J. Press & Ivy Style: A Legacy Built on Consistency
“The blue blazer is the gentleman of all trades” – Richard Press
Introduction
The navy blazer is an iconic, recognizable symbol of American menswear, considered “the ultimate wardrobe essential” by menswear manufacturing mainstay J. Press.[1] The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) would likely consider it the same, as they featured a 1970’s-made example of the Press blazer in their 2012-2013 exhibit “Ivy Style”. The exhibit focused on the eponymous style of dress, which peaked on Ivy League campuses in the mid-20th Century but has seen continued relevance in the world of menswear ever since. The blazer displayed is a constant of the J. Press catalogue, considered one of the company’s “icons” that represent the brand, along with the oxford shirt, khaki pants, repp stripe tie, and sack suit. The J. Press blazer is made in the USA of 100% wool, features three brass buttons up the center, and three patch pockets. Highlights of this item include natural shoulders, a single center hook vent on the back, and a “3-roll-2” button stance, meaning the top button is not used, and instead is hidden under the roll of the lapel. This same blazer can still be purchased today, for $795, from sizes 36-50 in regular, short, and long size types.[2] The FIT exhibit successfully displayed the wide variety within Ivy, including garments made throughout the 20th Century, from the early 1900s to the modern day, manufactured by traditional menswear brands such as Brooks Brothers, J. Press, Chipp, and Ralph Lauren. Traditional items such as the navy blazer, tweed, madras, and university-colored blazers were included in the exhibit, as were wool and fur coats, sweaters, oxford shirts, and athletic gear.[3] Despite the relatively conservative stylings of traditional Ivy fashion, more experimental modern clothes from designers such as Thom Browne were also included. This exhibit as a whole represents an enduring image in the history of American fashion. Ivy Style has remained popular not by following trends but by bucking them. It is through its consistency and predictability that the Ivy look has remained relevant and in style for decades.
J. Press – The Home of Ivy Style
J. Press was founded in 1902 by Latvian immigrant Jacobi Press, in New Haven, Connecticut, near the campus of Yale University.[4] In the early 20th century, the brand functioned primarily as a tailor, making made-to-measure suits for Yale students. When World War I broke out, the brand stayed afloat by tailoring military apparel and providing uniforms for ROTC students. In the 1920’s, the brand opened what they refer to as “the mecca of Ivy menswear” on 44th street in New York City.[5] By the 1930’s, the brand had gained enough notoriety that it was mentioned in the Broadway musical Anything Goes. Character Billy Crocker mentions shopping at J. Press in the first scene of the show, noting that a “new sweater looks terrific!”[6] With the 1940’s came another World War, and J. Press once again tailored military uniforms. However, the decade also brought the major change to the J. Press business model, as the brand introduced ready-to-wear clothing alongside their made-to-measure suits, which presented a cheaper and more readily available option, making J. Press a favorite for the influx of new students attending college on the G.I. Bill.[7] “The 1950s come to represent modern menswear as we know it today,” the brand claims, and it is within this decade that the Ivy Style look came into existence, with J. Press garments at the forefront.[8] J. Press began to reach new audiences in the 1960’s with the publication of their own catalogue, traveling salesmen displaying garments at trunk shows, and the opening of a west coast store in San Francisco. The 1970’s presented another change in the J. Press business model, as the company responded to increased interest in Ivy Style from Japanese customers by closing a deal with Japanese brand Onward Kashiyama to license J. Press clothes, making them “the first classic American menswear brand” to be licensed in Japan.[9] The 1980’s proved just how strong the Japanese market was for J. Press, as after a decade of licensing, Onward Kashiyama purchased the J. Press brand from the Press family in 1986. Despite a cultural shift away from formal wear in the workplace, toward business casual and the introduction of casual Fridays, J. Press sustained operations throughout the 1990’s. The brand remained popular in the new millennium in part thanks to product appearances in television and movies, such as Gossip Girl and 21. At present, the brand operates three retail stores, in Washington, D.C., New Haven, and New York City, alongside their online retail operations.[10]
“I grew up amongst the tweeds,” remembers Richard Press, grandson of Jacobi Press, and the former President and CEO of J. Press.[11] A lifetime spent involved with the company his grandfather founded makes Mr. Press a preeminent historian of both the brand and Ivy Style as a whole. I spoke to Mr. Press in preparation of this paper, in order to gain further insight on the J. Press brand and tap into his wealth of knowledge on Ivy Style. After graduating prep school at the Loomis Institute, and college at Dartmouth, Press got involved in the family business at its New York City store, where he believed, “the area of retail growth lay,” for J. Press. [12] Starting as a greeter, Press held a series of roles within the company, including a salesman, where he sold to the likes of Frank Sinatra, before eventually becoming President and CEO of the company. Richard Press oversaw important moments in the company’s history, notably the sale of the business to Onward Kashiyama in 1986. After a decades-long career with the company, he left J. Press in 1991, briefly working for F.R. Tripler & Co before he retired. Press started a new journey as a writer in the 2010’s, first writing for ivy-style.com, in which he detailed his experiences in menswear, before he rejoined J. Press in 2018, to publish a weekly column entitled “Threading the Needle”.
