Meeting #20: How to oversize Ivy
Let’s get nineties
Hip pants are big pants these days, and whilst the 1960s photos from which much of our Ivy outfits are derived tend to opt for more slender cuts, collegiate style is no stranger to some roomier looks. In today’s meeting I’d like to guide club members through oversizing Ivy style.
Small Favour: If you wouldn’t mind, please share this post, or the club as a whole, with a friend who you think might be interested, it would mean a whole lot. Please also subscribe if you haven’t yet, again, it makes a big difference.
As to why one might wish to engage in oversized looks, I can point to a few reasons.
First, it’s an engagement with Ivy which expresses far more casual and youthful. Believe it or not, there are most certainly settings for which standard collegiate uniform is likely too formal, especially for those outside of corporate settings. If one wishes to engage with Ivy, without completely overdoing it in the pub, this is a nice choice.
Likewise, and there isn't really any way to address this without it sounding like moderate gloating, I am in my early twenties. For younger folks, the oversized look sits much more in the space of “dressing one’s age”. It’s a younger expression regardless though, infused with the carefree nature of big, drapey silhouettes.
It’s also worth considering what oversizing can offer in regards to physique and overall silhouette. The current dialogue surrounding Ivy, particularly the photography in Take Ivy, is increasingly aware of the fact that many of these iconic looks have been presented on tall, athletic individuals. However, by this point we’ve also proven time and time again that Ivy is not exclusive to the tall and broad. Properly oversized clothes will flatter any physique.
You will be expanding the sizes from which you might select when buying vintage and secondhand clothing. More choice is always going to be welcome. You might even find yourself in the position of finding a piece so perfect you can’t leave it behind, but it is just a touch too big, getting comfortable with oversizing solves this issue.
Comfort should be considered too. Volume brings freedom of movement within the garment, it also lends ventilation for warmer climes. Comfort nets confidence, and by this point it’s basically general knowledge that the major separation between convincing and unconvincing fashion is confidence.
Where are we looking for these ideas? Well, oversized clothing of any sort, but particularly Ivy, is undergoing a revival, not a birth. We’ve been through this cycle once before, coming out of the late eighties and in full force through the nineties. Polo and J. Crew materials from this era are a pretty good place to start, eighties Armani runway looks for tailoring too. We’ll pick out a few good examples along the way.
Pants
So let’s start with the trendiest. You don’t have to look far to find lists of wide leg trousers currently. We are certainly partial to a wide leg in these parts, especially for chinos. Chino fabric responds very well to voluminous cuts, especially vintage examples which have softened with age, but wide-leg alone perhaps does not constitute oversized. Instead, let’s look at length, soft twills respond very nicely to an exaggerated break, so does wool. With jeans I tend to opt for a hem of around 8 inches, still a straight-fit by twenty-twenty-four standards, but a good two inches extra on the inseam will net a very satisfying late-eighties stack.
Of course though, whilst we get up to all manner of fun with inseams and hems, these pants do need to fit in the waist, or perhaps not. Take a look at these catalogue shots for Polo and GAP, with cinching by way of a belt taking place.
A soft, malleable fabric is vital here, principally for reasons of comfort (please refer above). Whilst it seems fairly alien, there’s clear evidence here of leg wear that is too big in the waist not only being worn, but presented by big names as the face of style. If you are going to do this, probably best to stick with no more than two inches above your actual waist.
Shirts
Now its time to deviate from the zeitgeist, since the Gen Z ultra cool silhouette is big pant, little shirt. An oversized shirt however, especially an OCBD, is an absolute rom-com leading man dream. J. Crew did the giant fit Oxford last year, which opens up the possibility of volume, whilst still being able to properly wear a tie. I haven’t been able to find a good example of oversizing at the collar, unless you have no intention of wearing a given shirt with a tie, or perhaps with only the loose suggestion of a tie knot, as pictured.
