Photo by Muffy Aldrich
The Modern Guide to The Thing Before Preppy

Tuesday, February 7, 2023

Harper's BAZAAR: The Dark and Twisted Return of Preppy Clothes by Rachel Tashjian

Several readers sent this to me today:

https://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/trends/a42698254/preppy-style-2023/

A sample quote:

Prep is timeless, sturdy, classic. It’s well-made. Everyone looks good in big, crispy pants, and tweed blazers over sweater vests, and cashmere twin sets. It might not make you look cool, but as Ralph Lauren taught us, you put your own spin on it by wearing cowboy boots, or a tie as a belt, or tying your cardigan around your waist like a weird little skirt, and—ta-da!—suddenly you’re an eccentric with formidable personal style.

- Rachel Tashjian, The Dark and Twisted Return of Preppy Clothes, Harper's BAZAAR

38 comments:

  1. Dark and twisted...?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The perspective of this article is dark and twisted.
      "Aren't these rhe people we are supposed to hate"
      What????
      In what realm is it okay to hate any "group" of people?
      I can't take this article seriously from such a disgusting viewpoint.

      Delete
  2. There's nothing customary nor timeless in the fits featured in the above link. More bastardization for and from the unwashed masses.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, sounds harsh but you are right!

      Delete
    2. "Unwashed masses" is quite a way to refer to people in a lower tax bracket than yourself. And I don't think the folks you refer to so pejoratively are either designing or buying wildly expensive couture stuff.

      Delete
    3. Incorrect. By hook or crook (i.e debt) the dregs are kitted out in only the finest of raffish garb hawked by creative directors who give new meaning to the term upstart. Keep up the good fight Little Lord Longford.

      Delete
  3. Can't finish it. It just seems like trying to make a Volvo run in a Formula 1 race, or trying to make an apple pie with truffles in it. Some things are just opposites and cannot be reconciled, like prep and high fashion. The moment you try to fit it into it's opposite, it loses the very essence that makes it what it is, and you have destroyed it. Interesting to read an account of their fool's errand though. .

    ReplyDelete
  4. You lost me at "My TikTok feed is flooded with prep-adjacent content."

    ReplyDelete
  5. Bizarre.

    The clothes, I think that's what they are meant to be, are as miserable as the expressions on the faces of the "models."

    ReplyDelete
  6. I prefer the short film Postcards from Paradise from Ralph Lauren and, I think, Bruce Weber. Dreamy not nightmarish.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Cowboy boots worn anywhere east of the Hudson River are a costume item. .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anywhere east of the Mississippi, more like.

      Delete
    2. “Cowboy culture” still has a hold on the Midwest. We listen off and on to a Kentucky radio station because we like the “Americana” music format. The station is as close to Washington DC as it is to the Mississippi River. “Cowboy Corner” is one of the syndicated programs they air. And there’s more than one. There seems to be a fascination with the “Old West” that reaches into many corners of our country, except New England. Witness the popularity of television programs like “Yellowstone.” How does this interest in the open range and it’s accompanying “rugged individualism” manifest itself in the character of our nation, and the way we present ourselves on the world stage?

      Delete
    3. Let's be honest - most of the people who wear cowboy boots WEST of the Hudson/Mississippi are also wearing them as a costume. Not THAT many ranchers/rodeo riders around...

      Delete
  8. There's so much that is unappealing in and about this article. I couldn't finish it--it was too pointless.

    I did score a Brooks Bros. men's v-neck cashmere sweater at a thrift store Saturday for 8.99, with the BB price tag still on it.

    How's that for old school, trad, thrift, prep?

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Although I do not think many people who think of themselves as preppy purchase clothing in thrift stores, it is a great way to find classic clothing without paying anything close to full price for it.

      Our daughter stumbled across a mid-length navy Burberry twill overcoat at a New York City thrift store, sans belt, for under $100 last fall. She learned a lot about New York's garment district as she hunted for matching fabric samples to have a tailor make a new belt; Burberry's proprietary fabrics are not readily available, so it took a while to find a good match. A comparable coat, purchased new, costs about $2,500.

      Delete
    2. These are good places to check out, but not often very productive. However they've netted me a few BB shirts (tattersall and others) for $5 each or less.

      Delete
    3. I had the same reaction @RCJH. RT has something of an odd history here.

      Three cheers for classics, thrift, and SWNE's hearty network of niche suppliers. The future seems bright.

