J.Crew Takes a Page Out of ‘Take Ivy’ With the New Campus Collection

Sixty years ago, four Japanese sartorial enthusiasts released a book that has become divine scripture among American style enthusiasts.

Take Ivy contains photos of students on American college campuses taken between 1959 and 1965, along with accompanying essays by Paul Hasegawa, Teruyoshi Hayashida, Shosuke Ishizu and Toshiyuki Kurosu. It is a snapshot of the style of the well-heeled American youth during the transitional period after WWII, a style we’ve latched onto ever since as prep or ivy or any number of terms.

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Through multiple generations of CEOs and creative directors, J.Crew has been informed by Take Ivy more than any other tome, even displaying copies in stores over the years.

The latest bucket pulled from that well is the brand’s first-ever officially licensed collection of collegiate apparel. It is a collaboration of ’47 as an easy and economical way to access NCAA licensing.

The marketing campaign behind the collection unabashedly reproduces Take Ivy imagery through a slightly modernized lens.

Dubbed the Campus Capsule, it consists of a pure Shetland wool baseball cap with a leather adjustable strap and a shaggy wool crewneck sweater. Both pieces are emblazoned with the colors and logos of ten American universities.

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My favorite part of the Campus Capsule is that, despite the Ivy influence, it contains no Ivy League schools. The lineup is the University of Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Ohio State, University of North Carolina, University of Georgia, University of Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Northwestern and Boston College.

Seven of the ten are public state universities, which makes the collection a delightful counterpoint to J.Press and Rowing Blazers’ long-running assortment of Ivy League apparel.

A vintage cap

The two-piece Campus Capsule is headlined (sorry, had to) by a baseball cap that I assume is produced by ’47. The outer shell and brim casing are made of pure Shetland wool.

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Each hat is the solid primary color of its respective university, with the school’s modern logo attached to the front. The logos are 3D embroidered, as they appear on standard baseball hats.

The caps are adjustable with a leather strap in the back secured by a faux copper clasp.

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Half the schools have a marled fabric with gray wool fibers to create texture. If you’re indifferent to the school logos, the Michigan State green is particularly fetching.

A shaggy sweater

The other half of the Campus Capsule has a stronger tie to Take Ivy. It is a Shetland wool-inspired crewneck sweater. J.Crew notably says “inspired,” meaning the sweaters aren’t milled, woven and sewn in Scotland’s Shetland Isles.

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Sweaters of that distinct provenance were hugely popular on American campuses in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and feature prominently in the book. Wherever J.Crew sourced the wool, the Campus Capsule sweaters have the desired shaggy texture.

Each school’s name, or simply the state it represents, is chain-stitched across the front in bold block lettering. This detail is historically accurate.

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The only issue with that historical accuracy is the price. Pure shaggy wool and complex chain stitching are expensive to produce. J.Crew confoundingly doesn’t offer a pure wool sweater right now to compare prices, but it costs significantly more than any Cashmere option.

Availability and price

The J.Crew x ’47 Campus Capsule is available now from J.Crew. The Cleanup Cap in English Wool costs $75, and the Brushed Wool Sweater costs $248.

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J.Crew x ’47 Cleanup Cap in English Wool

• $75 at J.Crew

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