“Take Ivy” was published in Japan in 1965. The book of photographs by four Japanese menswear enthusiasts documented the eight U.S. universities that were known as Ivy League schools for their ivy-covered walls, as well as their students, who came to define preppy.
One of the stalwarts of that preppy movement was J. Press, which opened its first store on the Yale campus in 1902 and soon became the go-to spot for these young men to buy their wardrobes.
It was the “Take Ivy” book that served as the starting point for J. Press president and creative director Jack Carlson’s fall collection. Carlson wrote a new foreword to a J. Press special edition of the book, which was left on each guest’s seat during the company’s show at the New York Historical Society Monday afternoon.
“This show is really a tribute to the book ‘Take Ivy,’ which now is fairly well-known as a kind of style bible for the Ivy League look,” Carlson said. “J. Press features very prominently in the book and is credited by the authors and photographers as helping to create the Ivy League look. This book and ‘ivy style’ is really having a big moment in menswear and it’s a good time to really lean into it and take some pride of ownership for creating this movement that is resonating so much today.”
Carlson, the founder of Rowing Blazers who joined J. Press last year, said the company, which has been owned by Japan’s Onward Holdings since 1986, is “really the steward of this style. It’s the last brand standing that’s doing it for real — not in an ironic way or in a way that’s watered down at all.”
So for his fall collection, Carlson said he “co-opted and adapted” many Ivy League staples, including button-down oxford shirts, madras pants and shorts, varsity jackets, T-shirts with vertical stripes and V-neck sweaters. While the bulk of the collection was casual — sweaters and jackets with patches and names of the schools abounded — there were also some dressy pieces, such as plaid blazers, double-breasted suits, the obligatory repp tie, and even updated tuxedos with blackwatch pants paired with a varsity jacket or a bold orange and black Princeton-inspired blazer worn with a bow tie.
With this collection, Carlson succeeded in staying true to the core of both J. Press and ivy style while modernizing the looks for today. The “Take Ivy” team would undoubtedly approve.
