Ivy style is linked to the Ivy League college campuses of the American northeast in the fifties and sixties. Students of these elite institutions were overwhelmingly white, so-called WASPS - white Anglo-Saxon protestants, so a book entitled Black Ivy, focusing on figures in black culture sporting the style, seems a contradiction. However, the clue lies in the subtitle, Black Ivy: A Revolt in Style.
Jason Jules and Graham Marsh argue that Ivy styles of clothing were adopted by a black community struggling for civil rights in the face of racial prejudice and hostility.
By wearing the styles of a self-styled privileged white elite, a generation of black men applied their own interpretations to Ivy styles and, consciously or not, made a strong point about equality and the need for social justice.
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| Reel Art Press |
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| Bill Ray/The Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock |
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| Reel Art Press Sidney Poitier in To Sir, With Love |
Jason Jules is a London-based writer and style consultant, Graham Marsh an art director, artist and writer who's had a deep interest in Ivy Style since the sixties. Jules starts the book by pointing out that style is essentially, an assertion of "one's right to self-definition and the right to take control of one's own identity". He rejects the notion that black men adopted this style "out of a desire to be white" but rather it made a strong statement to highlight their entitlement to equality.
The book highlights and profiles a number of well-known figures from the worlds of politics, music, sport and the arts and also ordinary men, students and workers, who adopted the style. Contemporary colour and monochrome photographs show a wide variety of styles, from formal to casual. As ever, age gives a classic cool style to looks from the past and Ivy and its close relative, preppy, strongly influence menswear to this day.
An important book adding a previously little told dimension to the story of menswear style. A book for the shelves of anyone interested in menswear, style and the wider elements of race and politics.
Black Ivy: A Revolt in Style. Jason Jules and Graham Marsh pub. by Reel Art Press.
Links:
Jason Jules https://www.instagram.com/garmsville/
Graham Marsh https://www.instagram.com/ivyconnection/
Reel Art Press https://www.instagram.com/reelartpress/