Asked to define the fashion, Richard Press offered a simple answer, “Ivy Style is a model of good taste.”[13] He continues, “Ivy League style is not a costume, it’s a manner of dress that commands authority,” adding “if you see someone who dresses well; dresses appropriately, chances are they are wearing some aspects of Ivy Style.”[14] According to Press, a typical Ivy wardrobe should include the following; oxford cotton button down shirts (“THE key item,” he emphasizes), khaki and corduroy pants, soft shouldered blazers in natural tweed or wool, Shetland sweaters, Bermuda shorts, and ties. Press also emphasizes durability, which he says makes Ivy and specifically J. Press offerings, a “very economically viable product.”[15] He says the J. Press brand retained faith in repeat customers, who, like the brand itself, saw their clothing as an investment piece, something they would have forever.
A History of Ivy Style
Ivy Style and American menswear as a whole stem from a general shift in fashion which began in 18th Century England. The consistency of modern menswear, and the dedication to tailored garments can be traced back to this movement. The “Great Masculine Renunciation” marked a shift in men’s fashion, away from gaudy, colorful garments, and towards more simplistic, subtle apparel. Male dress in England turned towards a plainer scheme before the rest of Europe, and “the more modest and sober style of dress was adopted throughout the eighteenth century.”[16] This fashion phenomenon of sorts saw men adopt a uniform, or dress code, which, over time, came to mean wearing a suit. In “The Making of the Self-Made Man: Class, Clothing, and English Masculinity, 1688-1832” author David Kuchta explores and further explains the Renunciation. The masculine image became what Kuchta refers to as “refined style rather than sartorial splendor,” which is a definition that can, in many cases, be applied to Ivy Style.[17] Bright colors may still appear in Ivy style, but the garments remain simple, as they have for hundreds of years. Kutcha goes on to explain that sophisticated dress came to be a necessity in order for one to be taken seriously politically. “Aristocratic men’s political rule was legitimized by an ideology of masculine disinterest in the fashionable world,” Kutcha reveals.[18] Similar rules existed in the Ivy Leagues, although to claim students had a “disinterest” in fashion may be misleading. Dress codes existed on college campuses throughout the first half of the 20th Century. “Up until the late 1950’s, at Yale, Harvard, and Princeton, you had to wear a coat and tie to classes and the dining halls,” Richard Press explains, pointing to changing cultural movements such as the Vietnam protests as the point in which college students broke from the look en masse.[19]
In Sex and Suits, author Ann Hollander furthers the discussion of the “Great Masculine Renunciation” and offers a different viewpoint which is particularly relevant to Ivy Style. Hollander rebukes the idea often presented that men do not participate in fashion or that men’s clothing exists outside of the world of fashion. “Men’s tailored clothes have been amazingly variable and expressive,” Hollander theorizes, adding that menswear is “fully as fluid and imaginative” as women’s clothing.[20] Hollander points to subtle variety within menswear as its form of creativity. “Extraordinarily various styles,” of collars, ties, coats, and hats allow men to express themselves through fashion.[21] It is through this avenue of expression that Ivy Style really shines. As displayed in the FIT exhibit and the pages of J. Press catalogues, iconic garments of Ivy Style do not lack variety. Clothes are constructed of wool, tweed, cotton, corduroy, offered in striped, plaid, check, polka dot and herringbone patterns. One can find shirts, socks, ties, and even sports coats in blue, pink, green, brown, yellow, red, and gray. Some of Richard Press’ personal favorite Ivy products add a bit of flair to the sophisticated look. “Indian Madras is key to the Ivy League look,” he told me, referring to the lightweight fabric that traditionally is produced in southern India.[22] Madras typically comes in a tartan pattern, often in bright colors like red, blue, and yellow. He adds that J. Press’ “Schoolboy Muffler” scarf is another favorite. The scarves originated at prep schools and colleges to signify a school organization, fraternity, or alma mater. “In the winter I can’t wait till it gets cold enough to wear [a muffler],” Press sentimentalizes about the accessory.[23] While colors and pattens may offer variety, the clothing silhouettes remain true to the simple, durable ways, which never seem to go out of style. “Why has this sartorial scheme lasted such a long time?”, Hollander asks in the beginning of the book, regarding men’s tailored clothes.[24] The answer seems clear; the variety offered within a few refined, durable garments has drawn men to return to the same models year after year.
