roomplanners magazine - November-December 2012

roomplanners NOVEMBER—DECEMBER 2012

www.roomplanners.com

a time for

TRADITION

from ivy league to

ivy style traditional

eggnog

Not receiving our free issues?

SUBSCRIBE NOW!

is your style

traditional?

on the cover

Have you ever bought a Ralph Lauren outfit? Would a sail around Nantucket be right up your alley? Do you love to yourself in a good book, wish things were like they used to be, or prefer a predictable schedule? The your personal style may be traditional. This hearty design style tends to be intellectual, mellow and well-lived-in… with references to Ivy League university campuses and gentleman’s sports.

A stone-clad fireplace, weighty wood furniture, nail-studded leather, a touch of oxblood and tweed create a welltailored, quintessentially traditional interior.

Learn more about this smart style with our downloadable traditional style and traditional décor guides.

EDITOR Loreen Epp FOOD WRITER Wendi Hiebert All written information herein is copyright ©2011 Room Planners Incorporated.

All rights reserved. No part of the material protected by this copyright may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means without written permission from Room Planners Incorporated.

2

Learn where traditional style comes from and how to identify it. Discover what’s behind this refined lifestyle approach, and see how it influenced color, fashion, art, music, culture, furniture and interior design over time.

Add the cozy charm and clutter of traditional decor to your home with our RoomCues decorating guide. Like a recipe for your room, it offers guidelines for choosing traditional furnishings, paint colors and materials, as well as room-by-room tips and dozens of photos.

This downloadable style guide will help you recognize and translate traditional preferences into choices for home and lifestyle. $9.00

This downloadable decor guide is filled with all the ideas and information you need to create your own traditional style at home. $12.00

NOVEMBER—DECEMBER 2012

www.roomplanners.com

a time for

tradition This timeless approach to design is drawing fans who don’t mind keeping one foot in a familiar, honored past.

British Isles. But its influences may be much broader, encompassing any old world style that suggests order, rigorous quality and the most correct... or at least the original way of doing things.

T

An oriental carpet… an Audubon painting... a tweed throw... a leather wing chair. Is there any design style quite as comfortable and familiar as traditional style?

This well-established, intellectual, even old-fashioned style proudly disregards new-fangled trends. But there’s little about traditional style that’s un-cool today. Its warm, timeless approach is drawing fans who don’t mind keeping one foot in a familiar, honored past.

Such an ancestral style is firmly rooted in stately European influences, especially those of the

Traditional style, as we know it today, developed out of a rational, intellectual world view and still inspires the sturdy furniture, smart geometric patterns, hearty building materials and serious colors the look is known for. It places the tried-and-true ahead of the trendy; a sort of safe haven from too much change!

Given its hearty, slightly masculine vibe, traditional design claims a slightly rugged outdoor quality, and it’s often linked to boating, sporting, hunting, fishing and golfing pursuits. It also uniquely ties together an outdoor athleticwear tradition with an intellectual one, which made it a popular choice in for scholarly institutions, especially on the campuses of American Ivy League universities

in the early to mid 20th century. It’s northeast college campuses, in fact, that still most epitomize traditional style… from their weighty stone or brick-clad buildings to the sturdy furniture and old-fashioned colors found in their interiors and campus fashions… known best as ‘Ivy League’ and ‘preppy’ style.

Menswear patterns, including plaids, tweeds, flannel, khaki and wool serve as a kind of dress code for traditional rooms and apparel, offering a correct solution to those who want to do the right thing, but are also live slightly above the trends.

Traditional homes look steeped in history: familiar and comfortable, but also private and lived-in. The older they are—or at least the older they look, the better, proving that oldstyle quality isn’t usually available in new-style products today.

The traditionalist’s preference for deep, protective colors and hearty materials is symbolic; it provides a wall of insulation against intrusions from the contemporary world.

www.roomplanners.com NOVEMBER— DECEMBER 2012

3

what makes it

traditional style People who like traditional style tend to be the most intellectual of the nine Environmental Personality Profiles.

They thrive on quality and the well-honed, well-mannered traditions of the past.

Like traditional people, traditional colors, fashions, rooms and art show a fondness for ancestral history.

