# Everything You Always Wanted to Know About PREP, But Were Too Stuck-Up to Ask



## R0ME0 (Feb 10, 2010)

By Mike Steere
Blade Staff Writer​
For lack of a better word, we'll stick to the label that has been so cavalierly sewn on the recent resurgence of classic conservative clothing - Preppy.​
What Preppy really means is someone who went to a fancy eastern boarding school, which is to say somebody whose daddy and grandaddy had pots of money.​
In clothing, the word denotes a style based on a small number of expensive, natural-fabric, subdued-color pieces. The things that have been worn for at least 35 years by the spoiled scions of old money.​
The basic idea of preppiness is to look rich and as though you've been rich so long you don't have to flash it.​
The hard part of it is that you have to look rich while wearing different combinations of a half-dozen garments that come in dull colors and crumple up as soon as you put them on.​
There are rules here. You can't, for instance, money up your appearance with Las Vegas displays of gemstones. Nothing gaudy is allowed.​
Preppy is not an easy look. If you don't FEEL preppy, you can't possibly look preppy.​
The idea is to wear a $250 blazer and $80 slacks like coveralls. Even if you got it last week, the prep ensemble should look as if you were born in it and that, at the time of your birth, your father was wearing the same thing.​
Prep knows no age. The basic prep components are about the same from high school through retirement.​
There's nothing new here. For at least 35 years - through all the vagaries of fashion weather - the ship of classic conservatism has sailed on. The same people have bought traditional in the same places, and they will continue to do so until the last martini is mixed and the last bridge hand dealt.​
If you want to wear these time-honored styles with authority, it is necessary to look like one of those people. With the newcomer to prepdom in mind, we have prepared the following short encyclopedia of prep.​
*The Preppy Look For Men*​
From Frank Kahle, owner of Neil's Men's Shop in Ottawa Hills, one of Toledo's shrines to traditional clothing:​
Like most people who are serious about this stuff, Mr. Kahle doesn't like calling what he sells "preppy." This appellation is merely a glib commercial label for a system of dress whose devotees are, like Mr. Kahle, religious.​
This man is an absolute fetishist for tradition. If a garment isn't cotton, wool, silk, or lambskin suede, he wants nothing to do with it.​
To be a purist, he says, is to cultivate snobbery.​
Basic prep items, according to Mr. Kahle, are the all-cotton button-down shirt, cotton khaki trousers, Shetland woolen sweater, serge regimental-striped belt, wool blazer, and the various species of Ivy League shoe.​
The khakis are "the jeans of traditional clothing." Mr. Kahle also acknowledges the admission of blue denim jeans and corduroy Levis to prepdom. Regretfully.​
Ties ought to be silk, maybe wool or cotton for summer, in either a regimental stripe or Foulard pattern, (plain field with rows of little colored cells). The apogee of tie tradition is a burgundy and navy-blue regimental stripe. A true believer might have two or three of these.​
Mr. Kahle frowns on club ties, the ones with little sporty things like pheasants, golf clubs, or sailboats.​
A preppy pretender, Mr. Kahle says, can be spotted at 100 yards.​
Suit or suit jacket shoulders tell the tale. Padded shoulders are very unprep, as are jackets with too much tailoring. True traditional clothing has natural shoulders and a sack shape.​
Count the jacket buttons. Two is unprep. Three is the thing.​
Pay attention to the rumple, Mr. Kahle says. Natural fabrics, unlike natural-synthetic blends, wrinkle. "Traditional clothing rumples, and it looks rumpled, and that is a very accepted, prestigious look."​
Pills around the collar - those minuscule fuzzballs - are another sign of the unprep, Mr. Kahle says. The pills only form on synthetic-blend shirts, which are not part of the purist's wardrobe.​
Cuffs are the stuff of tradition. You can get by with plain-bottom khakis, but Mr. Kahle encourages cuffs on all trousers.​
The true believer doesn't like new clothes. Certainly not new-looking clothes. The rapport between man and garment has to be relaxed and intimate, like old friends.​