      Delete
  9. Put simply, these clothes are ugly, and share as much genetic matter as a puppy and a giant rat that resembles a puppy.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I have to imagine that working in the world of fashion journalism is maddening. Plum posts are chronically occupied by unread mediocrities, while great writers just languish. For example, somehow Vanessa Friedman has a perch at the Times to dispense vacuous commentary, but Derek Guy - who is probably the best fashion writer of his generation - is out blogging in obscurity. There is no justice in the world, and this article is the latest example.

    To the original point, if Tashijan understood the quote about rebellion from Jason Jules that she drops into the end, or even if she listened to Avery Trufelman's B+ podcast that she cites, she'd know that prep has always been a style reinventing itself for every generation. It's a tradition of riffing on tradition.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Excellent comment. Also want to second Derek Guy as excellent writer!

      Delete
  11. (...) "but it constitutes a strange fetishization of class and wealth when, hey, I thought we all hated those people now! Just as many people use social media to criticize the way class and privilege works in America as they do to celebrate how it looks.

    So why is it that young people, who unlike their parents getting more liberal as they age, are clinging to these reactionary clothes? Shouldn’t we be throwing out all the rules?"

    Well, perhaps even some of the young ones are tired of the idiotic "woke" and all this what is being served us for last 10 years...it is possible that they have enough but it's a good sign!
    "reactionary clothes" oh, what a nonsense!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It may or may not be good that “young people are clinging to these reactionary clothes.” Our culture has been treading water for decades. Look at pop music. Rap has dominated now for over twenty years. Compare with how vibrant the music scene was from 1920 til about 1995.
      There were constant changes and always new sounds; jazz, big bands,
      be-bop, do-wop, country, Texas swing, rock ´n roll, folk, folk rock, blues, R’nB, Motown, the British Invasion, psychedelic rock, hard rock. The list is endless. Now many young people people not into rap listen to the same music as their parents. Can you imagine?

      Delete
    2. Yes, I can!
      I am writing from the European perspective.
      Our very private "young" one, 17 years boy, from the very beginning of his life is listening to classic only. Mozart and Chopin plus Baroque music were his favourite ever since. At the certain point I was worrying that he is an Asperger, it was obsessive and still remained his only interests.
      And yes, he skipped his parents (partly) and listening to this, what his great-grandfather was into! I should be rather happy, my husband used to listen to metal bands in his younger years...LOL

      Delete
  12. All valid points above. I saw the article yesterday and whilst I am normally open-minded about style, pooh-poohed it as coming from a fashionista, which is not what the traditional style is all about. My own style, while steadfastly New England trad for the most part, is peppered here and there with European - and also more modern - elements because I live in Mitteleuropa.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Miss Muffy wears Noah y'all.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Tashijan DOES NOT understand prep at all. Please try to understand: There is NOTHING preppy about Ralph Lauren. In fact clothing has little to do with prep persona. Ralph Lauren is pretentious and phony. For example, I understand Ralph Lauren is now manufacturing wrist watches. What? What is next - track red brick town houses with fire places in every room along with crown molding???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I disagree. Clothing has a great deal to do with preppy, or to use the term I prefer, traditionalist persona. Some of the best khakis and mesh knit polo shirts I own are RL. A grey RL duffle coat that I have had since the 1980's is still going strong. And regarding track...I think you mean tract...townhouses you describe actually sound pretty good, if they are done tastefully and thoughtfully.

      Incidentally, does anybody out there remember a few years ago that Ralph Lauren was in some way getting into the custom tomb stone business or did I just dream that?

      Will

      Delete
    2. While browsing their website yesterday, I noticed something that is a plus for RL. You can now customize a polo shirt so that it has no logo, without paying extra.

      Delete
    3. I thank Will for his correction. The correct word usage is tract NOT track.

      Delete
    4. AndrewK247 - Definitely a plus. I will have to check that feature out.
      Sesquicent - I hate tract houses too, having grown up in one. No fireplaces nor crown molding to be found.

      Cheers,

      Will

      Delete
  15. I couldn’t get past “Tik Tok” in the beginning of the article.

    ReplyDelete
  16. The fashion industry has no concept of Preppy ethos, or clothing. The industry is populated by a different type of people with very different values reflected in their very overpriced, tasteless, low quality clothing. The article reflects the irrelevance of the industry and ignorance of the people seeking to be relevant.

    ReplyDelete
  17. The problem with writers like this one is that in a bid to be taken seriously they cannot resist the temptation to commit Sociology.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Here's the paragraph!

    "And yet that means that prep is conservative. It is a standard to which we’ve retreated in the face of this fashion chaos—all of us looking at these micro trends and fast fashion, and thinking, We used to be a country, a proper country! And running to the reliable basics that made Muffy look so spiffy."

    ReplyDelete

Comments are moderated.