What came to be known as Ivy Style, or “the Ivy Look” was developed in the early 20th century. The increased popularity of sport coats and blazers helped craft what has become the enduring image of Ivy Style, as explained by Deirdre Clemente in Dress Casual: How College Students Redefined American Style. Clemente explains that wearing a sport coat instead of a suit was “pioneered by Ivy Leaguers in the 1910’s and picked up on other campuses in the following decades.”[25] The sports coat and pants outfit became so popular on Ivy League campuses that it was considered “practically a Princeton uniform,” by the 1920’s.[26] Richard Press confirmed the importance of the jacket, recognizing that “up until the heyday of Ivy Style [just after the Kennedy assassination], J. Press specialized in sports coats.”[27] Press went on to laud the blazer for its versatility, suggesting it can be worn casually or formally, with almost any style of pant, or even as a light jacket. Referring to the blue blazer specifically, Press considers it “the gentleman of all trades, it can be worn for years and years and years and will never go out of style.”[28] In the 1950’s, Ivy Style was adopted and influenced by American Jazz musicians. This was an important influence in the expansion and popularity of the style, both in the United States, and abroad in England. “They were your idols so you wanted to wear what they wore,” Heike Jenss quotes British menswear designer John Simons in Fashioning Memory: Vintage Style and Youth Culture.[29] Jenss highlights the “understatement, simplicity, and quality,” as other contributing factors to the increasing popularity of Ivy.[30] In November 1954, Life Magazine published a short article entitled “The Ivy Look,” which explored the style as it branched out from its northeastern roots and took over the United States.[31] The article cited J. Press, “an institution which rivals Yale in some well-tailored hearts,” as the “home” of Ivy Style.[32] Regarding the J. Press blazer, the article adds, “its slope shouldered product, which the Press boys consider the only acceptable dress for a normal Yale man, has scarcely changed over the years.”[33] 65 years have passed since that article was written, and the product still has not changed much.
While the garments and their design has remained consistent, the market for Ivy fashion has seen some change. As noted, J. Press was extremely popular in Japan, “the first American clothier to have retail operations,” in the nation, Richard Press boasts. Masafumi Monden’s Japanese Fashion Cultures: Dress and Gender in Contemporary Japan provides key insight into Japanese fashion, to discover how the style became so popular in the Japanese market. “The Ivy style has occupied a special place in contemporary Japanese men’s fashion since the 1960s,” Monden explains in the chapter “An Ivy Boy and A Preppy Girl: Style Import-Export”.[34] The “boyish yet classically elegant fashion aesthetics” were attractive to Japanese shoppers, who wanted to settle into a look somewhere between childhood and manhood.[35] The explosion of Ivy Style in Japan can in part, be credited to the 1965 photo book Take Ivy, which initially served as a style guide for young Japanese men looking to emulate the look, but has now developed cult status among menswear enthusiasts, heralded as the “bible of Ivy League styles.”[36] Monden explains that the book led to a “romanticism and (mis)interpretation” of American culture, which has driven sales of Ivy clothes ever since.[37] Japanese media has continued to push the Ivy look ever since the publication of Take Ivy, in magazines marketed to young men, such as Men’s Club, Popeye, and Brutus. Monden suggests that after being influenced by Ivy League styles, Japanese youth made it their own, and in turn influenced American menswear. For example, a style known as “Shibuya Casual” saw young people in outfits that typically consisted of blazers, polo shirts, jeans, and loafers.[38] While slightly more casual than classic menswear, Shibuya Casual remains committed to classic Ivy Style garments. Japanese publications are now influential in American fashion, as both Take Ivy and Kazuo Hozumi’s IVY Illustrated became highly sought-after books and essential style guides for modern day Ivy enthusiasts in America. Finally, the Japanese market introduced the idea that both men and women could participate in Ivy Style, while wearing very similar garments.[39] This seems to have affected the American market, as many Ivy or prep brands, such as Ralph Lauren, Brooks Brothers, and Vineyard Vines market to both men and women.