Your sheepskin suede sport jacket (ultra-suede is absolutely outre) doesn't come into its own for two years.​
Old preppy saying: "Weejuns aren't worth a damn unless you've worn them in the shower." Shoes should look broken-in. Shined, but never too shined.​
Shoe advice from Mr. Kahle for women: Don't move into colored Sperry Topsiders until you have a standard brown pair. Always build from the traditional ground up.​
*The Body*​
For men, broad-shouldered and athletic, but never overmuscled. Preps pushing 30 are sleek in a slightly dissipated way, the sort of body that is build on a regimen of martinis and light exercise.​
Preps are never fat or overly robust. The prep body doesn't call attention to itself. It is a rack for expensive clothes.​
Prep women, like prep men, shouldn't have overly generous proportions. This is a very good year to be flat-chested. [Ed. note: _I beg to differ._]​
Preps should cultivate a sallow tan - outdoorsy, but not baked cocoa-brown. All things in moderation.​
*Parameters of the Preppy Life-Style*​
ANIMALS - Dogs can be very preppy. Tops are floppy, affable, big breeds that swim and retrieve. The Golden Labrador is as preppy as anything sold at Brooks. Any bird dog with a high-price pedigree is acceptable. It pays to spend a little extra for a distinctive breed. English setters, for instance, are preppier than Irish setters. Avoid miniatures and long-haired Orientals. If you must have a cat - a big tabby with a name like Bob, who has a few funny eccentricities, can dress up a prep household. No show cats.​
WHAT TO FIND IN THE MAILBOX - Fraternity newsletter, alumni-association fund appeal, Bergdorf Goodman, Inc., fall catalog, and a letter from anyone on Nantucket.​
WHEELS - Two seater convertibles. Sport car names with age - MG, Triumph, Austin, Fiat - are high on the prep list. The Japanese are building tremendous sports cars, but Datsuns and Mazdas somehow don't achieve preppiness. It's tradition, not how the thing runs, that counts. Classic Mercedes coupes, Jaguar XKEs, and restored Morgans are the absolute pinnacle. For family preppies, a green Volvo wagon.​
SMOKES - Any American brand dating before World War II. The serious preppy smoker shuns filters. Smoke whatever dad smoked. English imports like Players are a very preppy option. Nothing funny-colored, too long, or menthol. For those who are quitting or cutting down (a very preppy thing these days), Benson and Hedges lights.​
A PREPPY MEMENTO - Stateroom key from the R.M.S. Olympic (sister ship to the Titanic). Grandmamma's 1927 crossing.​
LABELS - Brooks (of course), Villager, J.G. Hook, L.L. Bean, Hickey-Freeman, Pendleton, Cole-Haan, Sperry, Etienne Aigner, Burberry, Izod, John Henry, Bass, Evan Picone, Calvin Klein, Sero, Troy Shirtmakers Guild, Southwyck [_sic_].​
NUMBERS - For men, 3-1/2. In inches, it's the correct width for jacket lapel, tie and shirt collar. The cuff on pants is 1-3/4 inches deep.​
JOBS - Preppiest of all is an easy berth in Dad's or Uncle's company. Lawyer, accountant, or banker will do. It is very preppy to follow in male ancestor's footsteps. Medicine can pass; if done in the correct, relaxed spirit. A preppy wants most of all to be able to wear fabulous suits to the office, take long lunch hours, and get away early for squash or skeet shooting.​
POLITICS - GOP, as if you didn't know. Distant involvement in politics, which to the true prep is a mite unsavory, like food wholesaling or auto parts.​
FUN AND GAMES - Sailing, tennis, or any other racket sport, fly-fishing, volunteer work, tailgate parties at the alma mater's football games, grouse hunting, and bridge. In all things the true preppy is a very sporting second-stringer - a better cruiser than racer. Marathon running, although very chic, is not preppy.​
COLORS - For everything. Khaki, forest green, charcoal, maroon, navy-blue, white and camel.​
LIBATIONS - The operative word is clean. Martinis, very dry. Scotch by the label. Bombay Gin. For mixers, tonic, soda, or water. Sipping sherry is acceptable, as is after-dinner liqueur, or brandy. Preppy soft drinks are apt to be gin drinks minus the gin - iced tonic or soda water with a lime wedge. Preppiest citrus is grapefruit juice. Booze is in decanters at home. For travel, silver flask with granddad's initials.​
