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stopping him and wander out again in the same
way without anyone noticing him.
And this because the elegance of strong contrasts
and marked differences, but also obsolete
and non apparent frugality, worn almost by
chance, marked out an era and is coming decidedly
back into fashion. The relaxed elegance of
JFK - one of the icons of American democracy -
was strongly in juxtaposition with the Anglican
rigour of a Hoover, of a Truman or an Eisenhower,
also in their visions of society and power. In fact,
in the America of the great protests, it became
an emblem to contrast with constituted power.
Just like the elite preppy style of the great East
Coast universities, it transformed itself into a new
language and not just of power which was such
a feature of the United States in the mid twentieth
century and ended up centre stage in fashion
trends. It is a long wave which personified an era.
It constructed new styles, a different vision of el-
egance, of being fashionable, wearing elite symbols
and habits.
the olympus of the eight colleges
According to the New york Times today, a new
fashion is sweeping through American youth.
That of their fathers and their more fashionable
grandfathers 40 years ago. Buttoned up colours
are everywhere. The faded pinks of Nantucket
Red trousers has become as common as khaki
once was, Sperry Top-Sider deck shoes have invaded
the walkways, polo players and Lacoste
crocodile are everywhere. It is Ivy Style which is
returning determinedly to the scene even in Europe
and in Japan - all versions of preppy style
are fashionable once more. The book Take Ivy, a
collection of photos taken at American campuses
in 1965 by Teruyoshi Hayashida is beautiful and
almost impossible to track down.
White’s Boots, Russell and Duluth Pack with En-
gineered Garments (founded by Japanese Daiki
Suzuki) are high fashion in the country of the
Soleil Levant and the book was commissioned by
another Japanese, Kensuke Ishizu. The designer
who was the first to appreciate the potential of
the preppy style and founded Van Jacket, a huge
success with Japanese teenagers at the time, It‘s a
Ralph Lauren ante-litteram. Preppy is a name and
a lifestyle - with clear aesthetically and unconventional
features - which derives from preparatory
school, the preparatory private schools designed
for the new generations of the American upper
middle class as they got ready to enter the famous
eight colleges of the Ivy League, the name
that was once given to the sports tournaments
between colleges with the ivy emblem symbolising
tradition and great age as it grew on the walls
of the dormitories. Designation which is a heraldic
guarantee of the campuses, where rich and
often very European and well-connected Ameri-
can families send their children to be educated.
These, obviously, are the eight most prestigious
universities of the American pantheon: Harvard,
yale, Princeton, Brown, Dartmouth, Columbia,
University of Pennsylvania and Cornell.
from francis Scott fitzgerald to lady diana
It’s a long and fascinating story which would be
better to tell from the beginning and which, as
well as icons such as Kennedy, includes figures
of the caliber of the Duke of Windsor, Steve Mc-
Queen, Paul Newman and Miles Davis, Anthony
Perkins, Montgomery Clift, Charles Prince of
Wales, Sean Connery and designers who have relaunched
the Ivy fashion such as Ralph Lauren, J.
Crew, J. McLaughlin, Tommy Hilfiger, Michael Bastian
and Thom Browne. Active in New york from
the ‘90s were Marc Jacobs and Luella Bartley. The
Big apple, in particular, is still today the capital of
Ivy Style and of North Eastern Culture with the
JOHN, ‘RELAXED ELANCE’,
AN ICON OF AMERICAN
DEMOCRACy, HE DISTINGUISHED
HIMSELF FROM HOOVER’S
OR TRUMAN’S
AND EiSEnhowER’S ANGLICAN
AND PROTESTANT RIGOUR,
IN HIS DIFFERENT VISION
OF SOCIETy AND POWER TOO.
ON THE FACING PAGE
THE WHOLE kEnnEdy FAMILy
IN 1948 AT THANKSGIVING
WITH PAT WEARING
A ‘LETTERMAN SWEATER’
WITH AN H FOR HARVARD ON IT.
ABOVE, SOME HISTORIC ICONS
OF PREPPy STyLE.
FROM LEFT StEvE mCquEEn,
duStin hoffmAn
IN THE GRADUATE
AND BRookE ShiEldS
(PRINCETON UNIVERSITy).
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