i would give me right.....well....alot for a Brooks navy duffle coat, i like the horn toggels and paid lining, maybe not real English but i still like them

hey, middle class is ok by me

(with the exceptions of strict morality and the serious wanting to move up the social scale - i only say this because i like that all the class status wannabe stuff of other forums is missing here - pretty much - and i really like that)

thats the one - i'd like to wear one of those sweaters with and ocford cloth shirt and khakis and still be ivy

They're Ivy - Enjoy!

is there anything French that is ivy too?  i cnat think of anything

The Anglo/ Ivy connection is very complicated!

There are two things we have to distinguish: The first is that the original Ivy League look in the 30s was still influenced or inspired by British tradition to a large extent. As you can see in the timeline thread some of the American classics were introduces much later. There was always a strong connection between the UK and New England.

There is a rumour that button-down shirts are an English invention, I am not sure about this, as far as I know they were introduced by Brooks. Duffle Coats became part of the Ivy style during the Fifties, most of the fabrics are from England or Scotland (tweed, Shetland sweaters) or from English colonies (e.g. Seersucker and Madras cotton from India), not to mention patterns such as plaid, gingham, argyle....

One recent thread mentioned that English shoes are still a staple in the "Trad wardrobe".

A lot of the traditional American clothes are more British than you think, or they were variations of older British styles....

The other ide of the coin:

Eventually, after WWII when the Empire was lost, the USA were suddenly politically economically and culturally dominant, central and influential and British kids began to identify with the "Americanisation", and they were looking for the genuine, original American style... the cult of the natural shoulder jacket, flat fronted trousers, button down shirts and penny loafers was born again in England...

From the Soho modernists in the London Jazz scene, to the skinheads, preppy to Talk Ivy....

I honestly hope, J.Simons will continue...

You've got to have a fair amount of balls to wear Fair Isle or Argyle up top.  Otherwise you end up looking like the geek in 'Robert's Robots' or Gilbert O'Sullivan.  Better that, though, IMO, than most Pringle, Lyle and Scott and even modern Stanley Blacker, who do a very unpleasant Nick Faldo-style item.  (To be honest, though, I used to wear a very plain lemon-coloured Pringle for work; and I have seen the odd jumper in John Simons - also Lewin and Gap, Banana Republic etc. -mmm...)...

This forum introduced me to a couple of different things. I am probably most grateful for learning about John Smedley. Without a doubt the absolute cat's pyjamas among knitwear.