Ivy League style
Collegiate dress joined tailored jackets to everyday ease. Its familiar combinations travelled from American campuses into business wardrobes, music and wider aspirations.
Yale students leaving a university building
Photographer and clothing makers not identified in the exhibition caption · 1950s
A period photograph shows Ivy style in use, with tailored jackets, ties and loafers. The clothing is not attributed to an individual designer.
Materials: Photograph; individual clothing materials undocumented
Explore the original record Student Life at Yale Photographs (RU 736), Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library; via The Museum at FITAbout Ivy League style
Ivy League style combined tailoring with the ease of an American college wardrobe. Button-down Oxford shirts, soft-shouldered jackets, chinos, Shetland sweaters and loafers became familiar companions. In the 1950s its influence moved beyond elite campuses, reaching business wardrobes and jazz musicians as well as students. Brooks Brothers and J. Press were key suppliers, while wearers helped establish the combinations. The later preppy revival reused this vocabulary, but the mid-century Ivy look has its own history of collegiate dress and aspiration.