Traditional objects tend to look inherited (or imported from England!), carefully maintained and well--used.

traditional

people If you like traditional style, you value ideas that have passed the test of time… over changing fashion trends. the traditional personality You’re motivated by having the right answers to life’s most challenging questions. You value an intelligent mind and enjoy observing and analyzing the world around you.

Though you may be introspective at times, and prefer a predictable agenda, you likely come alive when thinking about interesting things or solving complex problems. You’re driven by your own curious mind and are rarely bored. You like to maintain control over your feelings and prefer understatement to drama. You value well-made objects as much as you value well-considered thoughts.

Others view you as analytical, curious, bright and reliable.

4

NOVEMBER—DECEMBER 2012

www.roomplanners.com

traditional

color Traditional colors look like they’ve aged well! Inspired by the mellow hues of tapestries and top -grain leather, these intellectual colors feel sturdy, serious, full-bodied and intellectual. the traditional palette Mature, old-fashioned and mellow, traditional colors suggest a well-aged, slightly masculine view of life… influenced by the burnished patinas of old time pieces and leather chairs, the rich hues of medieval tapestries, traditional Christmas décor, tweeds, university crests, wine and brandy.

The traditional palette feels reassuring and permanent. A rich heritage of quality exists behind these sober hues, and traditional colors look unaffected by the passing of time and trends.

They’re the same as they’ve always been and, if anything, seem to improve with age… often darkened or mellowed by the passing of time.

These private, donot-disturb colors feel restrained and slightly aloof.

They convey authenticity, sophistication, maturity and a proud assertion that little improvement is necessary!

traditional

fashion

traditional Traditional fashion is an oxymoron. In fact, to wear traditional apparel is to be slightly anti-fashion.

the traditional wardrobe It’s said that traditional fashions are the perfect choice for the underdressed over-achiever. No other style better implies a brilliant mind camouflaged in casual attire.

Traditional apparel is conservative, predictable and well-mannered; the undisputed choice of preppy students, pipe-smoking scholars, journalists and sporty nature-lovers.

Once inspiring a movement toward informality in a formal fashion world, traditional dress today preserves some of the most famous apparel icons.

Despite an ambivalence toward fashion, traditional dressers have their own panache look, and are preferential to tartans, checks, twill and herringbone—and to the warm, comfortable, rough-hewn tweed, flannel, wool and leather.

rooms

Traditional rooms look old, private, cozy and familiar. They feel stable and familiar in a changing world. the traditional interior This no-nonsense style is ideal for those who prefer a feeling of quality and predictability at home. The look is identified by warm woods, deep-toned colors, turned woods, and slightly ‘overbuilt’ structure.

Rooted in a tradition of logic and reason, traditional rooms look welltailored, with math-inspired geometric patterns that perfectly suit the well-ordered traditional mind! Squares, rectangles and diamond shapes are carved or inlaid into walls, doors, cabinets, window panes and flooring. Strong, well-detailed surfaces replace the need for fancier ornament.

Traditional furniture isn’t afraid to show its age. It also isn’t shy about showing how it was made—or how well it was made. Heavy legs under tables, chairs and sofas are turned, or twisted and often connected in several places.

People who like traditional tend to keep furniture in the family… in part because it lets them stick with what’s already bought, proven, broken -in and comfortable!

traditional

arts & ideas Traditional art tends to focus on the real world, inviting the viewer to observe nature, history or people. the traditional arts An appreciation for traditional style is an appreciation for the deepest, most profound minds of past centuries… whether writers, philosophers, artists or music composers.

Traditional arts and ideas place the powers of observation above all else. They reflect an unrelenting goal of finding answers to complex problems… and making the world more comprehendible for the rest of us!

By their very nature, the traditional arts reinforce discipline, structure and intelligence. The predictable melodies, patterns and rhythms of traditional, or classic, music is said to improve brain function in infants and to help us all think with clarity and logic.

The same can be said about the realism of traditional art and the lasting works of traditional playwrights and authors, whose works are still with us.

www.roomplanners.com NOVEMBER— DECEMBER 2012

5

DID YOU KNOW? The 1920s and ’30s were the “age of the gentleman athlete”, when Douglas Fairbanks and the Duke of Windsor were hailed as fashion icons and the phrase “Ivy League” emerged to describe a multi-school sporting competition.

