Interesting.
I know the name but had written them off thinking there was no collar roll.
Another name to add to the list. Much to ire of Mrs Singer

Spendthrift- scenario (c) definitely applies to me. I have managed to smuggle in plenty of stuff and there are various items going back years that I haven't worn yet. Just waiting for the right time/occasion. My wife seems to have a photographic memory when it comes to my purchases so I'm in for a hard time when we return to the UK in a couple of weeks time and she has a nose in my wardrobe and discovers what I bought last time when I was on my own.

I have THE MADNESS too. What can you take for it? Relate to all the smuggling tales. Are we forever destined to be the naughty boys being scolded my Matron? Looks like...

Also, Instagram is infuriating and inspirational in equal measure. Spendy hit the nail on the head - "Oh my, what a beautiful jumper!" - "Deadstock from 1958, I bought every single one in every size for 15 dollars and I'm storing them in my nuclear-bunker-come-warehouse to only be worn once every decade in an effort to mock you lesser plebs".

Edited to add that should anyone happen to take a size large in Ralph Lauren shirts, I've three or four Madras short-sleeves going begging. I bought them as dead-stock but they don't fit. Some irony

Last edited by Tim (2022-04-12 03:45:21)

They don't look bad for that price but I don't think they have a back pleat which is a shame. Sleeve length looks reasonable and I like the checks.

One of the old white male models has been used but I bet he's days are numbered

Yes I get that Tim. When the boy came to school age, me and The Mrs had no choice but to both go part time to cover drop off/pick up/holidays etc. We weren't in great paid jobs to start off with, so keeping up with the 'Top Boys' wasn't really ever on my agenda. There's that chap Peter Kinnaird on IG for example. Inspirational to look at. But I don't suppose he's scraping down the back of the sofa for spare change!

So I have to do it the best way I can. Luck. TKMaxx and Charity shops. I quite like it that way to be honest. I like proper shopping. I feel that 'click and order' looses the thrill of the chase for me. Quite apart from the fact that I'd be bankrupt and divorced within six weeks if I opened that door.

I don't particularly get Ivy envy though. I think absolutlely fair play to the lads that can afford the best gear.

As regards the whats/wheres/hows; This is where I miss the photos. As a lurker of some years I really learned and took inspiration from the guys that were posting on TI then. Even though I'd been into the look in one form or another since the age of 12/13. There's always more to learn. It did get punchy at times though!

Whatever Ivy is, or isn't, it's certainly a broad church. Whatever way you find works best for you is good enough I'm sure.

Attempting to keep up with the 'top boys' is nothing if not an amusing concept.  It's also entirely pointless.  You have to work out some criteria for yourself based upon practicality.  If you're awash with cash, of course, and are in and out of London (let's say) pretty often, you might be able to load up with clothing on a regular basis (at least some of which you probably won't wear, or not more than once or twice).  If not, well, you do the best you can, I suppose.
Personally I make my choices according to how my feet feel (tender) or my frame (still cold, even though we're heading toward the Easter weekend).  I'm still wearing a flannel shirt today.
But, Spendthrift, if you can steer well clear of Ebay and the like, you're doing yourself a favour.  Charity shops do yield bits and bobs if one is sufficiently patient.  No shortage of John Smedley in my neck of the woods if that floats your boat.  The factory shop is only a short drive away.
But is a lot of this clothing still 'Ivy League'?  I sometimes wonder if those two words have any real meaning, even in Maine and Vermont.

Question: if Ben Sherman did something - anything - right, would it persuade any current 'Talk Ivy' poster to wear the item? 
Staceyboy once spoke favourably about a particular shirt he owned.  I can't recall the details.
I would not and could not.  The name is fatally tainted - probably more so than any other.
But a Mercer shirt sold on Ebay at the weekend tagged 'Skinhead'/'Suedehead' or some such bollocks.

I just counted up the Ben Sherman shirts in my ‘current’ wardrobe. i.e. in use as opposed to sitting around in boxes and bags in the garage/attic. One. White/blue/brown gingham. Big three finger rolled collar. Pleat not sewn in. Can’t be that old as it has that tag on the pocket, but God knows where or when I got it. It’s okay though.

I’ve had many, many more over the years. All retired for precisely the reasons Robbie outlines above.

It’s a shame really. They were quite respected in the sixties and early seventies, but they were a different animal then. Somewhere along the line they overplayed the ‘British’ card. The shirt to wear if you’re hard. They were already somewhat the smart alternative to a Cockney Rejects T shirt, then they became a smart alternative to a hoodie.

I don’t think they’re as tainted as the black Fred Perry polo. FP are currently on a mission to ‘take back’ the laurel logo. Surely a sign that it’s already taken a big right turn too far, too long ago?

I love what AFS says above. About basing it around your own criteria and wallet. You can wear Ivy if you wear a suit every day for a very well paid job. Or if like me you’re just generally kicking around. Summer or winter. Just adjust it accordingly for what the day brings. It’s all good.

Is it still ‘Ivy League’? Possibly not. In it’s purist or original form. But all you can do is keep driving it on if it’s your thing.

Seventies British punk. Nothing like ‘original’ American 60’s or 70’s punk. Late 70’s mods. A mile away from 50’s modernists. Look at the difference between a typical 1969 and a 1984 skinhead.

There’ll always be some old boy wagging his finger and muttering ‘we didn’t wear that’. They’re simultaneously leaving it behind and clinging onto it. And don’t like the idea of ‘their thing’ moving on and evolving away from them.

Spendthrift has summed up very eloquently the Ivy conundrum we face in three simple options. Superb.

Ivy economics: Supply and Demand meets Joy and Pain.

Alvey - going back to our comments a couple of days ago re The Original Madras Co,( it's been bothering me your comment re the shirt collar roll !), I had an email from Oi Poloi today and while I was working my way through my lunch I had a look at their website, they have TOMC shirts, the collars are nothing like the one I bought last year, I got mine from ' Merchants Menswear' (somewhere down in Devon), they've still got a few left from last year, worth checking the photos for the collars, the photos show the shirts flat and also open necked on a model, decent roll, phew...
Regarding Ben Shermans I had several in '68, my recollection is mine weren't slim cut, good cloth as Kingstonian mentions, open pleat , I think I bought one or maybe two late '68 that had the pleats sewn in,(& maybe darts), I unpicked them, a couple of problems with the BS's , the 2nd button was too high up the placket,and there were a lot of them about so didn't have the exclusive feel about them that the Sero, Career Club etc had from the IS where as recently mentioned there were probably just a few in each particular check or stripe, and of course you felt somewhat superior wearing a USA made original,

I managed to buy a USA-made pocket polo without the logo last autumn.  Very, very understated. 
But I'm sold on Peter Geeson and wish I could find another like it.