The Preppy style has come to London, and everyone is rocking the look. From Varsity Jackets to Ray Bans. But where did this trend originate?
Peoples first guess would be America, and they would be right but not entirely. Here let me explain:
Preppy or prep, are abbreviations of the word preparatory, traditionally used in relation to north-eastern private university-preparatory schools and denotes a person seen as characteristic of an attendee of these schools. Characteristics of a prep includes; a particular subcultural speech, vocabulary, accent, dress, mannerisms, and etiquette.
Peoples first guess would be America, and they would be right but not entirely. Here let me explain:
Preppy or prep, are abbreviations of the word preparatory, traditionally used in relation to north-eastern private university-preparatory schools and denotes a person seen as characteristic of an attendee of these schools. Characteristics of a prep includes; a particular subcultural speech, vocabulary, accent, dress, mannerisms, and etiquette.
The word ‘Preppy’ is particularly well-known amongst American teenagers, as it is quite often used to refer to a particular subculture present within most populous American high schools: the ‘Popular Kids’. The ‘Popular Kids’, generally consist of middle to upper class children, who are typically characterized as a shallow, transparent group. They are primarily concerned with social standing/hierarchy, physical appearance and material possessions.
Vintage Hollywood films such as The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles and Clueless emphasise these characteristics.
And even modern films such as; Twelve, The Skulls, The Covenant, Mean Girls, The School of Rock, Cruel Intentions and Wild Child depict these stereotypes.
These ideologies have been revived by TV series Gossip Girl, Veronica Mars, 90210 and Gilmore Girls .
And even modern films such as; Twelve, The Skulls, The Covenant, Mean Girls, The School of Rock, Cruel Intentions and Wild Child depict these stereotypes.
Preps often are associated with traditionalist, East Coast, upper class "WASP" families in the United States. WASP: White Anglo-Saxon Protestants - a closed group of high-status Americans of high status and of Western European descent (not necessarily British), with a Protestant background. They supposedly wield disparate financial and social power. The WASP’s exclude Catholics, Jews, African-Caribbean’s, Hispanics, Native Americans and Asians from their privileged society. The term also is used in Australia and Canada for similar powerful groups.WASP families are also highly associated to prestigious Ivy League schools such as Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, Harvard, Princeton and Wellesley.
The preppy style originated in the 1950s. As the style is associated with the WASP ethnonym, prep’s do not follow the latest trends but frequently wear more traditional styles. Classical preps frequently dress formally and teenage preps often depict the appearance of a young professional adult.
This video illustrates them.
In 1980, the author and private school alumna Lisa Birnbach edited The Official Preppy Handbook, a tongue-in-cheek guide to what she termed "prepdom". Birnbach, with Chip Kidd, have authored True Prep, a follow up to the 1980 handbook, published September 2010 by Knopf.
Celebrities have channeled this fashion, and have brought it to the fashion scene. Rapper Kanye West, singers Chris Brown, JLS and Kourtney Kardashian's boyfriend - Scott Disick are some of the prominent trend setters.I have created my own video, to illustrate the style further.
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