I'm not honestly sure it's a certain era that others hold up so much as a taking away from all eras and focusing on certain clothing items more than others, and holding it up as the "true" look, what trad is or whatever. Others on here can and I'm sure will speak to the changes in Ivy through the years. I take Ivy as a clothing style to have started in the mid 50's, when the look was adopted by the wider United States, and thus made it's way elsewhere through jazz, cinema, etc. This is only my personal view, all though it's obviously shared by others.  The boom years thread certainly covers this. What seems to be missing from the subset( I think RS called it this properly) Trad is the casual side of the look  as it was developed on campuses and in  Middle America when Ivy became fashion. The actual casual side of Ivy seems to have been replaced with verbatim OPH gear which is definitely chronicling and/or poking fun at another subset of Ivy. It's sort of odd pastiche that has been taken by some to be literal rules of dress. I know that this doesn't speak to your question specifically but I think it's important to understand what the actual criticism is. Others on this board are far more knowledgeable that I am about the specific eras.

Robert

This seems to take us back very usefully into the history of the thing - the real history and roots, i.e. nothing to do with UK-Euro mod/skinhead/suedehead or anything else from circa 1960 to circa - what? - 1972-ish? depending on where you were; but the taking and twisting, yes, that's relevant maybe (avoiding the mod 'Italian Job' Mini-driving stereotype).  If we're talking Scott Fitzgerald era we're really talking raccoon coats, hot jazz, roadsters and hip flasks - wearing saddle bucks maybe?  Real affluent, scholastic stuff, pre-Ivy - great!  Guys sandpapering their collars and dirtying their white bucks?  Very little to do with us, though, now and our take on it all, which is absolutely prismatic:  GIs, movies, modern jazz, R&B and soul, the Flamingo - all romance and why not?  What better way of thinking and dressing?  As for taking a spin in a flivver, well...  But I like to keep a few reminders in my office: a silk scarf (framed) from the 30s, featuring Yale, Notre Dame, all the major teams, and good stuff on the Algonquin crowd.  As the man says, great thread!  Keep 'em coming!!

Pre-1914 then?  Or further back than that?  As an old American Lit. fan - John O'Hara - I'm fascinated by this...

-did not survive-?
detachable collars?
maybe sock garters..
"slicker" raincoat
maybe the button fly
still the origins of the style  are really from the 20s/

enjoying this thread..

^ The old cultural divide again, eh?

No Ralph & 'Preppy' for us. We value things they don't & vice versa.

We have a bit of a timewarp going on with the style which I think the US might wish it had too. 'Trad' was certainly a yearning for the old school, but sadly they couldn't connect with it after Ralph & Preppy. All they really managed to do was to celebrate the 80's.

For us it's all about details and authenticity - Just what 'Trad' would like to be IF they knew the details & the real story of the style.

We share a lot with the US fans of all this, but I think that on the whole we just go back further & it's all a bigger deal for us, if we're into all of this at all.

Your comment about the 20's was very to the point. Americans looking towards England. Then in the 50's you get this wonderful American self-assurance which really gives their national style wings. Heady stuff.

I'm interested in it all. All takes are good & when they're misinformed it's good to engage in a conversation with them from which both sides can learn. Hence the ol' esteemed fora!