My daughter’s “preppy” is not my idea of preppy — the prep of actual New England prep schools, of frayed Oxford cloth and WASPy noblesse oblige. Nor is it the aspirational varsity style of Tommy Hilfiger and 1990s rappers in rugby shirts, or even J. Crew’s self-conscious 2010s update on old-money style... [T]hose iterations are now known, in the TikTok world, as “old preppy.” The new sort fills its Pinterest pages with something else: colorful Stanley mugs, tiered pink micro-minis, bulbed makeup mirrors and Brazilian Bum Bum Creams.
Teen Subcultures Are Fading. Pity the Poor Kids. Gorgeous, abundant visuals are just pale imitations of what young people used to have: an actual scene. <https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/21/magazine/aesthetics-tiktok-teens.html>
Now and then marketers decide they can sell things by making preppy trendy and selling supposedly preppy things. Real prep will endure just as it always has.
ReplyDeleteYes, there used to be actual group scenes. We had, for example, three primary classifications of our fellow male high school students. There were the “tooges,” who may have been called “gear heads” elsewhere. They often wore black leather jackets and usually did not have college aspirations. Many “townies” were athletes. Most had college aspirations. They were partial to polo shirts and Bass penny loafers. College aspirations for the “collegiates” were a given. Sweaters were bought at Gamer, shoes at Barrie’s and OCBDs at the Co-Op. We all got along. In fact one of the highlights of the social scene were tooge staged affairs. There was nothing like the excitement surrounding a Friday night drag race on the Wilbur Cross Parkway. Crowds gathered at the finish line. It was perfectly located right underneath an overpass.
ReplyDeleteBring from Nrw Haven I have fond memories of those shops.
DeleteInteresting article, thank you. It brings to mind an interview with the jazz musician Branford Marsalis. He described how individuals, during his adolescence in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s, might be part of what the article’s author calls a “communal container.” He described a subculture, identified by an apparent cohesive factor may, or may not, actually be held together by that factor. He noted a goth classmate once turned to him and said with exasperation, “look, it’s not about the music.” Whereas with another subculture, fans of the Grateful Dead, he felt, “it really was about the music.”
ReplyDeleteAhh, noblesse oblige. Seems like such a quaint idea nowadays. I submit that any culture must start with first principles and core values and then everything else follows, including behaviors and norms such as how one dresses. Absent that, it's all cosplay.
ReplyDeleteRe. the diversity comment above, the commenter might find Avery Trufelman’s podcast (referenced in the NYT article) on the history of prep both enlightening and surprising. See my comments above about noblesse oblige and other traditional values.
Regarding 'Noblesse Oblige' I may have written about this before: I attended a boys' "pre-prep" and then a boys-only boarding school in New England. One of the teachers I had in the pre-prep moved on to teach at my next prep school. it was a move he made unknown to me until I arrived there so it was a pleasant surprise. The traditions of the school were strict: coats and ties every day, three piece suits, white shirts, school tie and tied shoes for Sunday dinner, chapel services twice a day and so on. I asked my old teacher what all that was in aid of and his answer was "You're each being trained to become comfortable as 'Captains of Industry' ... or Banking... or Governing, accepting the responsibilities of civic duty and noblesse oblige since you've been born into a privileged class. You have much to live up to, decisions to make that will affect others' lives, so take it seriously." It was quite a bit to take in at my (tender) age but it was something I've always remembered while not meeting all the strictures.
DeleteWe ought not expect much from a generation that thinks "vintage" means retro and that a buttondown is a shirt that buttons in the front.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting phenomenon; it's interesting how words come to mean different things over time. When I was growing up, we didn't have a word for the way that we dressed; we just wore the clothes that we wore. And we called them by different names back then: what are now called polo shirts, we called "tennis shirts" (probably since we wore them when we played tennis, but also when we were out and about). Button-downs were just called "long sleeved shirts"; I didn't hear the terms Oxford cloth or button down until I was in my twenties.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I didn't hear the term "preppy" until I was in college; a classmate used the word to describe the way my friends and I dressed. I had to ask somebody what she meant.
So I guess language is transitory, and . That's okay; I'll keep dressing the way that I like.
Just a quick reference to the earlier comment about Ralph Lauren ruining things by making the look more ubiquitous: I'm fine with that. I don't care where someone came from or went to school. If they're not wearing cargo shorts and a T shirt at the airport or to a restaurant, I'll take that as a win.
-Mike
I couldn't agree more with your last statement
DeleteI think a better word than Preppy is Traditional. Preppy seems to be a meaningless word in todays lexicon. Preppy to some is a trend that has gone through many iterations. When someone hears "Traditional", It's much more objective. Of course everyone loves a good toss around of what is and isn't, but what one person perceives and thinks doesn't detract on how I dress or even fancy to care
ReplyDeleteNot sure what "Brazilian Bum Bum Creams" are, and I definitely won't google, haha
ReplyDeletePeople seem to struggle with is the concept of Heritage; the responsibility to maintain traditional values while looking to the future. Everything changes in life, but traditional values remain as guides for a responsible life.
ReplyDeleteValues vary from person to person. A value is a paradigm.
DeleteClass will out!
ReplyDeleteOur local N’west Conn high school has an ag program. The admin tells us many students are not well socialized. They are not involved with day to day people
ReplyDeleteto people direct contact such as found in an actual scene, as mentioned in the above article, or a part time job. They go home and stare at a screen, except the ag students. The farmers’ kids are used to dealing with farmhands of all stripes and with curious weekenders.
What a terrific piece.
ReplyDelete