FOOD - Fresh, never frozen. Meat cut to order. The prep-steak is New York strip 1-1/4 inches thick. Nothing from cans. Marketing is four-or-five stop adventure. Preppy moms bake secret-recipe oatmeal cookies for little prepsters. (Chocolate chips might make them break out).​
BRANCH OF SERVICE - Navy.​
HABITS - Regimentation - ordered and secure. No oversleeping. Social calendars. Little leather notebooks with lists of things to do. It is very preppy to slavishly follow any personal pattern observed in one's family for three or more generations, whether or not it makes sense.​
PREPOURRI - Helly-Hansen foul-weather gear. Wooden-shafted golf clubs. Watches worn inside of the wrist. Tortoiseshell glasses' frames (See color photos of John Dean in Senate Watergate hearings). Gladstone bags. Anything British. Last year's Topsiders repaired with sailing twine from dunnage bag on Uncle Roy's ketch. Ancestor formerly on the board of Pierce-Arrow Motorcar Co.​
*Where Ivy League Traditions Began*​
The men's Ivy League clothing traditions on which preppy fashions are based emanate from Brooks Brothers in New York.​
This classic look might as well be known as the Brooks look. The venerable clothier, established in 1818, started and perpetuated the traditions of "traditional" clothing.​
Brooks, according to a company spokesman, introduced the button-down collar about 1900, after one of the Brooks family had seen British polo players with collars buttoned down so they wouldn't fly up during games.​
At Brooks, the button-down is still called the polo collar.​
In 1890, Brooks brought over from England the silk Foulard necktie.​
The company introduced the Shetland woolen sweater for men in 1904, and they began selling the crew-necked woolen sweater for women in 1912.​
The pink shirt for men - absolutely nothing is preppier - was born at Brooks Brothers in 1890. Women got pink Brooks shirts in 1949.​
Seersucker and cotton cord are Brooks innovations from the 1930s.​
Brooks gave birth in the United States to Argyle hose.​
In 1918, the company made its first natural-fitting, three-button suit. Formerly, suit jackets had four buttons.​
Brooks was also responsible for the first cotton-and-polyester blend shirt, an innovation which clothing purists won't wear.​
The coming-together of all the components of today's preppiness didn't transpire until just before World War II, the Brooks spokesman said. And the establishment of the "classic" collegiate look didn't occur until after the disruption of campus life occasioned by World War II.​
*The Shoe*​
Guess - you'll never get this one - how come the G.H. Bass and Co.'s classic penny loafer is called the Weejun?​
It is not a cute contraction of an Indian name, an entirely plausible etymology for a hand-sewn moccasin made in Maine.​
Weejun is short for Norwegian. The basic uniform shoe of prepdom is an import from Scandinavia.​
According to Joseph Peach, Bass marketing director, Bass family members saw the shoe in Norwary in 1936, and bought permission to bring the design back home.​
The distinctive yoke across the front of the shoe is for reinforcement, Mr. Peach said. He doesn't know if the decorative slit was designed to hold coins, or how and when the first penny was put into the penny loafer.​
The Weejun as we see it now is the way Bass began building it in the late 30s. Rolled leather on the sides and heavily decorative stitching are penny-loafer innovations introduced by other companies.​
It wasn't until the late 50s that the penny loafer became a collegiate standard. One of the earliest indications that the Weejun was becoming a campus must-have was a1960 note in the University of North Carolina Daily Tar Heel. Those "with-it" just had to have Weejuns, the Tar Heel said.​
Prep-crazed 1980 Americans are buying Weejuns as fast as the company can make them.​
Source:​
Toledo Blade - 8/27/80​
[Ed. Note: This article predates the release of The Official Preppy Handbook (published in October 1980) by just a few weeks. In my opinion, there are too many similarities between the topics covered here and the OPH to believe that Mr. Steere did not have access to an advance copy. Refreshingly absent - references to 'pink and green' and 'go-to-hell' clothing.]​


