A reader question:
Muffy,
Did you see this Vanity Fair article on Smathers & Branson needlepoint-belts and the modern frat-bro uniform? (https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/needlepoint-belts-frat-golf-rush-week). I wonder what your readers thought about needlepoint-belts and "Frat-Coded" clothes?
From the article:
Smathers & Branson, a maker of needlepoint belts and accessories, [was] founded in 2004 by a pair of Bowdoin College students who were both gifted belts by then girlfriends... “I had sailboats, kind of a coastal Maine scene,” Peter Carter adds....
Link:
- Smathers & Branson <https://www.smathersandbranson.com/>
It’s a slippery slope these needlepoint belts. Yes, there are some who wear these belts who are New England wasp/prep. However, it can quickly end dangerously and become southern bastardized something or another.
ReplyDeleteGiven the popularity of needlepoint belts in the South, it's a little bit precious to fret too much, in 2025, whether the wearer is "New England wasp/prep" or not, or if the belts are now "southern bastardized something or another." The prep school demographics are now wildly international, and overly self-conscious "preppiness" these days is like a photocopy of a photocopy.
ReplyDeletePoppycock
DeleteYes, but anyone can attend a prep school whether they are New England wasp, “2025 “ prep or the aforementioned bastardized prep of the south.
DeleteI can wear clerical clothing, and that does not make me a minister.
DeleteBut it can make people believe you are a minister, and isn't that sometimes the point?
DeleteTo be a fake ?
DeleteWe wonder what Ron McKernan might have thought of the Smathers and Branson dancing bear offerings.
DeleteRon would have noted that ultimately capitalism subsumes all. By the way, tomorrow is his birthday.
Delete"I can wear clerical clothing, and that does not make me a minister" is exactly the sort of creepy, fetishistic approach to "prep" by non-preps that I was talking about. If one has to take religious vows to it, or equate it to religious cleric's garb, one was always a poser.
DeletePerhaps they are quite the opposite. It could’ve been that they were writing about how people wear costumes to try to pretend they are prep. It doesn’t mean the person writing it believes that they are. Don’t jump to conclusions.
DeleteIt Hurts Me Too seeing some of the discordant North-South banter on this blog. Ain’t It Crazy? When not, can’t everyone just stop and Turn On Your Lovelight?
DeletePerhaps. But it does add a little spice to the day.
DeleteI see you worked some of Ron's songs into your response.
DeleteHard to resist. Just paying respect to the Big Boss Man.
DeleteSome songs are written by one person but owned by another. Think All Along The Watchtower; Dylan-Hendrix. Hard To Handle was claimed by Ron McKernan. “Boys and things will come by the dozen. Ain’t nothing but drugstore love…”
DeleteTo be precise, the point is not to "be fake". Being fake requires no effort. The point is to make others think you are the real thing. To what end, I am not sure.
DeleteRemember Tucker Blair needlepoint accessories?
ReplyDeleteS&B accessories left True Prep as soon as they included SEC needlepoint products. I know both of the founders. They are laughing all the way to the bank.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that one of the founder's girlfriends succumbed to the break up belt theory and one did not.
ReplyDeleteQuality will out!
ReplyDeleteI wear one of these belts to baseball games and always get compliments. I see them at college football games. (Granted in Virginia and DC) The benefit is that you don’t have to wear athletic wear while giving a nod to your Alma maters or sports teams. Is it something that would have been worn at a sports event 50 years ago? I highly doubt it. Are they authentic New England? I have no idea but would guess the answer is no. I will say that they seem to appeal to a certain demographic of all ages not just loud frat boy types.
ReplyDeleteIf you want a needlepoint belt that is well made, ask your wife,girlfriend, mother or third grade teacher to stitch you one. Needlepoint shops have many Belt canvases to choose one or have a custom canvas painted. For the minimum quality it should be stitched properly, the canvas should not show through and it needs to be stitched in wool not cotton floss. A well made belt will last for decades. Finally send it to a good leather person to finish it.
ReplyDelete