Black Ivy
by Fred Woodworth
Mentioned once across 1 show · first heard Mar 2026 on My First Million.
The general take
Sam Parr describes Black Ivy as a book he genuinely loved that explores how Black men in America adopted Ivy Style fashion in the 1960s, using it as a reference point to understand the origins of workwear and style trends he was interested in.
About
How Black culture reinvented and subverted the Ivy Look Named one of the best books of 2021 by The Financial Times From the most avant-garde jazz musicians, visual artists and poets to architects, philosophers and writers, Black Ivy: A Revolt in Style charts a period in American history when Black men across the country adopted the clothing of a privileged elite and made it their own. It shows how a generation of men took the classic Ivy Look and made it cool, edgy and unpredictable in ways that continue to influence today's modern menswear. Here you will see some famous, infamous and not so famous figures in Black culture such as Amiri Baraka, Charles White, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., James Baldwin, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Sidney Poitier, and how they reinvented Ivy and Prep fashion―the dominant looks of the time.
Who said what
Sam Parr👍 Recommends
…studying the history and cultural significance of ivy style fashion
“I also loved workwear, which basically just means what poor workers would wear. Denim, a lot of functional clothing, just basically blue collar stuff. And then the third one was this thing called Ivy Style. And I started to ask myself why. And so I read these books. This is another book that I love. It's called Black Ivy. It's about how in the 1960s, black men in America started copying the Ivy style, which is a traditionally white person's fashion. They wore it out of an act of defiance and wanting to fit in.”
My First Million — The Skill That Made Steve Jobs Exceptional (and how to learn it)at 11:45
Listener reviews
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