While the market for Ivy fashion certainly has expanded over time and changed in small but monumental ways, the theme of consistency has not, as the products and traditions of the style have remained the same. Monden addresses the theme of consistency, bringing up the idea that change is “a quintessence of fashion,” before suggesting that such change is less prevalent in Ivy Style.[40] Furthermore, Richard Press explained that the Onward Kashiyama ownership group has stayed true to what has always made J. Press great. “The model remains the same,” Press tells me, “the merchandise isn’t much different than it was during the heyday of ivy style.”[41] He assured that J. Press’ Japanese owners have “maintained the standards,” on which the brand was founded on in 1902.[42] Becoming an intercontinental product and expanding across the sphere of gender has only introduced more people to the traditions of Ivy League fashion, while still maintaining the aesthetic stability that is so important to the style.
Ivy Style in Media
The consistency of Ivy Style has permeated into how it is perceived by the public and discussed in Media. In January of 1979, Nelson W. Aldrich wrote a cover story for The Atlantic Monthly entitled “Preppies: The Last Upper Class”. The “prep” and Ivy themes can be seen as intertwined with each other, with prep more so describing a way of life, while Ivy Style describes the way in which one dresses. Aldrich defines “preppies” (while poking a little fun at them), and lists key aspects of a preppy lifestyle, such as attending an expensive prep school, keeping up the right appearance, exhibiting charm and grace, and inheriting wealth.[43] The article becomes especially relevant to this paper when Aldrich lists items from a typical wardrobe, including, “Brooks Brothers trousers… shirts of blue, pink, yellow, or striped Oxford…usually from Brooks or J. Press,” and, of course, jackets, “with padless shoulders and a loose fit around the waist.”[44] The wardrobe of a “preppy” gentleman, or one following the Ivy Style, is simple, cultivated, and classy. But most importantly, it is unchanging, staying true to the same clothes made by the same manufacturers that were worn on college campuses in the 50’s and 60’s, and still worn today, forty years after Aldrich’s article was published.
Written as casually and sometimes crassly as its title, Fuck Yeah Menswear by Kevin Burrows and Lawrence Schlossman gives an honest look at the state of menswear in the 2010’s. Editors of a Tumblr blog of the same name, Burrows and Schlossman’s book speaks for a generation of sartorially-minded bloggers. In the chapter “Style Archetypes”, different subsets of men’s fashion are defined. “Oft heralded as the peak of American Sportswear,” the “Ivy/Trad” section of the chapter states, “it’s no wonder people from the future still dress like this.”[45] This ode to Ivy consistency continues by naming “nostalgia” one of the greatest strengths of the style, and pointing to natural-shouldered jackets, like the one featured in the FIT exhibit, as a key to the Ivy look.[46] The listed “Favorite Brands” of Ivy are all enduring names; J. Press, Brooks Brothers, and the Andover Shop. Both the brands and garments listed are parroting the words of Aldrich three decades prior, showing just how little has changed. The last line of the chapter serves as a final testament to Ivy consistency, “If you put on your kit and look like a boring old man, you’re absolutely crushing it.”[47]
The stable, traditional themes of menswear are played up in advertisements released by well-established manufacturers. The J. Press Brochure is a biannual look-book published by the brand, one for the Fall/Winter season and one for the Spring/Summer. It offers editorialized descriptions of their offerings, and photos of each item and potential outfit combinations. The Navy Doeskin Blazer, the same seen in the FIT exhibit, receives prime placement in the brochure, with a full page of its own in the “Original Icons” section. The item is referred to as the “go-anywhere, do anything jacket of classic American menswear,” and “the ultimate wardrobe essential.”[48] The company makes it clear how important the standard Navy Blazer is to Ivy Style. The Fall & Winter 2020 issue begins with a welcoming essay from Richard Press, which notes the longevity and consistency of the brand. “That’s the way it was when my grandfather opened the store in 1902,” Press writes, in reference to the importance of the company’s New York store, before concluding, “That’s the way it is today.”[49] It is clear through the way the company markets itself that J. Press, representative of Ivy Style as a whole, is proud of its classic designs and has hung around as long as it has by staying true to these roots.