6

NOVEMBER—DECEMBER 2012

www.roomplanners.com

From ivy league to

ivy style An exhibit at New York’s Fashion Institute reveals American’s love affair with traditional style.

Traditional clothing designs are deeply rooted in an Englishman’s closet. Rugged wools and tweed suited the rugged climate and lifestyle of the British Isles, while tartans and plaids reflected their tradition of clanship. But those styles would quite likely still belong only to the English or Scottish countryside if the traditional wardrobe hadn’t been reinterpreted in 20th century in America... and adopted by prestigious college campuses and students in America.

The look’s association with established and trustworthy traditions is still promoted by country clubs and yacht clubs today, especially those located in eastern states. Its conservative, predictable aesthetic qualities are still upheld by some of the oldest and finest apparel brands, including Burberry, Nautica, Brooks Brothers, Ralph Lauren, Yves Saint Laurent, Tommy Hilfiger and others.

Ivy Style, a current exhibition at the For many people, traditional style is as much about Fashion Institute of Technology in home décor as it is about clothing.

New York examines what became a truly American look known as the “Ivy But for many people, traditional style is as much League Look”, or simply “Ivy” style. It focuses on about home décor as it is about clothing. Traditional clothing worn by young men who attended Ivy League style has proven equally endearing and enduring in and preparatory schools (where Ivy’s offshoot - preppie apparel and furniture. Tweed jackets, madras plaids, style - began), during the 1900s to 1960s. khakis, button-down shirts and repp ties have found their equivalent in the plaids, stripes, tweeds and The look spread beyond the rarified walls of Harvard, button tufting of the traditional interior… while Yale, and Princeton to influence designers and the sturdy tailoring has translated to the rigorous quality evolution of menswear… and the exhibit intermingles and slightly over-built look of traditional furniture. work by contemporary apparel designers. All is set within the liveliness of an Ivy League university The following pages parallel Ivy Style fashions, as campus… from a grassy quad to a classrooms, dorm, seen at this fascinating exhibit, with the equally and fraternities and shop devoted to varsity sports and stylish and understated fashions of traditional interiors. athletic wear… supplemented with period objects that Ivy Style is on exhibit at the Fashion Institute of Technology enhance the stories being told by garments. through January 5th. www.fit.org www.roomplanners.com NOVEMBER— DECEMBER 2012

7

This in-depth book on ‘preppy’ fashion explores its evolution from elite Eastern campuses in America to its influence on the runway. The preppy story is told with iconic photographs and vintage ads illustrating its iconic elements: from Oxford shirts, khakis and Shetland sweaters to Peter Pan collars, madras pants and Lilly Pulitzer tropical blooms.

It also examines the fashion designers who played a key role in shaping the look, from retailers J.Press and Brooks Brothers to Ralph Lauren, who single-handedly marketed not just the look, but the lifestyle.

A style so inspired by quality, tradition and a love of outdoor sports invites a use of top grain leather. Polished, oiled or sauvage leathers are favorites for traditional furniture.

Thomasville

top grain leather

Jeffrey Banks and Doria de La Chapelle

LampsPlus.com

argyle A traditional favorite, argyle patterns (with diamond or intercrossing patterns) were derived from the tartan of Clan Campbell of Argyll in Scotland and used for kilts and socks worn by Scottish Highlanders. It became fashionable in England, then popular in the USA after the first world war. In interiors, the pattern inspires area rugs designs and diamond-shaped multipane windows.

PHOTOS COURTESY: New York Institute of Technology

Americans weren’t the first to wear sports clothes for non-athletic endeavors, but Ivy League students launched the fashion trend.

Inspired by the American football uniform, designer Thom Browne rethought the menswear vernacular in the 21st century, including the use of such basics as knitwear.

Lexington Furniture

8 NOVEMBER—DECEMBER 2012

www.roomplanners.com

Lexington Furniture

Lexington Furniture

Drexel Heritage

button tufts From button-down shirts to button-down sofas, this tidy, tailoring technique lends itself perfectly to the well-fitted look of traditional style. In fact, button tufting on an oiled-leather sofas is iconic in traditional interiors!

Bernhardt

grainy woods Traditional rooms recalls the sturdy look of college libraries, communal dining halls and wood-paneled bars.

