Due to my moving around a lot, I had a chance to see how dress worked in different southern states.  I went to high school in North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado and Florida.  Within each state there were major differences.  Chapel Hill was Ivy.  Charlotte was not.  Certainly the Ivy thing was popular in larger cities and around  a college campus or close to water.  In the south, the more inland you got, the hickier it got. 

A friend of mine went to Washington and Lee.  I consider him the absolute picture of southern ivy.  He also does it in a way that is not annoying but subtle and erudite.  Another friend went to Princeton.  A Virginian as well, he's a little louder but not much.  There seems to be a confidence in their dress that I lacked moving from town to town.

Georgia is another story. I have a lot of friends from GA and was always amazed at 1- How funny they are. 2- How much they drink and 3- How well they dressed.  Save for the Whiskey Tango in the hills (and even there you find many with amazing style and manners), Georgians know what they like.  That's a classic ivy take with some hunting thrown in and a casual style most often associated with a draaank in one hand and the steering wheel of a Jeep Wagoner in the other.  Despite a obsession for golf and college football (Hell, even High School football - -Ted Turner came close to a channel dedicted to it), I have always enjoyed their down to earthness and cultured oulook.  Even is some surprising towns.  Macon and Albany come to mind.  It's a vast topic and one worth exploring in other states I know less about. AR, MS, TN, KY...

I'm a good Southern boy, so I"ll contribute what I can. I'm 31, so bear in mind that my knowledge is pretty much limited to the 1980s Preppy era....

Growing up in East Tennessee, most of the kids I knew wore some version of the classic American standards:

Shirts: Lacoste or RL polos, Oxford BDs; mostly, I remember the pastel solid color polos and oxfords (in particular pink, yellow, orange/peach, mint green, blues). Brands of oxford varied between Bean (catalog order), Duck Head, PRL, Brooks or Gitman. I mostly owned Gitman because it was readily available. Most of my polos were PRL as it was the status thing of the times and it's what my parents bought for me. I don't know that I actually cared about brands save one in particular (but I'll get to that).

Chinos/pants: Chinos were Duck Head. Period. I never owned another brand until I bought a pair of Gap chinos during my freshman year of H.S (w/ my own $$$ from first job). Again, I didn't think too much about them as that's what was most available to me. Purchased at McMillin's on the UT campus or at Goody's Dept. Store. Jeans were 501s. Again, I never owned another brand until, again, a pair of Gap jeans in H.S. (probably purchased w/ the chinos) Even then, I preferred Levis. I still do.

Belts: I had two styles--cotton surcingle and braided/woven leather. My surcingle belts were solid colors--bottle green, chocolate, red, navy. I have pictures of myself in those. Braided/woven leather was my favorite. My dad had one. So did my grandad. Most kids I knew had one as well. Worn until the leather un-braided.

Shoes: This is where I was brand specific. I'm sure Sperry's were around my town, but everyone I knew (including me) bought Sebago. My pennies were Sebago. My boat shoes were Sebago. My dirty bucs were Sebago. My bluchers were Sebago. I particularly remember the bluchers as I wore them with everything. I didn't want to wear anything else. They stayed on my feet using the Eastland Lace Roll technique. I wish I could still get a pair. My tennis shoes were white/green Stan Smiths. I was a tennis player and I always liked those for some reason. I still do. (All the girls, including my mom and sister, wore Tretorn Nylites btw.)

Outerwear: I've never been much of a jacket wearer as I'm warm-natured, however I remember wearing two jackets to death. One was a navy Anorack pullover from Bean. The other was a hunter green fleece pullover from Bean, the one with the BD flap pocket and the half-zip front. I'd love to say I have memories of sport coats/blazers/suits, but I'd be lying if I did. I had a navy blazer and a seersucker suit and both probably came from The Common Market (old men's store) but I'm unsure. My dad bought much from them, so it stands to reason that he bought there for me as well.

This may all sound really boring or unenlightening on the "Southern experience". I know that it certainly influenced me and my style choices for the forseeable future. I don't pretend to think it was all I saw or any kind of classic ideal. It just was what it was. Had I been born later, like my brother, my style might be different. I guess in that respect I'm pretty lucky.

Agreed with Mr. Shuman - Fantastic input, all.
In the same way that there was an Ivy League Coast to Coast dressing guide produced back in the day ('Coast to Coast' thread) I bet you could put together a similar guide for the Preppy years.
Egadfly is great at remembering Preppy and Pre-Preppy in Philly and comparing his input to the above you can see that as with any style of dress there were indeed regional variations in Preppy style.

Fascinating stuff. And thanks to all for keeping it real.

J.

^Those final points are dead on the mark, especially among the upper middle class. 

Among Southern Traditionalists there is also a serious love of fieldsports and rural pursuits (and a reverence for "the land").  These tendacies are very similar to those of the British traditionalists, but tend to be uniquely American in execution.  In dress, these tendencies are primarily manifested in wearing of hunting and fishing attire for casual wear.  Especially "traditional" wear like LL Bean shooting coats and boots, but even camouflage as well.  I've known many a prep school boy who couldn't be seperated from his camo cap.  It shows he favors "manly" pursuits.

Is this "Ivy"?  Well, no. Not really.  But the same guys are the ones who still do wear the Ivy clothing.

Flounder

Last edited by tintin (2008-07-18 10:52:01)

Always looking for a cheap way to get hits - - more of my take on Southern Trad (and photos you can see)  follows on today's post of The Trad. 

www.thetrad.blogspot.com