J. Press Springs Take Ivy to Life at New York Fashion Week

Jack Carlson staged more than a show; he staged an excavation of preppy style. For Spring/Summer 2026, J. Press presented at the New York Historical Society during New York Fashion Week, with models walking barefoot through the venue carrying oars as the collection riffed directly on the 1965 Japanese photo book Take Ivy. “For the show, I want it to be like the book has sprung to life,” Carlson said.

Take Ivy, published in Japan in 1965 by four menswear enthusiasts, has long been treated as a style bible for Ivy League dress. Carlson wrote a new foreword for a J. Press special edition of the book, and a copy of that special edition was left on each guest’s seat during the presentation. The Take Ivy photographers even credited J. Press with helping to shape the original Ivy look, a lineage Carlson consciously leaned into.

Design-wise Carlson “co-opted and adapted” many Ivy staples, a methodology that produced a bulk of casual, heavily signaled campuswear alongside a handful of formal surprises. Button-down oxford shirts, madras pants and shorts, varsity jackets, T-shirts with vertical stripes, and V-neck sweaters threaded through the collection; WWD reported that “sweaters and jackets with patches and names of the schools abounded.” Those casual pieces shared space with plaid blazers, double-breasted suits, the obligatory repp tie, and updated tuxedos with Blackwatch pants paired with varsity jackets. A bold orange and black Princeton-inspired blazer appeared with a bow tie, underlining Carlson’s appetite for mixing formality and school-house swagger.

The staging amplified authenticity rather than gloss. Forbes described the presentation as “celebrating the candid moments on campus versus an idealized version of them,” with models barefoot and carrying oars to puncture any sense of costume. The result felt intentionally lived-in, the kind of archival look rebooted for everyday wear rather than museum display.

That everyday wear is already on the J. Press site. J. Press lists its Rover Intarsia Knit Cotton Sweater in cream at $295 as a pre-order, a Made-in-USA Brown Herringbone Cotton Sport Coat at $995, a Purple with Green Stripe Oxford Cloth Sport Shirt at $198, and a Made-in-England Red & Yellow Cable Knit Cricket Sweater at $495. The brand’s online navigation also merchandises Take Ivy and a collegiate shop that includes Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and other Ivy schools.

Carlson, the former founder of Rowing Blazers, positioned the collection as both homage and update. “One of the things I love about Take Ivy is the way in which it captures students as they were. It is neither styled nor staged. It’s authentic, just like J. Press,” he said, and he suggested that as this look moves into the mainstream it will expand the reach of a brand born on Yale’s campus in 1902 and now owned by Onward Holdings since 1986. The SS26 show made that case visually and commercially, turning a 1965 style manual into a living, wearable moment for 2026.