This is a bit dangerous, as someone could be offended. However, Mike, your uncle came of age at a time when very few  gay people ever came out of the closet.

Therefore it might be a good guess that the ivy style was simply something that he liked, and it had nothing to do with his sexual persuasion.

Mike - I find myself in the odd situation of knowing your Uncle and so from my knowledge of him I'd say that there was no link between his clothes and his sexuality.
In fact his clothing style actually pre-dates his full awareness of his sexuality.

A Gay/Ivy connection would be the "All American Boy" look which was ironic in intent but when you looked at the clothes they were actually rather nice or so I am told. A.A.B. have moved on since then.

The College Boy and City Banker are Gay icons in much the same way that the various icons of The Village People were (Red Indians?). In fact I have a thread which I can't publish which shows a number of depictions of Ivy & Preppy clothing used as 'scene setters' in various pornographic films, mainly Gay.

We may raise our eyebrows at all this and shake our heads, but it does all point to the significance of this style of clothing. The use of Ivy style in pornography is a shorthand for the 'good boy gone bad' it would seem (Judging by the context of the images which have been collected so far). Again we might shake our heads, but the thing to hold on to is that these are the clothes of 'good boys'. That is why they are used to add spice to the graphic, close-up, in-yer-face depictions of 'intimacy' which follow their removal.

What a world!

J.

I'm sorry i may not have been clear,  i do not think or care if there is a relationship between my uncle being gay and ivy clothing.  i'm wondering is there is any specific ivy-gay connection in general.  i only mention my uncle because he is the only gay guy i know who likes ivy clothes.  sorry if i was unclear -

Kingstonian
mods as in the really early Beatles like Carnaby Road stuff, and who are the two guys you mention Julian and sandy?  are they British tv characters

Last edited by mike (2008-07-16 12:32:47)

Julian and Sandy got away with far more than the John Inman character in 'Are you being served' :-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL364HPoBz4

Has anything been said about Rock Hudson and Tab Hunter?  Hudson was probably the first guy I saw wearing Pendleton shirts for instance, and Hunter was well into the look, wearing a natural-coloured Harrington and with his hair cut so that he might have been at a Madness concert.

"More Lumber than Jack" my pal Paddy reported after a night with one of them.

Ya gotta love The Boys!