Conclusion
The overarching theme of the history of Ivy Style is one of consistency. Ivy is “always a representation of good taste,” Richard Press believes. From its beginnings as an off-shoot of the Great Masculine Renunciation, to the mid-60’s heyday in America, overseas expansion, and a continued relevance in the modern day, Ivy Style has remained true to its roots. Year after year, J. Press and other manufacturers sell high quality, durable garments offered in a vibrant color pallet and variety of patterns. Customers know what they are going to get, as Ivy Style is predictable in the best way possible. A story Richard Press told me perfectly sums up the consistency and timelessness of Ivy style. Press explains that after his father, Paul Press, passed away, his son inherited much of his grandfather’s wardrobe. “My son received approximately 50 of my father’s sportscoats, blazers, and suits” Press recalls, taking pride in the fact that the items “worked as well for [my son] in 2005 as they did for my father in the 1950’s”[50] As a testament to the quality of the J. Press garments, Press adds that the items “looked brand new once they were dry cleaned.”
What is next for J. Press and Ivy Style should come as no surprise. “The future is bright for J. Press as we continue to honor the three Golden Rules established by our founder Jacobi Press over a century ago,” the company website boasts. The Rules are as follows; “promote the longterm value of the product, maintain the quality of the craft, and respond to the unique wardrobe requirements of a targeted customer base.”[51] The only thing one can expect from Ivy Style going forward is more of the same, and that is a good thing.
[1] The J. Press Brochure Fall & Winter 2020,” The J. Press Brochure Fall & Winter 2020, 2020, 52.
[2] Ibid., 52.
[3] “Introduction,” Ivy Style (Museum at FIT, 2012), http://sites.fitnyc.edu/depts/museum/Ivy_Style/default.htm.
[4] “J. Press Journey: Our History,” J. Press Online, accessed 2020, https://jpressonline.com/#history.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Porter, Cole. “Anything Goes.” 1934, 2.
[7]“J. Press Journey: Our History,” J. Press Online, accessed 2020, https://jpressonline.com/#history.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Richard Press (former President and CEO, J. Press), in discussion with author, December 2020.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Richard Press (former President and CEO, J. Press), in discussion with author, December 2020.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Ibid.
[16] David Kuchta, “The Making of the Self-Made Man: Class, Clothing, and English Masculinity, 1688-1832” in The Sex of Things: Gender and Consumption in Historical Perspective (Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1996), 60.
[17] Ibid., 60.
[18] Ibid., 65.
[19] Richard Press (former President and CEO, J. Press), in discussion with author, December 2020.
[20] Anne Hollander, Sex & Suits (New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc, 1994), 14.
[21] Ibid., 14.
[22] Richard Press (former President and CEO, J. Press), in discussion with author, December 2020.
[23] Ibid.
[24] Anne Hollander, Sex & Suits (New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc, 1994), 1.
[25] Deirdre Clemente, Dress Casual: How College Students Redefined American Style (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2014), 44.
[26] Ibid., 48.
[27] Richard Press (former President and CEO, J. Press), in discussion with author, December 2020.
[28] Ibid.
[29] Heike Jenss, "Icons of Modernity: Sixties Fashion and Youth Culture." In Fashioning Memory:Vintage Style and Youth Culture (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015), 37-64.
[30] Ibid., 37-64.
[31] “The Ivy Look.” Life Magazine, 22 Nov. 1954, 68.
[32] Ibid., 70.
[33] Ibid., 70.
[34] Masafumi Monden, Japanese Fashion Cultures: Dress and gender in contemporary Japan, (London, Bloomsbury Academic, 2015).
[35] Ibid., 135-148
[36] Ibid., 135-148
[37] Ibid., 135-148
[38] Ibid., 135-148
[39] Ibid., 135-148
[40] Ibid., 135-148
[41] Richard Press (former President and CEO, J. Press), in discussion with author, December 2020.
[42] Ibid.
[43] Nelson W Aldrich, “Preppies: The Last Upper Class?,” The Atlantic Monthly, January 1979.
[44] Ibid.
[45] Kevin Burrows and Lawrence Schlossman, Fuck Yeah Menswear (New York, NY: Touchstone), 34
[46] Ibid., 34-35.
[47] Ibid., 34
[48] “The J. Press Brochure Fall & Winter 2020,” The J. Press Brochure Fall & Winter 2020, 2020, 52.
[49] Ibid., 3.
[50] Richard Press (former President and CEO, J. Press), in discussion with author, December 2020.
[51] “J. Press Journey: Our History,” J. Press Online, accessed 2020, https://jpressonline.com/#history.