Some Dartmouth Humor

While reading Christian Chensvold’s great blog on the American clothing style termed Ivy League (which is related to but distinct from the athletic conference itself) I came across a post that should be of interest to Dartmouth students past and present. In it, Ivy Style contributor Richard Press (D’55 and son of the founder of eminent Ivy clothier J. Press) reproduces a piece he wrote with Art Zich ’55 as a pea-green freshman at the College. The piece, which ran in DART, the College’s humor magazine at the time, is a hilarious look at the sartorial habits of those who followed that Ivy League look. Some gems include

“The most popular outfit in those days was the custom-tailored suit, so-called because it was the custom to tailor the suit so you couldn’t afford it. The custom-tailored-suit gave way to the ready-made-suit, which in turn gave way, but could be held together with safety-pins”

and

“Only a few varieties of shirts are permissible, and naturally, those with sleeves are preferred. The rule for college-correctness dictates button-down, round, or English tab. When confronted with the tab, it is always smarter to allow the other fellow to pick it up.”

I won’t ruin all the good parts, though – go take a look for yourself. Not only will you have some laughs, but you just might learn something about the Ivy League look.

–Benjamin M. Riley