Take Ivy

Ok, thought I'd throw this up here. If you haven't already heard of this photo book "Take Ivy," check it out. It's a lot cooler than it sounds. A Japanese guy made it, and the book features candid pictures of Ivy League college guys in the 60's in an effort to capture their style.


Now, don't get me wrong. It's no doubt that 90% of these guys were absolute jerks at the time, and probably still are. They probably behaved similarly to what we now refer to as "bro-dudes," "dude-bros," or "bras." They were "proto-bros." They were probably homophobic and homoerotic at the same time — rich, stupid and spoiled WASPS. Their fathers owned car dealerships and threatened boarding school every time Junior fell out of line.


Say what you want about these characters, they had style. Or rather, they HAVE style. The American prep has been in an out of fashion over the years, and now seems to designate a young man as simultaneously hip and (in some ways) conservative. Think of what was happening around the men in these pictures during the heat of the sixties. THE SIXTIES were happening. Culture was exploding, and the youth were behaving more freely than ever before. But, probably not these fellas. They would had to have been squares. Non-hippies. Opponents of free love and flower power.


This is a tough contradiction for me. On one hand, I have come to appreciate everything the "hippie" movement did in terms of things like consciousness expansion, free love, freedom, civil rights, peace, art and especially music. These people changed the world, even if it didn't (at least on the surface) last long enough to benefit their children, they still stood up for change and united themselves against Universal evils like the Vietnam War and unflinching riot police. Fashion and style, are two things hippies were unable to give me. But these Ivy League cats had swag, even while wearing white socks with shorts!