Dress like a cult Japanese prepster with Paul Smith for Mr Porter
A photographic sartorial tome of grainy imagery and candid commentary, Take Ivy changed the way the outsider students of Tokyo dressed forever.
Published in 1965, this cult fashion book was produced by four Japanese style enthusiasts and documented some of the finest American-made garments of that age through the wardrobes of Ivy League chaps. A celebration of preppy style as seen at American Ivy League university campuses like Harvard and Princeton, Take Ivy inspired a trend of American Ivy style among Tokyo’s fashion-conscious students.
With this historic fashion moment in mind, Sir Paul Smith has designed a nine-piece capsule collection exclusive to go-to online man shop and fashion bible Mr Porter. Featuring designs mimicking classic Ivy style with the Paul Smith signature touch, find an elbow patched sweatshirt, cotton-twill and leather varsity jacket, to-the-knee gingham tailored shorts and button-up shirts. Paired with loafers with no socks – yes they were sporting this look in the 1960s – dress like the American chaps in Take Ivy and go about waiting outside bookshops, studying in libraries and riding your bicycle around campus (or town) with confidence and the knowledge that you didn’t need Daddy’s credit card to buy your outfit.