when I was tiny my parents dressed me in blue blazers and madras. this is what it was. I kind of have come to a conclusion that in the south (the rest of the country was hopeless) these things became class distinctions, But in little New England in the 1960s everyone dressed this way. Maybe you grew out of the colthes and people noticed. and there may have been a few class distinctions if you owned suits and overcoats. but everyone dressed way back when and everyone sort of dressed the same way, as best as I can remember.

A lot of good material here Tom.  I'll post in reply anon.

I"m an 80's kid and born and raised in the South, so I'll try and add my 2 pence to this great discussion.

Growing up as a little Southern boy, Preppy rig was king. Since running across this message board & AAAT, I've realized that what I wore was New England/East Coast/Preppy/Trad or whatever other label gets put on it...but brighter. I really only remember wearing BD oxfords as a kid, but they were always pink, yellow, green, orange or white. Uni. Stripe oxfords were, again, in non-primary colors. Polos were Lacoste or Duck Head. In the event that I needed sweaters (again, this is the South), they were usually wool and usually some sort of Fair Isle/Ski Sweater design. I had a navy blazer, but only wore it when I had to (usually to church). Chinos were Duck Head. Period. I never owned any other brand until high school (a nice, heavy, button-fly pair from the Gap that I wish I still had). Shoes were Weejuns, Dirty Bucs, Saddle Oxfords, Bean Boots/Mocs or Sebago Bluchers with the laces curled up at the ends so that you didn't have to tie them. Socks? What are socks?

I had no idea what LL Bean was until Junior High when many of the kids I went to school with started wearing the old Bean Anaorak pullover jackets. I probably would have thought the sack jacket was made of burlap and was used for carrying potatoes (however, I do now wear the sack jacket because the cut does well for me). I vaguely remember madras, but I don't think I owned any. Shorts were just cut-off chinos.

Sorry if this is completely non-linear, but more things come to me as I type. I know Trad gets the beat-down around here and, in some ways, I understand completely. Giving it a name is just a way to pigeonhole it within the cannon of "style". Parts of it come from the Ivy/East Coast tradition. Parts come from the late 70's/early to mid 80's Prep style. I feel they're a fairly natural pair for one another if you take it all into consideration. But, it isn't a lifestyle or a mindset. It just is what it is.

Archie

Agreed, Mike. My one grip w/ AAAT is the homogenization factor. It's as if many are afraid they may run into another Trad on the street and they have to be sure they'll be spotted wearing the proper rig. Clothes/style isn't a contest and it isn't a checklist. Like you say, it's just normal, everyday, PRACTICAL stuff.

I like that, too.

Archie

Last edited by David (2008-02-27 09:10:00)

... I actually don't have that much to add here after all other than restating if were going to have "Trad" then let's make it good.

What's the point otherwise?

Why have the new forum & the new name & the new look at the old style otherwise?

You can be creative & move forward like me or just sit there splashing about in your own pee I think.

Let's raise the bar - Join me!

Avanti!

Cordovan for Everyone!

How great is this. I am tom22 again. the mysteries of the internet.
     What happened? Not with internet names but per the topic. What happened? I think it was advertising. I think RL made the clothes aspirational. I don't know this but I think this. I just don't remember advertising being very important in clothing decisions in the 1960s or early 70s. The label counted for a lot. but the label was credited by word of mouth. Some kids did set styles but the styles weren't all that expensive. Prep school girls wore short tartan skirts. Some people wore leather jackets but I guess thay had a military elan that was lost on me. There was a thuggish element in my school and I guess I associated leather jackets with creeps.
     The Yale Co-op used to have after winter sales. McGeorge sweaters, Sero shirts. Even I could afford them. That was where you bought your clothes.  My mother bought me a carry on bag in Burberry plaid in the late 70s. In a sphisticated shop in a New Haven burb. No one then knew what Burberry was. Well, my parents knew. And I knew, I had lived in London. Let me count. over 20 years later, I used it to carry heavy litigation files into court (It did have a heavy leather strap, it was made for the job). You could count the breathless compliments. All I said was: The thing is 20 years old.
      Maybe people had a lot more clothes way back when. But everyone had the same clothes. The same styles. you looked like each other. for the most part. I do remember kids wearing leather jackets back in the 60s. all of those people joined the mob. It was way later when I associated a brown leather jacket with those who served us in a Wold War.
      Circa 1977 I remember i had an internship at a factory in New Haven. The nice benefit at the end of the summer was a lunch with the CEO at the New Haven Country Club. The only different car, meaning non American was one Rolls Royce that was considered aspirational. Only one family owned one. Everyone else owned an American car. and the price differential for those was slight. I wonder what a Cadillac went for in 1977? 10000? I don't know. I do remember someone saying that the Rolls cost 50000 or 70000 or I really don't remember. But that was the only aspirational car and only one family owned it.
      Horrors of the lunch, one badly groomed accounting major from Notre Dame insisted on having a private interview on how to recreate the company. I remember how the uncomfotable accountant CEO tried to avoid the issue. That awful guy kept making out with the one very attractive female interns in the parking lot after work. I expect that they are both in prison today. the guy just didn't fit in.
        on the other hand maybe he is a multimillionaire. One of my professional assasin clients who did  an 18 year bid made 4 million bucks when he got out. life is what it is.

Last edited by tom22 (2008-02-28 19:56:48)

Personally I think it was Ralph Lauren too & his wonderful photo shoots.
The Official Preppy Handbook came out of the zeitgeist which he created.
AAAT follows on from that.

Please keep this stuff coming, Tom - You're a breath of fresh air on the subject of these clothes.

Thank you.