Cute & Chic – Ivy League Love

Images artfully compiled by Sophie.

I stood behind a big, hulking man wearing a tweed sports coat in a coffee shop this week, which took me right back to the '80s and into the arms of my first love; my dad. He may have worn his with corduroy slacks (never "pants"). And a skivvy. Perhaps he still does. But he's celebrating his 65th birthday on Monday, so I'm prepared to cut him some slack given he's now a "pensioner".

Ryan O'Neal, playing Oliver Barrett IV (aka "Preppy") in the 1970 film Love Story, had major father issues. But not even the overbearing Barrett Snr. and his domineering disapproval could stop him falling head-over-heels for the acerbic, working-class Jenny Cavilleri (Ali MacGraw). She studied Music at Radcliffe; he Law at Harvard, and their romance bloomed from the library to the ice rink. And then, well, I am getting depressed just thinking about the ending. 

Harry first met Sally en route from the University of Chicago to New York City. More a slow-burning relationship than Oliver and Jen's, they took 15+ years to come to the conclusion that they belonged together (the whole film, released in 1989, five years after The Big Chill and way before Big and Carrie tortured us with their drawn-out 'will we won't we?', is based on proving or disproving whether men and women are capable of having platonic relationships).

Plot lines aside, the fashion was fantastic; even for the 80s. All those wonderful muted tones and heavy fabrics are a wintry wonderland of inspiration. You could also take your cue from Take Ivy, the journal dedicated to recording the sartorial par excellence of the American higher education system's elite, or Lady Melbourne, a post-grad at RMIT, or Garance Dore's "Clean Cut" New Yorker in your own Ivy League wardrobe study.

Extra Curricular magazine and Country Road's leather-trimmed backpack for carrying text books on campus add further incentive to while away winter in a library cubicle. 

That, and the prospect of meeting your true love like royal newlyweds Wills and Kate.

Girl With a Satchel