"Take Ivy" Chapter II

The more things change...

Laundry bags, sweat shirts, school jackets, picking your nose, the short ROTC guy who's certifiable, cheap umbrellas. Where are they now? The Senate. Congress. Insurance agency owners. There is something unique about this little volume that class yearbooks miss and that's the POV of the book's authors and editors. A wonderfully fresh perspective fills this book and makes walking across campus with your laundry bag a lot more romantic than it ever should be.

I think that's a big part of the magic with Take Ivy. Taking dreary and turning it into romance via images. What they're wearing is just icing on the cake. I swear, I see the plain vamp moc known as the Yuma (just introduced around this time) in more than one photograph. Or, maybe it's just the romantic in me.

"Take Ivy" Chaper III

The last chapter. The city and work and shades of the first Thomas Crown Affair with straw hats and sunglasses. Despite a heat you can almost feel -- everyone looks crisp and cool. I wonder about the photo selection for the book and what was left out. Where are those images? Lost forever I suppose.

I took a pair of Duck Head Khakis to Mr Peppino the tailor. I handed him this book and as he flipped though it I told him, "That's what I want these pants to look like, Mr Peppino. You know...1965." He smiled and said, "But I wasn't born yet."

Somewhere inside me there's a longing for these days I remember as a kid. It's like watching Anita O'Day on stage at the '58 Newport Jazz Festival. You wish you could've been there - -You would give anything to have been there. To reminisce about an impossibility is always sad. So, you do what you can. Like having a pair of khakis tapered and pegged and just a tad on the hi-water side.

Take Ivy Arrives

Weighing in at just over a pound and measuring 9 3/4" x 7 1/4" Not what you'd call a coffee table book.

Thanks to Heavy Tweed Jacket, I learned this is the 1973 edition.

And thanks to Michael Williams of ACL and total but kind Japanese strangers, my copy of "Take Ivy" arrived over the weekend. While I was out of town. Late Sunday night I was surprised to see such a small package. I thought it would be huge for the money it was going for.

Heavy Tweed Jacket translated the page above:

Info to the RIGHT of the TAKE IVY box

Showa year 40 (1965), September 20 (published on)
Authors: Teruyoshi Hayashida, Kensuke Ishizu, Toshiyuki Kurosu, Moto Hasegawa
Publisher: Fujingaho-sha
Address: 2-9 Shinbashi Minato-ku, Tokyo
Bank Account #Tokyo40010
Printer: Toppan Insatsu Kabushikigaisha [Toppan Printing Co., Ltd.]

Info in the BOX
Price 980 Yen
Reprint
Showa 48 (1973) July 15
5077-848900-7332 (ISBN# perhaps?)

We'll focus on the images and keep the text to a minimum. Look for the first of three groupings by the end of the week.

The Trad Sets a Trend: The Cuff Square

"The suit jacket is made with a left breast pocket not to hold a pack of cigarettes or a pair of glasses but to hold a handkerchief. Without one, an outside breast pocket appears to be an unnecessary detail, and a man looks as if he hasn't finished dressing." Alan Flusser in 'Clothes and the Man'



I think, and this is just my opinion, that pocket squares are a pain. They're always slipping around, falling out, dropping down...in short, they are as far from, "Put it on and forget it", as you can ever get. A lot of fussing about. Having said that, I love the look of them and I'm always buying them - - I just never wear them. What a waste...

Or not? Sartorial historians in 200 years may wonder just who first wore the cuff square in the early 21st century. I want this to be on the record. It was me. The cuff is a perfect place for a dash of color and it sets apart the wearer from the rest of the vulgar rubes one has to endure in the daily grind of city life. What else is a cuff for. Certainly not a packet of cigarettes or glasses.

Here's a conservative grey chalk stripe with an Hermes square to brighten the somber tone of the suit. Oui, Oui...so very elegant. And it never slips thanks to Monsieur Cuff cradling le silke in place.
Dashing, no?
Lets not forget the Trads. Above and below we see Ivy taking the stage and man is that Ivy growing. I predict this will be all the rage on the college campus next year. Mark my...cuff.
Fabric texture is often overlooked. Here we see the texture of the Cuff Square working nicely with the khaki to form a tasteful answer to what the "smart" man will be wearing in 2009...

Heading out the door. A understated and quiet approach to the Cuff Square. Best to release this on a unsuspecting Manhattan a little bit at a time. This city may not embrace the Cuff Square right away but style and taste always win out. Besides, I'm patient and have a lot of Cuff Squares.
Here again, that texture mix from the wearer's POV. Why didn't anyone ever think of this before?
For those without a cuff, like clip on suspenders, you too can join the scene with my patented Cuff Square Clip. Works well with jeans too.