Illustrated Ivy: Fold-out Poster Guide to the Elements of Ivy League Style

A fold-out poster guide to the elements of Ivy League style as interpreted by veteran Japanese illustrator Kazuo Hozumi.

Since the 1960s, Kazuo Hozumi has documented the minutiae of Ivy League-style clothing. His cheerful characters are shown wearing button-down shirts, buckle-back chinos, natural shoulder herringbone tweed jackets and the plethora of items that fall within this style.

Hozumi’s finely observed illustration work has gained a cult for the unerring accuracy with which he depicts menswear and his deceptively simple style, with echoes of both Japanese Kokeshi dolls and American children's author and illustrator Richard Scarry.

Illustrated Ivy is the first time Kazuo Hozumi’s Ivy illustrations have been available with his accompanying text in English.

Fiction, reality and the otherworldly co-exist in Herb Lester’s universe. Since 2010, our illustrated maps have documented the distinctive in the world’s great cities as well as charting locations associated with literature, rock’n’roll, the occult and wider pop culture. Increasingly untethered to the real world, our range of notepads from fictional hotels make ideal souvenirs from places no one can visit.

Kazuo Hozumi (b. 1930) began work as an architect but quickly became one of the top fashion illustrators in Japan as the main artist for Otoko no Fukushoku (the precursor to Men’s Club magazine). He developed his signature character of "Ivy boy" (aibii bōya) in 1963 for a group show and continued to work with the character design throughout his life. His book Illustrated Ivy was first published in Japan in 1981 and his work still regularly appears in Japanese men's fashion magazines.