Filed under: FASHION | Tags: Alden, Alex Carleton, Band of Outsiders, Billy Reid, Filson, Frank Muytjens, Gitman, J. Crew, J.Press, L.L. Bean, Lisa Birnbach, Malcolm Gladwell, Mark McNairy, Michael Bastian, Quoddy, Raf Simons, Ralph Lauren, Ray-Ban, Red Wing Shoes, Scott Sternberg, Sperry, Thom Browne, Tommy Hilfiger, Woolrich
Old-school American prep for men is back with a vengeance. As Guy Trebay writes in The New York Times (July 23, 2010), since last year “designers have been relentlessly scouring the back pages of American sportswear for all things homegrown – the more obscure, hand-crafted, fuddy-duddy and arcane the better.” American vintage apparel brands like Ray-Ban sunglasses, Filson wool vests, Red Wing boots, Gitman Oxford cloth shirts, Sperry Top-siders, and Woolrich Buffalo Check flannels are on everyone’s must-have lists.
And a wide range of top menswear designers including Thom Browne, Scott Sternberg of Band of Outsiders, Billy Reid, Frank Muytjens of J. Crew, and Alex Carleton of L.L. Bean are fanning the flames on the vintage bonfire – adding modern twists to preppy American classics. Designer Michael Bastian claims that “the whole preppy machine requires a recalibration. It has become a reference to reference.”
And Mr. Trebay of The Times claims that the ‘reference’ of inspiration for all things preppy is “Take Ivy” a volume of photographs published in 1965 by Kensuke Ishiku. Over the past five and a half decades since its original publication, “Take Ivy” has been the muse for a passionate cult spanning the globe from Tokyo, Japan to Princeton, New Jersey.
Leave a Comment so far
Leave a comment