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## R0ME0 (Feb 10, 2010)

I found this article over at https://theivyleaguelook.blogspot.com/ It was posted on September 24, 2009

Good stuff!


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## Coleman (Mar 18, 2009)

Hurray! Just what the world needed, another Preppy-as-Lifestyle manual of satire that 99.9% of readers will misinterpret.


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## Coleman (Mar 18, 2009)

I don't want it to seem like I wished ROMEO hadn't posted this or that I think it's even a bad article (I just hate the ramifications).

It's interesting and has some good historical info.


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## The Rambler (Feb 18, 2010)

true, but for the other .0001, fun. I found the branch of service:Navy comment interesting ... smack! [slaps himself] ...just stop! quit it! :icon_smile_wink:


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## My Pet. A Pantsuit (Dec 25, 2008)

I wasn't aware there was a preppiest _steak_, but I know now.


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## WouldaShoulda (Aug 5, 2009)

R0ME0 said:


> Mr. Kahle frowns on club ties, the ones with little sporty things like pheasants, golf clubs, or sailboats.​


Heritic!!

Stone him!!


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## Paul Henning (May 12, 2010)

That's a great article. Thank you for posting it.


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## Paul Henning (May 12, 2010)

Do people really wear watches inside their wrists? It seems uncomfortable to me.


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## P Hudson (Jul 19, 2008)

Coleman said:


> Hurray! Just what the world needed, another Preppy-as-Lifestyle manual of satire that 99.9% of readers will misinterpret.


Why do you think it is satire? Because it is nothing more than observations by an unappreciative outsider? I define satire as the use of irony to expose and deride something. This obviously contains some satirical elements, but that doesn't make it a satire. It might mean nothing more than that the writer has adopted a breezy style.


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## Cardinals5 (Jun 16, 2009)

"LABELS - Brooks (of course), Villager, J.G. Hook, L.L. Bean, Hickey-Freeman, Pendleton, Cole-Haan, Sperry, Etienne Aigner, Burberry, Izod, John Henry, Bass, Evan Picone, Calvin Klein, Sero, Troy Shirtmakers Guild, Southwyck [_sic_]."

Some really dull stuff in that article. I'm with Coleman in being anti-prep as lifestyle (my friends and I called people who wore RL in the 1980s "cake eaters" because they bought into the whole RL marketing scheme). The only interesting part for me was the list of "labels" that were considered (by whom?) "prep" in 1980 - Etienne Aigner? John Henry? Evan Picone? Calvin Klein????!!!! I've seen all of these labels either in stores or in thrift stores and can testify to the utterly poor quality of most of their offerings. I'm a bit surprised to see Pendleton and Hickey-Freeman in that list. The only one I've never heard of, and would be interested in hearing something about, is Villager. Anyone know anything about Villager?


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## Cardinals5 (Jun 16, 2009)

P Hudson said:


> Why do you think it is satire?...This obviously contains some satirical elements, but that doesn't make it a satire. It might mean nothing more than that the writer has adopted a breezy style.


I take most of the article, except the obvious shilling for the clothier, as satire. When the journalist moves away from "straight" reporting on the clothing of a "preppy" is when the satire, at least to my eye, really begins. Particularly obvious are entire passages like this: "FOOD - Fresh, never frozen. Meat cut to order. The prep-steak is New York strip 1-1/4 inches thick. Nothing from cans. Marketing is four-or-five stop adventure. Preppy moms bake secret-recipe oatmeal cookies for little prepsters. (Chocolate chips might make them break out)."


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## P Hudson (Jul 19, 2008)

Cardinals5 said:


> I take most of the article, except the obvious shilling for the clothier, as satire. When the journalist moves away from "straight" reporting on the clothing of a "preppy" is when the satire, at least to my eye, really begins. Particularly obvious are entire passages like this: "FOOD - Fresh, never frozen. Meat cut to order. The prep-steak is New York strip 1-1/4 inches thick. Nothing from cans. Marketing is four-or-five stop adventure. Preppy moms bake secret-recipe oatmeal cookies for little prepsters. (Chocolate chips might make them break out)."


