The most important shoe for a collegiate wardrobe
CVOs, and what do we want from Ivy?
I’ve come to the conclusion that if there is one shoe that is indispensable in a collegiate wardrobe, it is not the penny loafer. Rather it is the circular vamp oxford canvas sneaker (the CVO). The reason as to why requires an interrogation into what exactly we’re trying to do with the Ivy thing.
Welcome to The Prep Club, check last week’s issue of THE RADAR (our fortnightly magazine) here, for thoughts on loafers, branding, anoraks, and more. Also make use of The Directory, new this week:
2nd Academic - E-comm, Ships from UK - From the founders of HIP store and All Blues Co., a store dedicated to Black Ivy, UK stockists of J. Press, among other top heritage labels.
Ebbets Field Flannels - High quality baseball attire, focus is on beautiful 100% wool, Made in USA caps, but also beautiful jerseys.
Todd Snyder x Champion - 100% cotton, reto styled sportswear, available at half the price of similar sweats manufacturers, and for absolute steals secondhand.
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Minimalist bliss
The CVO is exquisite in its simplicity, a single piece of fabric wrapped around the vamp and bonded to a flat rubber sole. The CVO, as known by that name was the original boat show introduced by Sperry in 1935, however the design was pioneered some two decades earlier by Keds with the champion sneaker.
They are the distilled essence of the training shoe, and as with any truly essential design, it has unfailing endurance.
If you’re going to get one, go for an ecru with a stripe, it helps to break up what is otherwise a lot of a bright colour at the end of the trouser. A little bit of colour contrast between the uppers and soles is welcome too, it has to be subtle, but having one in ecru, and the other in white grants them an extra bit of versatility with white or cream elsewhere in an outfit. Navy comes in a close second.
The Ivy Shoe “Holy Trinity”
Twice now I’ve looked to articulate and simplify shoe wardrobes, and I’ve done so in ways which prioritise shoes which fulfil a wide range of functions. If we look instead from the perspective of provenance, that is the shoes which most exude prep, we find the CVO sat with the penny loafer and the boat shoe in a holy trinity.
What results is a sort of sliding scale of formality, with the canvas sneaker at one end, boat shoe in the middle, and loafer at the other, but with significant overlap between the three. Nine looks out of ten, any one of them will do just fine.
The idea is, between these three shoes, you should be able to cover any occasion you can reasonably expect to encounter, foul weather not withstanding, keep a pair of Bean boots close for emergencies. The loafer ought to do for formal occasions, especially these days, though to maximise versatility I’d avoid beef-rolls, and go for a dressy finish: black/burgundy/colour 8. Then the camp moc covers casual pursuits, and the CVO does day-to-day, whilst serving double duty for sportier looks and pursuits.
So why do I think the CVO reigns over the other two?
What do we want from Ivy?
I keep struggling to nail down precisely why I am so beguiled by collegiate fashion. I didn’t grow up with it, I have no nostalgia or sentimentality towards it. The best I can come up with is that in discovering Ivy I found a way to wear clothes which looked put together, made me feel put together, and yet just let me get on with sh*t.
This follows on from Ivycise Your Life, I think the point here is to find ways to look sharp, which facilitate just doing life stuff. There are days when you want to wear a sport coat, and loafers, and a tie and have bar oysters and your photo taken, and there are days when you want to get bread and milk from the convenience store. The sporty ivy look is pedigreed enough to still say “formal” in a certain way, “I know my sh*t” at the very least, even with the most casual looks, especially when paired with a good sports sock.
The CVO is the lifeblood of the Ivy wardrobe because it is unfussy, it’s (relatively) cheap, easily cleaned, comfortable. It doesn’t matter if it sees sandy beaches or grass. They squish down and fit into a weekend bag, they’ll survive a trip to the gym or an impromptu tennis match. Ivy is about ignoring the clothes you’re wearing, and there is no shoe more easily-ignored than that simple, unassuming, “boring” white trainer. This is why they’re everywhere in photos of actual ivy guys in the 60s.
The CVO buying guide
It would be remiss to finish this meeting up without a few recommendations. You can get away with going pretty cheap with CVOs, you’ll definitely get improvements in quality with a bit more spend, but the floor and ceiling for something this simple are pretty close together.
Sperry Top-Sider
Remain a stalwart after all these years, although production is overseas now, hardly a surprise, but it would be nice to see a CVO added to the Made in Maine line.
Vans Authentic
Widely available, and with a versatile sole, although I can’t stand the logo tab on the side.
Keds Champion
Four eyes rather than five, misses the stripe on the sole which I appreciate on other models. On that note, lack of an off-white colour is also a little frustrating. Good in navy or red though.
Asahi Deck
Into more expensive/ heritage labels now, made in Japan. Different sole colours are nice, I like the look of the black, but the traditional white on cream is still on top. Navy is also available despite not being listed on their site. Get them from All Blues in the UK or Trunk in the States.
Doek Oxford
Another Japanese heritage example, the white model is missing my beloved stripe. Personally I’d opt for the Asahi Decks over these, then look to Doek for their tennis shoe.
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Or you can do what I did and grab a random pair for very little money secondhand, mine are modern day Eddie Bauer and cost me less than £10, I can’t remember exactly how much. They’re not the sturdiest, but I don’t really mind, they’re a beater shoe, I’m already giving them a second lease of life, by the time they give up on me they will have justified their manufacture several times over.
Ivy looks need to be ignorable by the wearer, if you’re going to carry off the sort of laissez-faire attitude that it necessitates. The CVO is indispensable because it is inconsequential, and it’s the gateway to a collegiate wardrobe that can handle a normal lifestyle.
Prep Club adjourned, see you soon.
EG BDs / J. Press Hits UK Shores / Breton Recommendations / Secondhand Sweatshirt Steals
Hello! Welcome back to THE RADAR, The Prep Club’s fortnightly mini-magazine for interesting bits and pieces in the sphere of collegiate threads. You can attend last week’s meeting here, for thoughts on how to ivycise your life.
Although a tad pricey, the CVOs from buck mason collab with moonstar are a win in my book
The illustrations are terrific.