Traditional wood grains look strong and grainy, while traditional wood furniture tends to look sturdy (even over-built) and inherited.

LEFT, argyle sweaters and V-neck pullovers may suggest the tweedy, intellectual ‘college professor’, but the look also reveals the increasingly casual campus style of the mid 1960s. RIGHT, the Brooks Brothers “Prep Ensemble” of 1940, reissued in 2012.

Thomasville

Thomasville Furniture

Thomasville Furniture

www.roomplanners.com NOVEMBER—DECEMBER 2012

9

Lexington

Once the uniform of Madison Avenue executives and the mid 20th century social climber… today’s gray flannel is more likely to inspire a welltailored sofa.

gray flannel

Harris tweed sportcoats are part of the classic apparel repertoire, but tweed can refer to any variety of wool fabrics woven in a rough, multi-colored twill. Wind and water resistant, it’s standard wear in the British Isles for sport activities… and carries a low-key sophistication: cultured and intellectual, but casual.

tweed

PHOTOS COURTESY: New York Institute of Technology

A certain formality existed in apparel common among men of the pre-WWII ear. Even in relaxed settings, such as a dorm room, collared shirts, ties and woolen or flannel trousers were worn under robes. LEFT, Lounging robe, Brooks Bros, 1958.

RIGHT. Seersucker robe, 1950

Lexington Furniture

10

NOVEMBER—DECEMBER 2012

www.roomplanners.com

Shetland tweed sport coat, vest and trouser. Jeffrey Banks, 1982.

Lexington Furniture

LampsPlus.com

Associated with British gentry and the very preppy Repp tie, diagonal stripe patterns usually translate into straighter stripe patterns on traditional furniture. But they lose little of their regimented or club look.

stripes

A favorite for libraries and desks, the ‘piano’ or ‘banker’ lamp (in glass-andbrass or antique metal) is a traditional icon.

Publication of The Official Preppy Handbook in the 1980s was a catalyst for bringing back Ivy Style.

As “the first guide to the Traditions, Mannerisms, Etiquette, Dress Codes, Family and How to be Really Top Drawer”, this book sold 1.3 million copies, many to aspiring prepsters wanting to know where to shop and what to wear.

Khaki began its life as a uniform for American war veterans.

Khaki-colored chino became Ivy League’s unofficial uniform when GIs wore it to college after World War II. On furniture, khaki is considered a color as much as a fabric, and suggests a casual, well -travelled sophistication.

khaki

In 1967, Ivy Style lost popularity in America. But Ralph Lauren founded a company in 1968 with one of the founding looks of preppy style: the blue Oxford button-down shirt with club stripe tie, striped suspenders, flat front chinos and classic brown-and-white shoes worn with yellow cable socks (second from left).

LEFT TO RIGHT. Ralph Lauren, 2002, 1980, 2003.

Lexington Furniture

Lexington Furniture

Lexington Furniture

www.roomplanners.com NOVEMBER—DECEMBER 2012

11

Ivy Style traces the key periods of this menswear look... the interwar years when classic English tweed jackets and polo coats were adapted by firms such as Brooks Brothers and J. Press for men attending elite East Coast colleges... from 1945 to the late 1960s, when Ivy Style staples (oxford shirts, khaki pants, and penny loafers), were worn by working-class students and jazz musicians… and the current revival of the Ivy look that began in the early 1980s.

brown It’s more than a name of an Ivy league school!

Brown hues inspired by the outdoors are always favored over black in traditional apparel and interiors.

Bruce G. Boyer

Craftmaster

camel Still associated with a stylish Ralph Lauren Polo Coat, camel suggests a warm color as much a warm as a tactile, refined texture… adding sophistication to home furnishing fabrics or accents.

PHOTOS COURTESY: New York Institute of Technology

Ralph Lauren led a rebirth of the Ivy League aesthetic in the late 20th century. His appreciation for traditional Anglo-American style led to the British tailored-American sportswear style for which he’s known. The double-breasted Polo Coat with half belt and cuffed sleeves was an iconic look, mixing ease and tradition.

Drexel Heritage Furniture

12

NOVEMBER—DECEMBER 2012

Thomasville Furniture

www.roomplanners.com

American Drew Furnit

ture

brick & stone

Traditional architecture recalls college campuses with their historic, hearty materials. Brick and stone are the favorites.