But if you shifted your paradigm for a moment and saw prep as life-style, then these passages would make perfect sense. To read them as satire, it seems to me, is to assume that the author shares your view. I'm not saying he doesn't, just that it isn't as clear to me as it is to some.


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## Cardinals5 (Jun 16, 2009)

I can see how someone would understand "prep" as a lifestyle, I just think all the "outsider" accounts such as the above newspaper article aren't nearly hitting the mark and instead drift off into satire. At least to my eye the business about "prep-steak" and "chocolate chips might make them break out" is clearly meant to be derisive. The same goes for all the latter little sections on the "daily life" and "social habits" of the prepster: "No oversleeping. Social calendars. Little leather notebooks with lists of things to do. It is very preppy to slavishly follow any personal pattern observed in one's family for three or more generations, whether or not it makes sense." What does a "prep" do when he has a hangover, but isn't allowed to oversleep?


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## tlwhhf (Mar 1, 2010)

Golden Labrador? Surely you jest. Golden Retriever or Yellow Labrador. At least get the animal part right.


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## P Hudson (Jul 19, 2008)

Cardinals5 said:


> I can see how someone would understand "prep" as a lifestyle, I just think all the "outsider" accounts such as the above newspaper article aren't nearly hitting the mark and instead drift off into satire. At least to my eye the business about "prep-steak" and "chocolate chips might make them break out" is clearly meant to be derisive. The same goes for all the latter little sections on the "daily life" and "social habits" of the prepster: "No oversleeping. Social calendars. Little leather notebooks with lists of things to do. It is very preppy to slavishly follow any personal pattern observed in one's family for three or more generations, whether or not it makes sense." What does a "prep" do when he has a hangover, but isn't allowed to oversleep?


I hope you know that I'm not just trying to be argumentative, and that I respect your position. In fact, I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you--just probing the issues a bit. Let me ask two things: (1) are the examples you cited different from what you'd find in any essay that tries to interject a bit of humor/style into the discussion (I try to do that even in my academic writings)? (2) Does Take Ivy always "hit the mark" and avoid satire?


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## Bradford (Dec 10, 2004)

Paul Henning said:


> Do people really wear watches inside their wrists? It seems uncomfortable to me.


Ronald Reagan did this. It was a habit he developed while working on the radio as an easier way to turn his wrist and see the time. I emulated it for many years during college and after.


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## phyrpowr (Aug 30, 2009)

Cardinals5 said:


> "LABELS - Brooks (of course), Villager, J.G. Hook, L.L. Bean, Hickey-Freeman, Pendleton, Cole-Haan, Sperry, Etienne Aigner, Burberry, Izod, John Henry, Bass, Evan Picone, Calvin Klein, Sero, Troy Shirtmakers Guild, Southwyck [_sic_]."
> 
> Some really dull stuff in that article. I'm with Coleman in being anti-prep as lifestyle (my friends and I called people who wore RL in the 1980s "cake eaters" because they bought into the whole RL marketing scheme). The only interesting part for me was the list of "labels" that were considered (by whom?) "prep" in 1980 - Etienne Aigner? John Henry? Evan Picone? Calvin Klein????!!!! I've seen all of these labels either in stores or in thrift stores and can testify to the utterly poor quality of most of their offerings. I'm a bit surprised to see Pendleton and Hickey-Freeman in that list. The only one I've never heard of, and would be interested in hearing something about, is Villager. Anyone know anything about Villager?


Villager was a women's brand, gf in high school (late '60s) had to have Villager skirts/blouses, men's equivalent: Gant shirts, Lord Jeff sweaters


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## Pink and Green (Jul 22, 2009)

Bradford said:


> Ronald Reagan did this. It was a habit he developed while working on the radio as an easier way to turn his wrist and see the time. I emulated it for many years during college and after.


The inside wrist position was (apocryphal info here) originated by pilots in WWII wearing easily scratched watches that they needed easy access to when flying. Since one can't take ones hands off the controls just to check the time, the inside wrist position is ideal.

