The Preppy Handbook... Returns!

[Hemingway Jones]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/books/04preppy.html?hpw

Yes, an updated version of The Preppy Handbook is coming. I am embarrassed to say that I still have my copy from the 1980s! I went to Holy Cross High School and although it was not a prep school, it was parochial, we wore blazers and ties and if you were wearing blazers and ties in the 80s, you were preppy.

As an aside, "preppy" has been shortened to "prep," as in the title of Curtis Sittenfeld's novel.

So, the original Preppy Handbook was meant to be ironic and satirical, but like "Wall Street" and the ultimate spy book "Shimbumi," it had the opposite effect. We used the Preppy Handbook as a, well, handbook, of how to dress from head to toe in LL Bean and Lacoste, and to acquire an unnatural appreciation for Bass Weejuns, which were not regulation at my school. We had monk straps! How cool is that, in retrospect!

So, what are your preppy memories, influences? Do you remember this book from the 80s? Do you also still have your copy?!?

 

[thunderw21]

I have mine and I don't know where it came from! It just appeared one day.

A fun(ny) read.

 

[davestlouis]

I had one for years...I still remember something about navy blue BMWs being preppy, light blue, not so much. Funny book then, I have to imagine re-reading it would be even better now. I wonder what the new version will be like?!

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

I have to admit that I don't understand the preppy "thing". It appears to me like...uhm...yuppies in college?
Maybe well dressed but also very elitist and superficial. Judging people by the money they put into clothes? Certain brands and stores that are more important than the look of the stuff itself?

Do you like the "preppy style" or also the "preppy attitude"?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I have to admit that I don't understand the preppy "thing". It appears to me like...uhm...yuppies in college?
Maybe well dressed but also very elitist and superficial. Judging people by the money they put into clothes? Certain brands and stores that are more important than the look of the stuff itself?

Do you like the "preppy style" or also the "preppy attitude"?

Isn't the YUP in yuppies short for Young Urban Professional?

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

Yes. But it means more than just being young and working in an urban eviroment, doesn't it? I also includes some indication about their strong craving for career, money and power. American Psycho style.

I said "like yuppies in college" when I meant there could be such indication in the expression "preppy" too.

 

[Quigley Brown]

I remember in college wearing pastel-colored polo shirts under white, buttoned-down long-sleeve shirts and khaki pants....and I wasn't even a frat boy!

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

Don't get me wrong. I partly like the look. But the preppies seem to dress this way just to show off their money and fit in their clique (?)

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Don't get me wrong. I partly like the look. But the preppies seem to dress this way just to show off their money and fit in their clique (?)

Well, yes, there is a part of that. It was class identification. But remember, the book is a satire, and the style exists separately from the origins of the movement. Think of "Rugby" by Ralph Lauren which riffs off the theme of prep and mirrors the modern progression.

Personally, I believe the preppy style is simply other parts of the country trying to dress like they came from Boston!

 

[D-503]

Don't get me wrong. I partly like the look. But the preppies seem to dress this way just to show off their money and fit in their clique (?)

Agreed. I've never cared much for the prep-school brigade (I met a number of people like that in college), which is why I'm automatically suspicious of someone who wears boat shoes.

On the other hand, I wear cravats occasionally, so I guess I'm a hypocrite [huh].

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

But remember, the book is a satire

:eusa_doh: I didn't knew that. Thank you for the useful information. :icon_smil

 

[Artie]

I remember that book. I think it had something about what were the best colleges to be kicked out, some kind of status issue I believe. I'm from Chicago and I remember Lake Forest college on the north shore being one of them.

 

[Chasseur]

I'm automatically suspicious of someone who wears boat shoes.

Me too, and popped collars and tasseled loafers too

 

[Caity Lynn]

Don't get me wrong. I partly like the look. But the preppies seem to dress this way just to show off their money and fit in their clique (?)

As a Senior in high school, that is what the word 'Prep' means in today's society. They disgust me.


just tossing in my two cents.

 

[Cody Pendant]

Where did I put my Madras?

Madras shorts....nuf said!

 

[Diamondback]

As a Senior in high school, that is what the word 'Prep' means in today's society. They disgust me.

Just as they did with me ten years ago, which is why I went kinda "Biker/Professional": the black jeans, leather jacket and boots of a biker, paired up with black/dark-blue/dark-green polo-shirts for the "professional" part.

Small communities tend to be thew worst for breeding cliques, and it's kinda difficult to find a better example of it than the "enforced community" of a high-school.

 

[Caity Lynn]

I'm a theatre geek. My style changes from day to day. I have no issue with dressing nicely, but I can't stand prada and chanel. The way the girls flaunt that they wear American Eagle.

I -can- afford to wear it. I -choose- not to wear it.

but College Prep look I like. Pearls, Button downs, nice pants etc. I'm always on board for that.

 

[Foofoogal]

Our son tried every type trying to find who he was at one time. I was glad when he got to the Prep stage honestly. lol
Didn't stay there but at least he knows how to dress nice still.

Reading about a specific Cotillion today. Is that tradition listed in that book?
Always amazes me how snobbery goes both ways and people cannot see it.

 

[Chainsaw]

One of the most interesting books I have in my collection. Hilarious and informative.

Must read, just don't go beating anyone over the head with it!

 

[reetpleat]

I have to admit that I don't understand the preppy "thing". It appears to me like...uhm...yuppies in college?
Maybe well dressed but also very elitist and superficial. Judging people by the money they put into clothes? Certain brands and stores that are more important than the look of the stuff itself?

Do you like the "preppy style" or also the "preppy attitude"?

Well, it is actually a little more complicated than that. Preppies are old money, and are a culture that is similar but different from yuppies. Preppies are not social climbers or trying to look like they have status. They just wear certain things that are fairly traditional and high quality.

Of course, anyone who would aspire to be or look like a preppie might be more of a social climber or conspicuous consumer. But the original role model is not. yes, they consume, but a 20 year old volvo wagon would not be un preppie. Quite the opposite, as is buying your ticket to the bahamas, but then wrapping duct tape around your shoes rather than buy a new pair, and walking to save the subway fare.

as for the labels or whatever, LL Bean is an old traditional label, as is Brooks Brothers. And the polo shirt seems to be just an ongoing tradition that comes from the 50s or 60s, probably from tennis. A preppie might have all the right clothes, but that is because that is the thing to do, not impress anyone. In the way a soldier has an army uniform, or a goth wears a black dress, a preppie wears khakis and la coste polo shirt.

Mind you, I am not an east coaster, and do not really know any preppies, but I have always been interested in subcultures, and read articles, etc.

I do not think I would care for preppies or the culture, but I do not take any offense at them. They may be snobs about class, but it is pretty much just because they belong to an insular culture and are reacting to someone not being in their culture, as opposed to poor, or something negative.

Yuppies, of course, are social climbers, and conspicuous consumers who defined themselves by what they owned and bought.