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Just about every flagship school in the south and midwest has/had (before on line) a store by campus that sold the preppy stuff to students (mostly Greeks) at outrages prices.
During my time at the University of Oklahoma in the late '70s that place was Harold's. And the coed store was Dee's.
In those days Izod was king. I used to say that OU needed to change their nickname to Gators because when you walked across campus that's all you'd see. Shirts with alligators on them.
By the time I left though. It was all shirts with polo players on them.
The upper class, old money scene in the South is still not as pretentious or elitist as in the Northeast and California. There's a difference between the old families of Charleston, South Carolina and Natchez, Mississippi or Uptown New Orleans vs the Northeast. Uptown NO is probably the closest thing in the Deep South to preppy but they're still more down to Earth and not as stuck up and soulless as in the Northeast. The Northeast preppy scene is only about money, power, and elitism and the idea of fancy degrees also contributes to the elitism.
I don't know if Southern Marsh is considered a preppy brand. It started here in Baton Rouge.
Here’s how I personally see what people called “preppiness”: There are pockets of wealthy enclaves in the OC (Laguna, Newport….) , or as you mentioned above Malibu, Bel Air, or Beverley Hills (even though it’s mostly more Jewish & Persian than WASP.) or San Marino (even though it’s more rich Asians than WASP), or someone upthread called “Southern frat” crowd that sport pastel polo shirts, white or plaid or nautical knee length shorts/pants, putting on an affected air of “preppiness”, (most fraternities & sororities across the county do, in my opinion.), but that doesn’t necessarily mean the city in which the young people affected the preppiness is, therefore, a “preppy” city.
Just my humble 2 cents.
Any kid can affect the “preppy” look without attending a private college prep school.
The fact that the Original Preppy Handbook was published in 1980 as a satire should tell you something.
The true, authentic, accurate “preppy” look and lifestyle can be seen in Whit Stilman’s 1990 movie Metropolitan. Preppiness is more than just the pastel shirts, pearl necklaces and tartan headband. Movies like Dead Poet Society, the Talented Mr. Ripley, Love Story, the Graduate (the Pasadena old money society.), American Psycho all show some glimpses of American preppiness.
But then again I know people who attended schools such as Dalton in Manhattan or Dwight-Englewood in NJ, interestingly none of them appeared to be “preppy”. My own nephew attended prep school k-12 and he was the captain of rowing team crew (heavyweight) in Yale,-he’s not exactly very “preppy” either.
Added: Nancy Meyers’ movies are probably what most people referred to as “preppy” in this thread: rich, proper and upscale. Depends on your definition though.
Will being Jewish exclude you from being preppy? I am not too sure myself of the real definition of it. But if it is then the heartland of Preppy-ism cannot be wealthy parts of Bergen County, North Shore LI. Those areas are largely like Beverly Hills in demographic. I actually attended summer school at Dwight Englewood. It was just one summer, but I am still familiar enough with the whole area. It is pretty much in the sphere of my hometown.
I am under the impression, that Greenwich Conn is the same. The old money WASP industrialist families have largely died out or have fled to greener pastures. The Vanderbilts are gone, or no longer in the extremely wealthy category. The descendants have moved into showbiz like Timothy Olyphant, John Paul Hammond, and James Vanderbilt. The Bush family which I believe have roots in Greenwich are spread all over country. Who knows what their kids are doing, but its like they are all career politicians.
The companies started by the old money WASP industrialists have all largely merged into larger Wall Street conglomerates. There is really nothing to "PREP" for anymore. The old school WASP families all got rich paydays, and can enjoy for generations if not squandered. So why go work in industry when can pursue more carnal pleasures?
Are techies a subset of preppies? I won't deem my self an authority on either.
There's overlap, but a lot of people in tech are from solidly middle-class or even working-class backgrounds. A programmer friend I used to live with was a welder before he got into coding.
It's less credential-based than most white-collar fields, that's for sure. I'm a senior developer at a large tech company, and I have a bachelor's and grew up in an upper-middle-class suburban family (one notch below "preppy"), but my degree was in an unrelated field. I got in with one of those 12-week bootcamps (plus a ton of learning on the side to make up for lost time...)
At the very least --- most of us don't have the fashion sense or knowledge of mixed drinks to be preppies, lol.
While I think the tendency is to pick the wealthier northeastern coastal cities (and historically that would be true) don't sleep on the deep south here. Especially the college towns, like Oxford, MS for example. Just look at how the crowd dresses at SEC football games, and all the guys have the same doofy-shag haircuts.
In the northeast, to me anyway, Newport is ground zero for preppiness, way ahead of places like Greenwich. Anywhere that has a big sailing / yachting culture would probably fall into that category.
While I think the tendency is to pick the wealthier northeastern coastal cities (and historically that would be true) don't sleep on the deep south here. Especially the college towns, like Oxford, MS for example. Just look at how the crowd dresses at SEC football games, and all the guys have the same doofy-shag haircuts.
In the northeast, to me anyway, Newport is ground zero for preppiness, way ahead of places like Greenwich. Anywhere that has a big sailing / yachting culture would probably fall into that category.
I can vouch for Oxford. I got my graduate degrees at Ole Miss. It's a different world among grad students, but those undergrads were the preppiest people I had ever seen in my life. I don't think I ever saw a single undergrad student in sweats or t-shirts on campus, and even jeans were rare. Think khaki, Topsiders, and polos. Lots of khaki, Topsiders, and polos. Oh, and the khakis had to be Duck Head brand. Everyone--and I do mean everyone--dressed up for football games like they were going to the prom. Pre-game tailgating in the Grove involved fine china and real silverware. Granted, that was well over 20 years ago and things have gotten more casual since then, as they have all over, but I still think any list of "preppiest cities" that does not include Oxford MS is an incomplete list.
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its - possession
it's - contraction of it is
your - possession
you're - contraction of you are
their - possession
they're - contraction of they are
there - referring to a place
loose - opposite of tight
lose - opposite of win
who's - contraction of who is
whose - possession
alot - NOT A WORD
I thought someone up top asked if Boston was preppy. To me, it may be the preppiest. I imagine Connecticut to be preppy as well. I'm in tech myself. Definitely not a preppy group, so no on Raliegh, Austin, Seattle etc.
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