Preppy is not 1930's

[Fletch]

Expound I will sir.

In case it matters, I actually am a preppy. Cranbrook Kingswood School, Bloomfield Hills, MI, class of 1985.

Preppy suits have a vestigial third button that's not meant to be used. '30s suits have a fully operational third button, if any.

There are some preppy affectations that overlap the '30s, but they're just bits and pieces. Polo coats, cabled white tennis sweaters, white bucks, argyle sox or vests, now and then the odd straw boater (strictly for approved functions nowadays, pretty much meaning Ivy League class reunions). None of them adds up to a whole outfit or look.

Some preppy items (alligator polos, Weejun loafers) do date back to the '30s or even before (buttondown dress shirts), but have no associations with the era.

Esquire and Apparel Arts are pretty much the authorities on what actual preppies/Ivy Leaguers wore in the '30s. (Hint: There wasn't much madras plaid, outside of an occasional hat band.)

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

Ivy league is what college and prep school kids wore at school in the 50s-60s. American trad is what they wore at work. Preppy is what their kids wore in the 80s.

 

[AlanC]

Note madras bow tie

This from Apparel Arts, early summer 1935, from Etutee's essay at LL:

A CAMPUS UNIFORM FOR THE LATE SPRING

ONE of the most popular items among undergraduates today is the natural color gabardine suit. For that matter, they are by no means alone in their liking for this staple of the well dressed man's wardrobe. The outfit shown here can be worn, with equal propriety, by undergraduates and by alumni, for the late spring and early summer season. The suit is a three button notch lapel model with patch pockets and side vents. Note, also, that it has stitched edges on the lapels, collar, front and pockets. A shirt that combines very well with this suit is a grey oxford with a spaced yellow stripe in a medium pointed buttoned down collar model, worn with a bow tie of India madras in bright native colorings. The hat is the popular pork pie, the pocket handkerchief is a green silk foulard. Note that the brown suede shoes are the monk front type with a buckle instead of laces. Crepe rubber soles.

 

[Fletch]

Can't argue with Vlad.
Am Trad suits are the ones with the phony 3rd button.
Ivy suits had real ones.
Preppy, strictly defined, does not admit of suits.

BTW, that 1935 "campus uniform" would have been way, way out there on all but a few campuses, even within the Ivies. Set that dude down in State College, Ann Arbor, or Ames, Iowa and they'd have mistaken him for a visiting dignitary or possibly someone just landed from Neptune.

When was the last time you saw a grey-and-yellow-striped anything?

 

[AlanC]

Never trust the guy...

with the vestigial third button:

 

[happyfilmluvguy]

When I think of preppy, I think of bow ties, sweater vests, and Khaki pants.

 

[neyus]

Ivy league is what college and prep school kids wore at school in the 50s-60s. American trad is what they wore at work. Preppy is what their kids wore in the 80s.

thats another way at looking at it.

 

[Alan Eardley]

When I think of preppy, I think of bow ties, sweater vests, and cacky pants.

Does 'cacky' mean the same thing in 2000s LA as it did in 1950s UK?

Alan

 

[Miss Neecerie]

I think he meant Khaki

 

[NicolettaRose]

I think preppy can encompass many looks. Madras, blue blazers, argyle, tweed, cable knit sweaters, deck shoes. To me preppy is not really a dressed up style, rather it is more one that is dress down and sporty while still looking polished, I don't nessicerily think that suits are preppy, unlss they are seer sucker or madras or khaki. I think the decade that really exudes prepiness before the 1980's, is the 1920's, but remember Rene Lacoste came up with his iconic alligator polos in the 1920's.I think of the 1920's, since there was so much emphasis on sporty/collegiate looks for men. And true--Preppy makes me think of the east coast, but it does also make me think of the english countryside, especially with fabrics, plaid and arglye.

 

[griffer]

it makes me think of what the eastern seaboard thinks the english countryside is like.

Mostly it's just laziness. I think Matt's criticism is not so much with what is being worn, so much as the complete apathy of how it is worn.

Blazer and pants, who cares how they are cut, how they fit, etc.? It's the rich sloppy chic.

"Look I can wear thousands of dollars of ill fitting Ben Sherman and Lauren, and still look sloppy."

What I want to know is what is the line bewteen Cary Grant and fussy fop? Although, CG would probably be tag a fop in today's lens.

 

[AlanC]

Well, no style is immune from poor fit. I've seen my share of questionable fits in some of the vintage ensembles at FL, too.

Vladimir's statement about Ivy, Trad and Preppy is probably a good generalization. Like any generalization it doesn't fit in every circumstance, but it does flesh out some good parameters.

I think what we think of as 'Trad' is a post-war look. Its hallmarks are natural shoulders, dartless 3/2 jackets, plain front pants (likely a holdover from the war and military khakis). It captures something of a studied nonchalance and casualness. There's a lot of focus on unexpected colors and patterns (pink shirts, Nantucket red trousers, madras, argyles). It is deliberately not the high style of the '30s. It was the post-war reaction against it, in many ways.

I like the high style of the '30s too well to be a really good Trad, I'm afraid. When dressed casually I tend to dress more Trad. When I move up to suits I prefer darts and more structure.

Matt Deckard's original premise that Preppy is not 1930s is correct, although I'd say you could find some AA/Esky sport clothes pictures that look pretty Preppy.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

.

-------.------------- From 1938 and 1939, respectively:

------

.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

From 1938 and 1939, respectively:

fnar fnar

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Note that the trouser legs in that picture are rather narrow for the 1930s.

.

 

[Fletch]

Yes, and if you slim the lapels, zap the striped shirt, pocket squares and porkpie hat, these 3 are all characteristically 50s outfits.

Ivies even used to wear crewcuts before Uncle Sam demanded it!

 

[griffer]

Sorry, but were traouser universally worn that short??

I just noticed there isn't a HINT of break on those cuffs.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

I was actually a preppy, but it was in Hawaii in the 1970s, so it doesn't count. lol

 

[David V]

Ivy league is what college and prep school kids wore at school in the 50s-60s. American trad is what they wore at work. Preppy is what their kids wore in the 80s.

Preppy is what we pretenders wore in the late 70's (I am so embarassed.) thinking we were 'classic".

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Sorry, but were traouser universally worn that short??

I just noticed there isn't a HINT of break on those cuffs.

Preppies were (and still are) known to wear their trouser legs especially short.

.