Born on the campuses of America's north-eastern universities in the 1950s and drawing heavily on the sailing and country clubs of New England, Ivy League style was never really a fashion movement so much as a uniform. Its pillars are well known: the button-down Oxford cloth shirt, the relaxed chinos, the penny loafers, and a general air of unfussy, collegiate ease. It travelled well, and nowhere has it been studied more closely, or loved more sincerely, than in Japan.
Beams Plus have long led that Japanese reappraisal, their Oxford Shirts treated with the kind of construction rigour the original American brands rarely bothered with. Europe has its own answer, often more playful with proportion: You Must Create's Curtis Shirt takes the classic striped Ivy shirt and blows it out into something oversized and slouchy, while Paraboot's Malo trades the expected penny loafer for a moccasin-inspired deck shoe rooted in genuine sailing heritage. That coastal thread runs deeper than styling: Atlantic Coastal Supplies, founded in Cornwall by American designer Shawn Lowry after stints at major US fashion houses and a move to St Ives, makes the sailing connection literal, right down to bags cut from actual sailcloth.
The Cornish thread continues with Sunray Sportswear, whose tees are made in Japan and filtered back through an American lens with a distinctly Japanese hand. Denim remains the most American export of all, and Nudie and Edwin both keep that flame lit. NN07's Kay trousers close the loop nicely, an ultra-relaxed cut that still nods, however loosely, to the preppy silhouette this all began with.
You don't have to dress like a Harvard freshman circa 1955 to get the look. Today's Ivy League style is quieter than that, a wardrobe built on subtle nods rather than pastiche.
Regular Taper - Kurabo Recycled Red 14oz Dark Used
Sale price£210.00
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Regular Taper - Kurabo Recycled Red 14oz Dark Used
Sale price£210.00
30/30
30/32
30/34
32/30
32/32
32/34
34/30
34/32
34/34
36/30
36/32
36/34
38/32
Ivy League Style
