Jack Carlson Reimagines J. Press Ivy-League Heritage via Take Ivy Special Edition

Jack Carlson staged J. Press’s Spring/Summer 2026 runway presentation at the New York Historical Society, placing a special-edition copy of the 1965 book Take Ivy with his new foreword on each guest’s seat and making the book both prop and manifesto. Carlson, J. Press president and creative director and formerly of Rowing Blazers, framed the show as “a tribute to the 1965 Japanese book ‘Take Ivy,’ which now is a kind of style bible for the Ivy League look.”

The presentation doubled as a brand history lesson. J. Press traces its origins to Yale in 1902 and the company copy notes that it “created ‘the Ivy League look’,” listing patrons Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Robert Frost, George Plimpton, and Presidents Roosevelt, Kennedy, Ford, Bush, and Clinton. The label’s flagship locations in New York, New Haven, Washington D.C., and Tokyo anchor the narrative Carlson mined on the Upper West Side stage.

Carlson made the connection literal. He told WWD that “J. Press features very prominently in the book and is credited by the authors and photographers as helping to create the Ivy League look,” and said he “co‑opted and adapted” many Ivy League staples for the collection. WWD’s Digital Daily, dated February 17, 2026, reported that the show took place “Monday afternoon” and ran with the line that Carlson’s edit both honored and updated the house codes.

The clothes read like a field guide to Ivy, updated. The runway included button-down oxford shirts, madras pants and madras shorts, V-neck sweaters, vertical-striped T-shirts, and sweaters and jackets stitched with school patches and names. Dressier moments arrived in plaid blazers, double-breasted suits, and the obligatory repp ties. J. Press balanced casual and formal pieces so the bulk of the collection leaned sporty while pockets of tailoring kept the lineage visible.

Standout pairings made the point. WWD highlighted updated tuxedos worn with blackwatch pants and paired with a varsity jacket, and it called out a bold orange and black Princeton-inspired blazer worn with a bow tie. Those juxtapositions, cricket-sweater texture against tuxedo wool, madras summer weight against academic patchwork, were the show’s clearest argument for relevance.

The J. Press shop and runway speak the same language. Items on the brand site such as the Rover Intarsia Knit Cotton Sweater - Cream Cotton, the Made-in-USA Brown Herringbone Cotton Sport Coat, the Made-in-USA Purple with Green Stripe Oxford Cloth Sport Shirt - Classic Fit, and the Made-in-England Red & Yellow Cable Knit Cricket Sweater reinforce production notes that accompany the archive-driven collection.

WWD summed the outcome plainly: “With this collection, Carlson succeeded in staying true to the core of both J. Press and ivy style while modernizing the looks for today.” The book on each seat and Carlson’s Rowing Blazers provenance made the show feel like stewardship rather than revival, an active handing of the Ivy baton into contemporary hands. WWD added that “The ‘Take Ivy’ team would undoubtedly approve,” a tidy endorsement for a show that was equal parts museum installation and closet update.