Well Brooks Brothers seems to be over, although may would say it was over years ago. J Press still turn out their staple items, but at a price, their prices have gone through the roof and the imported stuff is creeping in.. Other favourite brands like Southwick have fallen by the wayside during the current shakeout. Worse still though are the inflated US > UK shipping costs which have knocked the bottom out of buying vintage or new from over there. So John Simons are making their own, mainly in London and very good it is too.

I'm very very out of touch.

It is entirely possible to dress head to toe in the Ivy Look without wearing anything made in USA.  Appreciation for the look has evolved far beyond America and, I would argue, the best makers and the best dressers can all be found dispersed across the globe.

Well I would argue that virtually nothing of worth is produced in the US anymore - Mercer shirts and Rancourt and Alden shoes perhaps? The great clothes America used to churn out had a distinctive shape and heft to them. They can't make them anymore. The knowledge has gone. The factories have closed down. The domestic market does not want natural shoulder clothing. We are left with contemporary approximations of what was once affordable and ubiquitous. But it's not the same, just doesn't compare. Bass in 1989 was essentially the same in Bass in 1960, with only minor diminishments. Bass today is a worthless sham, and you can say the same for Brooks, Ralph, all the other remaining US shoemakers. Press has nice clothes but it's á different cut and finish to classic Ivy League, and the prices are in the Drakes' league.

In fact, is anywhere other than the US, the UK and Japan producing ivy clothing? Italy and France of course still have some nice traditional clothing that is appealing to discerning ivy fans, but little or none of it is actually bona fide natural shoulder attire.

O'Connell is pretty much pure Ivy League, and worth the visit to Buffalo just for the experience! Shirts, trousers, jackets, and all kinds of odds and ends piled high in what seems a random fashion, all in a shop in a rather run down part of the city, a bit like finding Budd in Acton High Street!

Oh, and Press I liked.  I bought an unlined, very slouchy tweed jacket of theirs from Chiltern Street in 2012.  Gibson was with me at the time.  I'd also had a very nice lambswool jacket in a kind of sage green.  Also one of those Ivy classic tan cord geography teacher numbers.  Down to a couple of scarves now.  Shaggy Dog I never really hit it off with and so many items of clothing stopped fitting me after a serious period of illness during the winter of 2012/13.  Someone somewhere doing their charity shop run could have struck pay dirt: desert boots, chukka boots, loafers, smooths, tweed jackets etc.

A classic Chicken Licken thread, but it inspired some good convo so all good.