Ivy League (clothes)

Ivy League is a style of men's dress, also known as Ivy Style, popular during the late 1950s in the Northeastern United States, and said to have originated on college campuses, particularly those of the Ivy League. It was the predecessor to the preppy style of dress.

Origins

The Ivy League style of dress evolved on the campuses of elite universities from the 1920s through the 1940s, and became mainstream in the 1950s. It was a casualization of traditional formal menswear and characteristically adapted the sporting attire of the British and American upper classes (most students at these universities being, or aspiring to be, upper class) as everyday wear. Clothing articles originally designed for golf, polo, sailing, rugby football, hunting, croquet, cricket, and tennis would be worn outside of the context of those activities. Such wardrobe staples as the sport coat, blazer, oxford shirt, and sweater vest all originated in the early 20th century as sportswear but became everyday attire through the Ivy subculture.

In terms of tailored clothing, the "sack" suit jacket (and similarly styled blazers and sport coats) was characteristic of the look. It featured a "3-to-2" or "three roll two" single-breasted front closure (3 buttons with the top button sewed on the underside of the roll of the lapel, leaving only two normally usable buttons), no front darts, and a single "hooked" vent (or "slit") at the back. The cut of the jacket was boxier, less structured, and less form-fitting than traditional business suits, and therefore appeared more relaxed. The trousers for suits cut in this style typically had a lower (but not low by modern standards) rise, were held up by a belt rather than suspenders, and were often not pleated or cuffed.