Preppy Subculture

Clothing

Sports

Ralph Lauren Kids Ad

• Polo
• Sailing
• Table Tennis
• Golf
• Swimming
• Cricket
• Tennis
• Rugby
• Football
• Lacrosse
• Skiing

Vineyard Vines Ad

The Look

• Polo style shirt/dress shirt
• Bright colors, patterned
• Sport coat
• colored, patterned, school emblem
• Rugby-style shirts
• striped, colors of school, emblem
• Sweaters
• school emblem
• Khaki pants/shorts
• can be colored
• Pleated skirts
• usually khaki, blue, grey, white
• Dresses
• colored, patterned
• Polo-type shoes or boat shoes
• usually brown, blue, grey, khaki
• Sunglasses

Brands = Tommy Hilfiger, Lacoste, Polo, Sperry, Vineyard Vines, Ralph Lauren, Burberry, J Crew, Abercrombie & Fitch

Beliefs/Values

Interests

Preparatory School Uniforms

• High Education
• Leads to getting into Ivy League
• Leads to money
• Leads to children in high education
• Appearance
• Look neat, well put together
• Brands
• Connections
• Business jobs
• Country clubs creates friendships
• Manners
• To be respected you must be respectful
• Good manners and values such as honesty are taught in the schools
• Keeping Up With Trends
• Fashion, diets, ect.

• Appearance
• Schooling
• Cars
• Country Clubs
• Class

Norms

Sanctions

• Wearing brand name clothing
• High end logos let people know your not cheap
• Living lavishly
• Target polo - $12.99
• Ralph Lauren polo - $85.00
• Etiquette/Language
• Normal people call it a sport coat, Preppies can call it a "Americana Notch Lapel Jacket"
• Parents have high end jobs
• Business roles or medical roles
• Play a sport
• If extremely unathletic, you must be very smart

Overview

• Excluded if not wearing name brands
• Excluded if not attending top schooling
• Excluded if not in neighborhood country club
• Excluded if not of highly attributed job
• Excluded if not owner of expensive car
• Excluded if wealthy

History

Media Influences

• Movies
• School Ties
• Clueless
• TV Shows
• Odd Mom Out
• Gossip Girl
• Pretty Little Liars
• Social Media
• Celebrities
• Runway shows
• Ads

People who are privileged enough to afford high-end schooling, resulting in upper class living

• Began in preparatory colleges
• Early 1900s - Brooks Brothers inspired "preppy" with button down polo
• 1920s - high end Ivy League schools became respected
• 1950s - young people wanted to attend college

• 1960s/1970s - preppy became conformity
• 1980s - The Official Preppy Handbook was a poke at preppies but used as a guide for others

WASP Culture

Upper East Side Manhattan

• White Anglo - Saxton Protestants
• Raise children in all white communities
• Kids sent to private, Protestant schools
• Belonged to private summer communities
• "Not who you know but who knows you"
• Only associate with other white protestant people
• Preppy clothing used to identify WASPs until 1980s

• Home to some of the best public schools and private schools
• Public (publicly funded, application)
• Hunter School
• Eleanor Roosevelt High School
• Private
• The Dalton School ($44, 640/yr)
• Hewitt ($44, 700/yr)
• 81% white
• Almost 80% of population have Bachelors degree or higher
• Known for being large Jewish community

Preppy Subculture