Black Ivy: A Revolt in Style

Black Ivy: A Revolt in Style charts a period in American history when black men across the country adopted the clothing of a privileged elite and made it their own.

From the most avant-garde jazz musicians, visual artists and poets to the most unassuming architects, philosophers and writers, Black Ivy looks at how a generation of men took the classic Ivy Look and made it cool, edgy and unpredictable in ways that continue to influence today’s modern menswear.

Here you’ll see some famous, infamous and not so famous figures in black culture, and how they re-invented Ivy and Prep fashion, the dominant looks of the time.

The real stars of the book – the Oxford cloth button-down shirt, the hand-stitched loafer, the soft shoulder three-button jacket and the perennial repp tie, among others – are all here. What Black Ivy explores is how these clothes are reframed and redefined by a stylish group of men from outside the mainstream.

It’s a story about clothes but it’s also a story about freedom – both individual and collective. It’s a story about a generation of people challenging the status quo, struggling for racial equality and civil rights. For the first time ever, we explore the major role this particular style of clothing played during this period of aspiration and upheaval and what these clothes said about the people who wore them.

Boasting the work of some of America’s finest photographers and imagemakers, this must-have tome is a celebration of how, regardless of the odds, great style always wins.