The Ivy League is more than a group of eight universities.

Attending one of these prominent schools provides entrée into a world of exclusivity and private clubs—a ‘membership that never expires’.

The Ivy League admits readers to the world's most revered institutions, portraying the character of each school and what sets it apart, from renowned graduates and dominant political stances to athletic rivalries, architectural styles, popular fashion and more.

Daniel Cappello

bronze Bronze may owe its popularity as a metal to traditional style’s love of brown... or to its respect for the past. It’s usually thought more subtle and stylish than bright brass or silver.

Early to mid 20th century college campuses impacted fashions trends of the day. The raccoon coat was a1920s fad, even depicted on the cover the Saturday Evening Post.

Lexington Furniture

In the1970s and 80s, Perry Ellis offered a unique interpretation of Ivy Style using tweed and other classic ‘Ivy’ materials. He reworked proportions using high fashion inspirations, including cropped sweaters and wider jackets.

Thomasville Furniture

www.roomplanners.com NOVEMBER— DECEMBER 2012

13

Take Ivy was published in Japan in 1965, setting off an explosion of Americaninfluenced “Ivy Style” fashion among students in trendy parts of Tokyo. The book is a collection of candid photographs shot on the campuses of America’s elite Ivy League universities.

Whether lounging in the quad, studying in the library, at the boathouse, riding bike or in class, the subjects of Take Ivy are impeccably dressed in the finest American-made garments of the time.

Drexel Heritage Belk.com

Craftmaster

oxblood

Thomasville Furniture

14

It’s an ideal color for traditionally-styled leather sofas and chairs, but this sophisticated brownish-red is a popular choice for artwork and accents, too, and appears regularly in plaid patterns. Also known as maroon.

Drexel Heritage Furniture

NOVEMBER—DECEMBER 2012

www.roomplanners.com

PHOTOS COURTESY: New York Institute of Technology

Plaids are quintessentially ivy style. Above, fashion designer Jeffrey Banks followed Ralph Lauren’s lead in American menswear looks, with elegant and colorful interpretations of traditional menswear tailoring.

Tartan sport coat, 1980.

Thomasville Furniture

Dre

Plaid and tartan patterns’ roots in the British Isles make it a favorite choice for traditional home furnishings—especially accent chairs, ottomans, toss pillows and towels.

Thomasville

PLAID

HUNTING hues

This chemistry lab vignette shows the increasingly casual campus style of mid 1960s… and the popularity of Madras plaids; a lightweight cloth from India in solid colors or random stripes and plaids. It was prized for shirting and it bled when washed; producing intriguing new coloring effects.

exel Heritage

Thomasville Furniture

Aspenhome Furniture

Traditional colors feel mature, intellectual and well-bred today, but ironically, they’re rooted in nature. They were after all, favorites for outdoor sporting in the English country side… and when used on home furnishings, bring an athletic, outdoor quality inside.

Drexel Heritage Furniture

www.roomplanners.com NOVEMBER—DECEMBER 2012

15

If all this talk about Ivy Style and Tradition has you counting the days until Christmas, here’s a special treat for the holidays… proudly made the old-fashioned way!

TRADITIONAL Eggnog Makes 10 (1/2-cup) servings 6 eggs 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/8 tsp salt 2 cups whole or 2% milk 2 cups half-and-half cream (10% MF) 2 tsp vanilla Whisk eggs, sugar and salt in a large heavy saucepan until blended. Whisk in milk.

Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat a metal spoon with a thin film and/or temperature reaches 160˚F. This will take about 15 minutes. The mixture should not boil. Remove from heat immediately.

Tips and Serving Suggestions:

Stir in cream and vanilla. For a very smooth eggnog, pour mixture through a sieve.

Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight until thoroughly chilled.

16

NOVEMBER—DECEMBER 2012



Top each serving with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkle of grated nutmeg. Serve with a cinnamon stick for stirring.



Ground cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves can be added to the milk mixture.



If desired, stir in 1/2 to 3/4 cup rum, brandy, bourbon, chocolate liqueur or Amaretto before chilling.



If serving from a punch bowl, garnish the base with holly… or ivy!



Use any leftovers to make French toast.

www.roomplanners.com