far from ivy league, but - er - americana nevertheless are these two items:

a very old, battered, scruffy (has-been-black) m 65 jacket bought in the early nineties. i still wear it occasionally when taking my dogs for autumn walks or when goin g fishing to the turku archipelago on autumn weekends.

a battered mustard-colour carhartt zip hoodie, also from very early nineties. also wear it once, twice a year when walking my dogs.

also, my old, faithful 8 eyelet black soft cap doc marten boots from i don't remember when are in occasiuonall use. they are still highly polished, though, but will fall apart any day now. probably, for nostalgy reasons, i'm about to buy a pair of cherry reds to replace these.

No, a NICE touch, Mate...!!!!


Cheers,



John

An old RL long sleeved button down in a rather pleasing mix of pale blues, pinks and greens. Too small now really with frayed cuffs and collar but gets an airing now and then when popping to the shops for the morning paper.

A 1962 h.i.s. Ivy League drab olive herringbone tweed jacket - all details bang on perfect. It should be in a museum rather than on my back but I can't resist it. It's my baby and I dig it out 3 or 4 times a year to get that old tingle again before putting it back to rest until the following Autumn. Acquired from Flip circa 1988 in the days when there were, literally, racks of these things hanging up. Did this really happen or have I imagined it? Madras, seersucker, Izod Lacoste, harringtons...they really were all there weren't they? Sadly this absolute masterpiece of 20th century menswear is now looking its age and is no longer really cutting a dash - the material has lost its vigour, and the whole thing looks a little old and floppy, a bit like its wearer. But I'll always love it. It has a symbolic presence in my wardrobe, representing as it does 'the ideal'.

I used to visit Flip in Edinburgh and Glasgow between 85-88ish. Lots of bowling shirts, varsity jackets, Western stuff, endless racks of wrecked 501s, brothel creepers. More of a Rockabilly vibe about the place as far as I remember.

They carried new stuff too; I'm pretty sure that's where I bought my Harrington.

In fact, this chimes in with something TRS said about the old London Ivyists not simply buying and buying for the sake of it but WEARING their clothing, really wearing it...