Great thread which will fill a gap in my knowledge too - My older London Ivy pals went from Richmond Hill in '70 to Madison Ave in the early to mid 70's pretty much with a few North London MTM 'Saturday Night' suits added to the mix in the early 70's (The Hooked Side Vent!).
Not being Mods or Skins they just got into the clothes in '70 because they were fashionable (Although they were actually on the way out as the French cut came in). Then once hooked on the American style they had the opportunities to explore the shops & clubs in NYC. Probably a situation which was not very common for a couple of guys in their early 20's back then. Having family connections made things easier for them.

The real story of this style in London is one which when I come to think of it I don't actually know - I came late to The Look and like my chums I'm a bit of an outsider to the whole subcultural world which is connected to the cult of Ivy style clothing in London.

- So I'd love to hear more from anyone else too.

Last edited by Alex Roest (2008-07-15 03:12:32)

You got your suits made up fairly cheaply at Burtons or Colliers. They had vast books of cloths so plenty of scope for individuality there. The High Street was full of chain tailors. They were as numerous as mobile phone shops are today. Every order was sent off to be made up in Leeds.

My brother got a patch pocket blazer with what we called an 'off-centre' vent and none of the old tailors raised an eyebrow. We did not know the original style but got the idea from somewhere - word of mouth maybe. I always thought it was a rather strange feature. I do remember fiddling about with contrast on the old black and white 405 line tellies. When Robert Culp and Bill Cosby were on, it helped you to pick out details on clothes that were of interest.

Hank is right about the suits - no pleats, narrowish trousers with waistcoat. Most important were the enormous centre vents and heavily waisted jackets that youngsters could easily get away with. Nobody ever mentioned shoulders. It was not something we were even aware of. Our suits had whatever shoulders the chains usually offered. No London skins had four buttons and definitely not double breasted. Mohair gave way to houndstooth and Prince of Wales check cloths later on.

There was no such thing as a tank top. Slipovers were very fashionable knitwear and often worn with half sleeve shirts. Cardigans were in vogue too.

- Fucking great, Dempsey - Welcome home!

Jim

I think the name rings a bell, but I'm hazy on it. Good stuff, yes?

Finding all this stuff is a big part of the fun, don't you find? I got some Drivers last time I was over in Frogland by 'Rudy's' - 39 Euros and great style to them. It's all about The Look for me. You just have to go everywhere and check everything out.

Last edited by dempsey (2008-07-20 16:42:23)

I remember the old IVY shop in Richmond from schooldays apart from the odd shirt frankly I could,nt afford there prices way outta my league.
When I started work  , I was often in there, looking more than buying.
I ve have spent a pretty penny in J.Simons but not for a while now.
I work all over London know SW LONDON well, nice part .
My favourite shop was always Stanley Adams on the Kings Road, sadly now gone.......

great thread....not being old enough (nor english enough) to have any first hand experience in this, it's great to read thoughts from those who were part of the first wave.

this forum is def the ultimate resource for mod/skin discussions, far exceeding anything found on actual mod/skin sites and forums.

I grew up in Kingsbury/Wembley and I don`t think there was an Ivy Shop in Wembley. There was a man`s shop called, I think, Jennings which stocked 501s, then just called Levis. I had a sack suit made there and a very goobd job they made of it.

John Collier clothing still pops up in charity shops - including the belted fawn raincoat I had a look at yesterday: less than half the price of some Timberland horror further along the rail.  I wonder if Collier were somehow attempting to imitate Burberrys' in this particular instance.  Frankly, it outclassed most of what I've been seeing recently by a mile - which, unfortunately, isn't saying much.