I think it's possible that Michael Murphy did it in 'Manhattan'.  This observation is based only upon a black and white still I've seen. 
I would hazard a guess that none of our current forum members would touch the look with a ten-metre Ivy bargepole.

I'm envious.  I haven't been in Rome since around 2008.  I recall a violent storm.  Then, as we boarded the train to Venice, the skies darkened and it began pissing it down.  I saw a good many cement factories on that journey. 
As for the look - are the khakis 'a preacher's width'?  Bill's could be a bit like that. 
Sprezzatura is a difficult thing to pull off convincingly.  One has to pretty well not give a fuck what the world and its wife is thinking.  About anything.  Like John Simons, you have to shed all that consciousness about the clothes on your back.  A chap like Kennedy could do that.  Sinatra could do it.  McQueen could do it.  I expect Paul Newman could do it. 
Most posting on a forum like this cannot.

I really don't know about these khakis AFS. Saw them in a charity for £7 odd. Thought they were worth trying on for that. In the changing room mirror appeared the spit of JFK's standing on that boat. I tried to post a link but it got spammed. You'll know it anyway.

All I know is they're Gap. So nothing special. And slim fit, But not. With a mighty rise. In the same shop I picked up an olive RL polo, barely worn for a fiver. Nice when that happens.

You're right, I couldn't do spezzatura. It doesn't compute with me. Put a lot of effort into looking like you haven't? Or that you've got it wrong but don't care? If I'm going to put the effort in I want to look like it. Or not put the effort in and release myself from any thought on it at all. The closest I get to spezzatura is the occasional lapse into some kind of flat fronted, buttoned down 'riviera' look.

Mind you, I also no longer find the full mod a good look. Too obsessed about matching socks and tops for me these days.

Last edited by Spendthrift (2022-03-23 07:17:57)

(BTW, I'm not even certain if TRS does the sprezzy thing.  His dressing is, I would say, 'considered'.  Same goes for most of us).

That, Woof, is what I would call 'considered'.  Loafers?  Desert boots?

Perhaps the key is, simplicity without overegging the pudding.  Less is more.  Pared down.  Less 'baroque' as JFM once put it (nicely). 
A lot of the students pictured for 'Take Ivy' look, well, natural but as if they're perhaps running late for a lecture.  I wonder to what extent (if any) the notion of sprezzatura came into it (my guess would be, not at all, they simply put on what came to hand and was reasonably clean). 
Untucked?  Not for me.  Grubby shoes?  Generally speaking - no - although I don't do a huge amount of polishing nowadays.
But that, Woof, is what I would call a neat, metropolitan, urban look. 
Jeff Garet and Ken Lovegrove were always, I think, 'considered'.  They'd glanced in the mirror before leaving the house.
Who doesn't?

Woof, I was wearing a similar outfit yesterday - brown tweed jacket, merino polo, stone bedford 5 pockets, suede chukkas.  To use AFS's phrase, I felt very "metropolitan" as I sipped a coffee in the sunshine. At least until a gust of wind blew away the papers I was reading, when I had to scramble to retrieve them in an undignified manner.

As a name-dropping sidebar, I once was at dinner with JFK's sister Jean, in the 1990s. Intriguingly, she had a tendency to refer to her late brother as "my president".

Oh, and hello all again. Good to see the place active once more.

I've had a fascination with the Kennedys for a long time. It's resulted in having quite a number of different books about them relating to politics, photos, family history, etc.
I have even visited the JFK Museum on the outskirts of Boston to get a first hand feel for the man.

I think my attraction stems from the fact that they're the polar opposites of British politicians who make a virtue of being boring or having a very narrow world view to draw on.

The Kennedys evoked a lifestyle of American leisure that was at the intersection of Hollywood glamour and the post war consumer boom.

Leaving the politics to one side and looking purely from a clothing perspective as well as the shot of him in the tweed jacket there are a number of  his iconic looks that resonate with me - the polo shirt on his yacht, the shawl collared cardigan, the Nantucket reds whilst playing golf, the sunglasses, the narrow cut suits with rep ties.

There are a few bad looks; such as suit trousers and converse and ill fitting wide white trousers with black shoes - but not many. For a guy who lived his life in front of the camera it's surprising how often he looked good.

I appreciate that the visual appeal is down to his good looks and the context but there is no doubt in my mind that he managed to pull-off casual clothing with élan.

Stick with the look, the style and imagery of the Kennedys.You have to put the politics aside.

Why, I hear you ask?

Because of being politicians. They're all at some point devious fucks.

Professor Adams was an elegant dresser, as was Bobby Garson, who taught on 20th century US foreign policy.  David was a good friend of Tom Wolfe and often wore a cream linen suit.  Also a tweed overcoat in the autumn and winter and a hat sporting a feather.