Last edited by The Thin Repp (2012-05-21 08:10:05)

/\ Thing is... This ain't 'Preppy' - And it's also far superior & organic & real.

'Preppy' is a very specific construct.  It really does kick in with the OPH as a marketing phenomenon. Prior to that was a far less codified and contrived look.

And dare I say it was also 'Just clothes' for some ?

It really wasn't 'A Look' before the OPH. It was nothing to do with fashion & hadn't been ever since mass market Ivy had died exhaused on its arse down in the gutter back around... When?  '67?

I like Zach's / HTJ's selections far more than painting-by-numbers 'Preppy'.

I like prepee myself.

I like peripee and postpee,  ahhh.

I must say, I really don't care about all that Anti-Prep Pro-Prep whatever you might call it... To me Ivy and Prep still are related, in fact (at least to me) they still are synonymous in some way. Not because of the Campus marketing and "Take Ivy". Just because 99% of all preparatory school attendants wore Ivy League clothing (as they were mostly part of New England's "Old Money" it was clear that they wore that style). Nowadays it seems different, "Preppy" is sort of a fashion thing that's pretty big at the moment. Nothing to do with the old connotations, just fashion. That's ok, fashion is fashion is fashion - nothing bad with it, fashion is changing. In a couple of years "preppy" is away and again only the clothing for Nouveau Riche (they will fail at it and look ridicuolous as they do look now)  and for Old Money (they will look conservative with it as they do now).

I admit I sometimes look preppy. And I am not a "Prep", I just like an "Ivy"-influenced look with a tad more colours than most here. Funny enough, my pupils and students (who are mostly working class immigrants and don't know about anything other than current peer group fashions or Hip Hop clothes... except one that dresses 100% Noveau Riche "Prep" style because his father seems to run his car business well and buys him everything fashionable that's been expensive) can't spot the difference between the current fashion Prep style and my style. To them I am dressed well, fashionable and sometimes "vintage" (that's when I'm looking pretty "Ivy"). They think my thrifted Rugby shirt is an €150,-- "La Martina"-shirt. I wouldn't be seen dead in such an overpriced rubbish....

I really think some people that dress "preppy" are looking spot on very well. Others don't, and again others look really awful. You can't buy style, you have it or you don't have it, regardless of which style it is. There was a guy in the Underground a couple of weeks ago in an Oxford shirt coupled with a Repp tie, navy well fitting (Italian style) Blazer, sort-of-orange-peachy-pastel highwater chinos and sockless Tassel loafers. Many here would have called him a "Prep", some would have said "awful". But he looked relaxed and sympathetic and was the best dressed guy in the whole train (except me ). I think he didn't care about "Prep" or "Ivy League". He just wore what he liked.

I think people are missing the point here,

Prep or Trad, from what I've seen online, don't seem to give a huge amount of care towards the fit of their clothes, it is even worse with current Prep style, they just seem to think the label is enough, and its all about the brand.

Now like with what Big Tony said, we don't always get it right on here, and in fact, if you look through a lot of Ivy boom years pics and the Ivy Style Today thread, the fit isn't always right, even from some of the best posters, but like with English and Italian tailoring there was and is concern with fit, even if you look to the casual styles.

So really my point is, why celebrate clothes that don't fucking fit you, who sits in a restaurant and is happy when their meal comes out burnt? Should you excuse burnt food by saying but this restaurant is the place to be seen in? Maybe you would if you had the current prep mentality.

It's prep that seems most guilty of this at the moment, so that's why it is getting the brunt of it from me. Not because I don't like preps, or their attitudes, or what the history is relating to Ivy, just because it is aspirational clothing sold with no care to how the stuff fits.

Last edited by One For Bop (2012-05-22 12:26:53)

I also blame the skate hipsters. They began to sport too big skinny jeans so that the arse is hanging somewhere else and made that "cool". Which leads some Preps or better, Prepsters to mix the "classic" Prep style that's more "Ivy" with Skater-like skinny jeans that have a hanging arse and the puddle. And that's called "Streetwear" then. Awful. Really Awful.