Twenty years later, preppy style is back in fashion for spring. But this is not Mummy’s old guard, Kennebunkport preppy. It’s modern prep. Still the design principles are the same: simple, clean lines and classic shapes.
A fresh alternative to Ferragamo’s matronly heels for women are Givenchy’s pink and green ankle-strap spectator pump. Talbots shirtdresses and dowdy separates give way to Cerruti’s lithe belted shirtdress, Dries Van Noten’s schoolgirl Peter Pan-collar blouse and plaid miniskirt, Oscar de la Renta’s take on the tennis skirt. Tired tartans have been replaced by Burberry’s sublimely revived signature plaid skirts, boots and scarves.
For men this spring, Ralph Lauren updates polo shirts and Bermuda shorts in pumped-up colors of Palm Beach (yes “Beach,” not “Springs”), with grosgrain belts, and BCBG’s Max Azria brings back the sweater vest in vibrant hues. This time the clothes are body hugging, not baggy.
Dressing preppy isn’t aspirational anymore, the fashionistas say. Today, preppy fashion no longer signifies social class or ethnic background. “Preppy clearly has a mutating meaning that depends on who wears it and under what circumstances.” said Valerie Steele, chief museum curator of New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology.
After all, with Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Gap and Banana Republic, khakis and polo shirts have become somewhat of an American uniform, even in California.
It’s true, preppy never really was about California. La Jolla is the only bastion of prep in all of Southern California, according to the handbook. But this time around, even West Coast fashion designers are dabbling in the preppy look.
“I’m calling it ‘lumberjack chic,’ a mixing of mountaineer with preppy plaids,” said L.A. fashion designer Estevan Ramos, who is known more for street wear than sailing shorts.
L.A.-based Azria said his aesthetic for spring is “preppy in its purest form, classic and natural.”
Sandy Richman, co-owner of Directives West, an L.A.-based retail consulting firm with more than 70 clients including Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy’s and JC Penney, said stores are ordering preppy looks, which she refers to as “1950s country-club chic.” She describes it as “sophisticated with polka-dot prints, lots of pleats on short skirts and little jackets worn with printed dresses.” There’s even a new “little black dress”—thanks to the power of preppy—it’s the white pant, she said.
Regardless of what the style is called, its pedigree reaches back farther than the 1950s, according Steele. Brooks Brothers, founded in 1818, takes credit for introducing America to such preppy staples as seersucker in 1830, the button-down polo collar shirt in 1896, Indian madras fabric in 1920 and argyle socks in 1949. The look associated with the Northeast, the upper-middle class, elite Ivy League males and females, remained popular through the early 1960s when John F. Kennedy wore Brooks Brothers suits, polo shirts and chinos for sailing, Steele said.
An article from the LA Times (2001) about the “Preppy Redux”. Read the rest of the article here.
