachan used to wear: dark with a kind of fleck in it.
They did AFS, I had one myself, it was Black & Grey a kind of Donegal fleck, I think they did one in Navy. Harrington in Guildford sold a lot of Alan Paine in the 80's in different styles and knits. Most of their cotton knit sweaters for spring were AP.
With regards to the one with the fleck in it I've never seen one turn up on eBay.
@Alvey, thanks.
British and American Ivy have a symbiotic relationship -- because British Ivyists often don't have the whole cultural picture surrounding certain items, they have the ability to see things that American Ivyists can't see, letting them pluck the item out of the context and give it a new context. Once it has become British Ivy, now American Ivyists can see it with fresh eyes. I imagine a similar thing happens in reverse, as American Ivy is Anglophile but uncritically so due to having only a vague idea of the British class system, sort of like how Brits only have a vague idea of American race relations.
Last edited by katon (2022-02-22 20:22:57)