Don't worry about that.  As a preppy I look mature as a young guy and will look youthful when I become an old guy.

For me it was the year before I left university- the sudden dawning - that my rebelious days were behind me - and life had to be taken a little more seriousley-  I - think it happened to quite a few of us at the same time-I was running with a much posher crew -as a result it seemed one year our standard dress was timberland boots- old tatty rugby shirts ( number still on the back) -most either legitametly swapped with other teams - some stolen from other teams .

( an enormous coup -when we managed to steal -all Newcastle universitys kit bag-this was in the days when the University team was sponsored by Newcastle Brown ale - and the university players were appearing naked on beer mats with strategicly positioned  rugby balls around the north east.

so we had the boots and  shirts  this would be matched with levis - at the time black levi jeans were availlable -so they were pretty popular.
sometimes  depending on the season either a crew neck or vneck navy pullover - rugby shirt collars allways popped - yes I was one of those twats.( but popular with the ladys which led to another type of Education all together)

for outerwear we would have either barbours or down jackets - but most often a fleece ( nevica was a very popular brand at the time)

any way -it seemed to be in our final year - things just seemed to change by osmosis-collared shirts with sweaters- brouges or slip on shoes with jeans.

and it started to dawn on me- in the space of approx 10 years I had gone full circle - My mother actually comented on it
" I`m so glad you`ve left that silly phase -you went through behind- I think your father has some old sweaters he no longer needs that you can take back to Edinburgh with you"

that was when I knew I wasn`t destined to be a rebell without a clue. I was destined to follow the path that in some respects was pre - ordained .

that was a little long winded just to say -the year before I left University -wasn`t it

( note to self -try to be more concise )

i never stop being boyish.

lol I was kind of thinking about this the other day when I noticed that I actually look forward to and look thru with interest, catalogs from places like Brooks Bros, Ben Silver, Paul Stuart etc.

and I'm now repulsed at the sight of winklepickers

Re: the cardigan. My first response was:

'Where to, guv?'