Do I do it? No, it seems...uncomfortable.


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## Trip English (Dec 22, 2008)

Bradford said:


> Ronald Reagan did this. It was a habit he developed while working on the radio as an easier way to turn his wrist and see the time. I emulated it for many years during college and after.


It's also employed by psychiatrists so as not to appear to check the time. I've seen noted trad Tucker Carlson do it as well, but I couldn't say why.


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## Bradford (Dec 10, 2004)

It's actually comfortable when you have a watch with a leather or fabric band. I don't find that it works with a metal band.

Just noticed the reference to J.G. Hook as a brand in the article. I had a J.G. Hook blue blazer for many years and still have a J.G. Hook double-breasted trenchcoat that is too small for me now. The trench is an exact replica of the iconic Burberry with the plaid lining and button-out camel hair lining and collar as well. What's interesting is that I got both of them at Price Club in the late 80's while I was in college. My understanding was that J.G. Hook was one of those brands that made a lot of stuff for department store labels.

Come to think of it, I should probably list the trench for sale here. It's more than 20-years old, but with the majority of the time being in Arizona, its rarely ever been worn.


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## Youngster (Jun 5, 2008)

The clothes info is good, and I like that it does not recommend the more GTH stuff. 
But I don;t like the whole lifestyle thing, and all it's prescriptions. 
Nor do I like the fetish of waspishness.


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## Mississippi Mud (Oct 15, 2009)

Trip English said:


> It's also employed by psychiatrists so as not to appear to check the time. I've seen noted trad Tucker Carlson do it as well, but I couldn't say why.


That's funny. I've worn mine on the inside (when I wear one at all) so that when I'm drinking (read _drunk_), I won't spill my drink on myself when I'm checking to see how long until last call.


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## Brio1 (May 13, 2010)

Youngster said:


> The clothes info is good, and I like that it does not recommend the more GTH stuff.
> But I don;t like the whole lifestyle thing, and all it's prescriptions.
> Nor do I like the fetish of waspishness.


Why do you like that it does not recommend the more GTH stuff?


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## Youngster (Jun 5, 2008)

Brio1 said:


> Why do you like that it does not recommend the more GTH stuff?


GTH seems to be identified with preppy on this board, and I am not a proponent of it. I prefer my prep without much GTH, as well as my trad without GTH, and whatever else you call what we do here, also without GTH. I consider it a marginal touch, and a very optional spice. It is good to note how inessential it really is. 
Not that it can't be used to good effect- I just would rather forgo it.


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## Pentheos (Jun 30, 2008)

yawn yawn yawn (so tired by this article i can't use caps)...

But seriously. This is mockery. Don't buy it (especially because it is thirty years old).


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## AldenPyle (Oct 8, 2006)

The Washington Post
April 5, 1980, Saturday

_The Prep Rally: Here! Here!;
Back to Prepdom;
Shine Up the Penny Loafers; Button Down the Brooks_

By Nina S. Hyde and Jura Koncius

_There is a new preppie look sweeping Washington. It is the old preppie look. (There is no new preppie look. Ever.)
But the important thing is that this look, which has made Washington the nonfashion capital of the country, this look is suddenly the look across the length and breadth of this land. Solid-color shirts. Solid-color pants. (No style, thank you.) Alligators. Plain loafers. No fit. Heaven forbid a fit. It's all over. It's all around. It's in the air._

...
_Suddenly it's navy blazers, oxford button-down shirts, chino trousers, loafers and striped headbands -- longtime Washingtonian signatures -- on the cover of the new I. Magnin catalogue. At Bloomingdale's, it's "A Touch of Classics." At Garfinckel's, "The Prep Shop." At Woodies, it's the "Preppie Shop." At campus bookstores, it's the "Are You a Preppie?" poster.
"The Preppies are coming! The Preppies are coming!" said the poster at Neiman-Marcus. Yesterday was Preppie Day at the store, organized for the benefit of nonpreppy salespeople who were having trouble understanding the khakis and the madras that were inundating the store._
...Blah blah blah..Pappagallos...white tennis hate, argyle socks and Izod belt.... And Paris boutiques are already showing Topsiders in every bright color...