This reference also opens a question of sleeve length. The turnups at the cuff are a nice look, definitely veering an otherwise austere and very trad look into casual. With oversized sleeves you’ll get that Noah Deledda-esque stacking, which will function to further exaggerate the volume in the sleeve. Also in the sleeve there is the volume around the bicep, the size of the arm hole. I find more room here to be very flattering. With short sleeves, having them fall a little closer to the elbow is also very pleasant.
Total length of the garment can be little trickier to navigate. In order to best communicate a look informed by an oversized shirt, the youthful, zero-fucks-given vibe, I’m inclined to advocate for wearing them untucked most of the time. There’s definitely scope for tucking them in and embracing the ballooning/ mushroom effect (those terms are rather too demeaning to depict a look which I in fact love very much), but the untucked has more attitude. As a note, popovers are a great choice to go for oversized.
Overall, I reckon depending on circumstances, particularly neckwear intentions and leg-to-torso ratio of yourself, its not unreasonable to look as far as maybe three sizes up, pull back to two to be on the safe side, one to dip just a toe in the water.
Knitwear
Big knitwear perhaps has a reputation as somewhat kitsch, sort of hallmark movie-esque. Generally I don’t think knitwear need be as fitted as it often is, however, when oversizing, its probably a safer bet to go with thinner knits over chunky cables etc.
The big aspect of an oversized sweater is going to be natural the drop shoulder which results, unless of course there’s a raglan situation going on. Drop shoulders create a softness of silhouette which feels at home in the Ivy canon, the gentle tumbling of the cut over the shoulder.
Length can be a little tricky again here, perhaps the number one culprit for knitwear genuinely looking too big. Ralph posters see a lot of tucked knits to remedy this (and to better advertise their pants), otherwise it’s perhaps going to depend on individual tastes of proportion.
I can definitely see shaggy dogs as a good candidate for this, I reckon oversizing ought to modernise their look a touch, and then thin cotton knits, especially in summertime for layers with more ventilation, rugby shirts and sweatshirts too (as knitwear adjacents). Gut feel says stick to one size bigger here, to get that drop shoulder without totally falling into cozy-maxxing.
Tailoring
We start with a jet across the Atlantic here, to the runway and poster looks of Giorgio Armani in the 80s. We might also perhaps consider the tailoring of the nineteen-forties, though whilst that is generous of cut, I wouldn’t personally consider it oversized. Armani on the other hand leans heavy on imposing silhouettes without heavy construction.
There is forever the David Byrne threat when sizing up for suiting, principally one needs to be aware of their head in relation to their shoulders. Armani executed this with absolute perfection.
What we see here really is the manner in which the Ivy favourite of an unconstructed jacket is the perfect candidate for an oversized break. On the contrary though, the slim lapel of the sack jacket is less proportional. Looking for soft suiting from the seventies and eighties is a good bet here I reckon, the more dramatic lapel shape being able to better stand up.
There’s scope to go a touch longer here too, again referring back to Armani, jackets are sitting just a hair below the thumb knuckle, where tradition might dictate they sit just above. Lengths are not overly exaggerated though. It’s hard to give exact sizing ideas here just down to the exceeding variance in suit jackets, overall I’d still prioritise a reasonably well fitted shoulder, though there’s scope for some experiments, with more room through the chest and in the length.
Miscellaneous Outerwear
A Type 2 Trucker jacket with a slight drop shoulder is a nice look, provided that the denim has softened.
Oversize an M43 or M65 Field Jacket to wear overtop of a sportcoat as a coat.
For Overcoats go as big as you dare, there’s a limit of course, but especially with the raglan sleeves of a balmacaan, you can get away with a lot.
As a final note, there is consideration to be made between dissonance and cohesion with silhouette, and there is no one correct way to play it. Fit is hyper-personal, its dependant on both one’s physical characteristics and on their taste. To return to where we started, its principally a question of that which grants confidence.
For me, opting for oversized looks grants me comfort in feeling more as though I am dressing my age, and as a point of differentiation.
Thank you for attending this week, please note, new week’s bulletin might be a touch delayed as I am moving between the publication of this meeting and that.