_The elements of this traditional, preppie look haven't changed much in 60 years according to Brooks Brothers Vice President Standley Jaffe. In the 1920s, Shetland sweaters were mostly earthen colors, and since then, Brooks has played with some style changes, but the basics have remained the same and remained the best sellers.
Jaffe thinks that designers ran out of fresh ideas when they started to hark back to his traditional look. "There's a limit to how much you can change things . . . the jacket needs two sleeves, the pants two legs," he says. "Things had gotten so outlandish that going back to tradition, good value, and not dull but good taste items seemed a natural."
Woodward & Lothrop Vice President Robert Friedman says the preppie look "simply started to happen" last fall as sales "took off" in Shetland sweaters, Oxford shirts and then lace-trimmed shirts. "It was partly college kids looking for a way to dress up without jeans," he says._
......
The Gator Hater (several paragraphs in which Tom Shadyac, the creator of the "Are You a Preppie?" and the "Are You a Preppette?" posters reiterates the humor of those papers, revealing he hated preppies). 
.......
_Prep for Success
The current crop of customers for things preppie is no longer limited to those with Ivy League ties and (blue) bloodlines. Elements of preppie have crept into the "dress for success" uniform. And customers looking for safe and familiar clothes that are not likely to go out of style have found these traditional classic items to their liking.
You have to look hard to find the changes in the styles at Pappagallo's, favorite shopping turf for prepettes. The 1980 Shetlands and Fair Isle sweaters may have buttons on the shoulder, and violet is about to be added to the color range of oxford shirts, and the hunting horn pin -- worn fraternity style -- is this year's alternative to the circle pin or safety pin._

...Blah, blah, blah , more women's shoes.... 
_Spelling It Out
Preppie versus Preppy. You've seen it spelled both ways on store advertisements. Which is proper?
When Woodward & Lothrop decided to open a new junior shop stocking oxford shirts, madras jackets, Bermudas and all those necessary prep accessories, they had a big discussion on how to spell it -- with a "y" or an "ie." They finally decided to go with The Preppie Shop. "We turned to Erich Segal's 'Love Story' for the definitive answer," said a fashion coordinator. "We figured a Harvard preppie ought to know."_


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

^^
I am inclined to agree with Pentheos.  Not exactly sure why but, this thread seems a bit more than mildly irritating to me this AM. Perhaps quoting Shakespear (badly, for sure!), "Romeo, Romeo; where forth art thou, Romeo?" On the lake perhaps, with a line in the water, no doubt! How's the fishing these days?

Those not learning from history, are doomed to relive it!"


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## Pink and Green (Jul 22, 2009)

There's a note of guide for the superficial in it - the annoying tone all newspaper articles take when they find some subculture and say "Hey, here's how to compare yourself to these people and mock them!"

One of several types of newspaper articles I find distasteful, which is why their slow decline is of no surprise to me, nor any great loss. The great papers will endure despite such hackery. The writing is just as dated as the subject.


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## Chico (Apr 22, 2010)

Psshh, the press. There is only one Press I respect. 

(I punned)


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## phyrpowr (Aug 30, 2009)

Chico said:


> Psshh, the press. There is only one Press I respect.
> 
> (I punned)


(Gasp) Not in your GTH pants, I hope!


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## C. Sharp (Dec 18, 2008)

Thinking about Mr. Kahle's reminded me that many shops had personalities and were run by characters. Kahle said he did not like club ties. I knew a shopkeeper who did not like Macclesfields. His son would only carry Gitman Brothers pinpoint oxford Button downs not the regular oxford. The choice of pleat or plain front came down to what the owner bought that season and how desperate you were for a pair of trousers. As you might imagine allot of those places started to disappear in the 80's and 90's. Even Garfinckel's the owner of Brooks Brothers for many years went bankrupt in 1990.


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## EastVillageTrad (May 12, 2006)

Coleman said:


> Hurray! Just what the world needed, another Preppy-as-Lifestyle manual of satire that 99.9% of readers will misinterpret.


It is a fun piece, I like it alot, but I'm not so quick to label it as satire. Alot of it rings true if you are from the Northeast and can identify with those lifestyle points.

Then, I've always been a bit more in line with the pro-lifestyle arguement...


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## Cowtown (Aug 10, 2006)

EastVillageTrad said:


> It is a fun piece, I like it alot, but I'm not so quick to label it as satire. Alot of it rings true if you are from the Northeast and can identify with those lifestyle points.
> 
> Then, I've always been a bit more in line with the pro-lifestyle arguement...


I enjoyed it as well to read about the owner's take on the look. As with the OPH, the lifestyle portion may be satire but there is truth as well.


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## Coleman (Mar 18, 2009)

I'm fine with Prep-(or Trad)-as-Lifestyle as long as people realize it's a choice, not a prescription, and as long as people also remember a different fellow can still legitimately participate in the style while eating baked beans out of a can :icon_smile_big:. 

EVT, I know you know that. Others I worry about.


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## Coleman (Mar 18, 2009)

And I guess I need to clarify what I mean by satire, or what I've always taken satire to mean.

I'd define satire as humorous exaggeration. I'd not include an author's intent in the definition even though dictionaries may.

Good satire will ring true, and good satire is generally written by a member of the group being satirized. This is because good satire often requires a love for, respect of, and in depth knowledge of one's subject. 

Satire is a true representation of its topic to an extent. It is an exaggeration. And it is not always one with malice in its intent, but often just a gentle act of poking fun, one that in many ways only the insiders will truly get (that's the problem with satire; most of the outsiders---I truly believe it's upwards of 99%---don't have the insider knowledge needed to interpret the piece. Instead they say, "Alright, now I know how to be Preppy!"). 

Instead of admitting that his Prep circle of friends and loved ones actually ate a good many cuts of steak, he picks the most prominent one and the most prominent reason it is chosen and claims it is the only Prep choice. It is an exaggeration but one based on truth. A gentle ribbing, not a malice fueled attempt to tear down Prep.


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## JDDY (Mar 18, 2006)

"But the important thing is that this look, which has made Washington the nonfashion capital of the country, this look is suddenly the look across the length and breadth of this land."

This resonates with me because you always read/hear about DC being such an unfashionable city, and now because more celebrities visit it's "in fashion". This coinciding with another "preppy" comeback in fashion stores and magazines and whatnot and Urban Outfitters hawking $200 boat shoes.

Without wading too far into the always controversial lifestyle bit, the first article (and OPH) has stuff that can be simultaneously funny and disturbing to me.


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## The Rambler (Feb 18, 2010)

I think it's inherently humorous to take a big, amorphous swath of life and reduce it to a list of rules that are "invariably" followed. The humor is that people aren't as daring and original as they like to think they are: from a darkly comic perspective, they're foolish automotans. The "rules" must be very particular, numerous, and acutely observed, and if it's done for an extended length of time, and has some literary merit, why not call it satire, of the gentle as opposed to the savage indignation variety. And, oh yes, it gets much less amusing when 50 people have done it before. And something else entirely when taken seriously.


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## Beresford (Mar 30, 2006)

R0ME0 said:


> I found this article over at https://theivyleaguelook.blogspot.com/ It was posted on September 24, 2009
> 
> Good stuff!


Check out the April 1, 2010 edition of this blog.

https://theivyleaguelook.blogspot.com/2010/04/campus-style-princeton-1960.html

The stuff on this date is obviously faked. Look at this, which claims it is "Princeton 1960." It obviously is not Princeton, 1960, despite the "black and white" photos and the little "Life" logo in the corner. In fact, some of the photos were featured here in the famous "Bornstein" thread from April, 2006:

)...

Clothes, mannerisms, footwear, gender (no women at Princeton in 1960), surroundings (look at cars), and even sadly, probably race, are all wrong for that time.

Than it struck me it was April Fools Day.

Very good. I even suspect the author of that blogsite may be our inimitable Mr. Bornstein, or at least a member of his group.


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