<p>lmao harlem.
I like preppy guys :/
hahaha.</p>
<p>there are people here who go to Phillips Academy Andover? That is such a coincidence I recently took a test to join a program that prepares you for entrance into one of many boarding schools, Phillips Academy Andover is one of the many boarding schools, do you think going there would be good?</p>
<p>A Mom weighing in here. Hard to believe that "prep" hasn't changed since I went to boarding school, except Vineyard Vines hadn't been invented yet. My parents actually sent me to boarding school to get AWAY from the conspicuous consuming nouveau riche crowd, and I ended up with all of these incredibly well-off girls who were practically dressed in rags. The last thing they wanted was for anyone to know that they came from $$.....old LaCostes, nasty topsiders, tatterred jeans and brothers' old shetland sweaters. It was great. I wanted to ask what you thought about the prep-unisex thing. Is that still the same? Unless you were in the South, the girls dressed exactly like the boys.....no makeup, jeans, turtlenecks, LacCostes, duck boots, etc. ?</p>
<p>Completely agree, dke. That's the true definition of being preppy.</p>
<p>I'm really surprised how many people here include brands like A&F, Hollister, American Eagle, etc. Those are NOT preppy brands. If you want preppy, go to Brooks Brothers, Lacoste, J.Crew, Polo Ralph Lauren, Patagonia. Classic understated elegance, not trendiness. </p>
<p>Off-topic, but I think A&F's clothes are absolutely terrible/tacky this season. I'm embarassed sometimes to see some of the stuff in the store.</p>
<p>Reading this thread reminds me how ridiculous people can be...</p>
<p>Trying to define a word that pretty much represents people with money to buy nice clothes in an over complicated way...</p>
<p>i always thought that because i liked to wear my dad's polos, sportscoats, and holey sweaters that people would think i was poor (i liked them in the first place, and then i saw it as a way to rebel against the flashy materialistic culture we now live in)???? and esp. because the only high fashion stuff i had was a tattered LV trunk that my great-great-grandmother bought in the 1800's (no joke -- the thing smells really bad), along w/ some other old dooney's and granny gucci's that my grandma left me.. whereas, all of the girls in my town had at LEAST 5 new designer bags before we graduated 7th grade.. I always thought I was super poor (on surveys and standardized tests, i would mark "lower class"/). anyway, i wasn't interested in looking $$$ and whenever my family moved (quite often), someone would always say something like, "you're rich, aren't you?" (i'm not) and I NEVER understood it until a few months ago -- when my mom told me a few things about my family background -- but I still don't get how a lot of kids i meet think i'm something i'm not. my mother drives an old crappy volvo everywhere, and neither of us wear jewelery or anything. so my question is: do kids on here actually think this is rich, etc.? i just don't understand how these kids -- who ALL get a new bmw on their 16th birthday -- could think i'm rich. do you seriously associate polos (my GRANDPARENTS live in polos -- not sexy!) w/ luxury?</p>
<p>i know it sounds cliche, but "preppy" isn't really how you dress, it's how you live. or how others perceive how you live.</p>
<p>Anyone who inherits an LV trunk that's been in the family for 5 generations is "old money" by any definition. And obviously if your ritzy new money friends can sniff out the money on you while wearing waterlogged Sperry's, then theres something unmistakably preppy about your demeanor or sometin.</p>
<p>blairt, your town sounds like ours. (its the Mom again, sorry) My daughter's in fifth grade, and the girls wear Chanel makeup, Taryn Tarantino jewelry and lots of Juicy. Fortunately, she's a Lands End kind of girl like me, and we crack up at the materialism of these other families.</p>
<p>Gosh, dke. It has spread! See, when I was in middle school (6-7 grade), I lived in this one town on the east coast where girls were so materialistic that my mom looked into boarding school for the sole sake of getting me away from them. I had one friend who had a Coach bag addiction -- sustained by her mother, who just thought it was adorable. She had somewhere near 20 Coach bags, and the whole line of Mac makeup... in 7th grade!! And on Christmas, they would all post what they got on their away messages online (eck), and I remember like 3 of my friends got the whole LV luggage set!! I was like -- geesh, I have an old trunk, does that mean I'm poor? My grandparents always gave us monogrammed Bean sweaters for Christmas, and I thought they were the coolest things in the world ("wow, my initials are on it!") because I could match my 13 cousins -- not Jessica Simpson!</p>
<p>Anyway, we later moved to the LA area, and it became worse. It was like.. mini Beverly Hills 90210 -- they were not only completely materialistic and hopelessly shallow, but they also grew up in Hollywood, so they felt very entitled to an acting career and learned how to party super young, etc. (this is in 7-9 grade!) I'm only now realizing how warped this world has been (after we moved to a semi-normal town in Colorado for 6 months, I got it!).</p>
<p>Anyway, I'm going off to prep school next year, and I hope that those kids are a bit more.. enlightened! Hopefully! I purposefully chose a school that wasn't right outside of Boston or NYC for this reason.</p>
<p>Well, Blairt, you've moved around alot already at a young age, so you've got perspective on things which is invaluable, and it'll help you when you get to boarding school. Your experience in LA reminds me of those girls I saw on a Bravo TV show called, "HOusewives of Orange County" which I found extremely disturbing!!</p>
<p>Okay, then if it's not preppy/prep, what IS a "name" (label, stereotype, whatever) for the people/girls who wear ae, abercrombie, ballet flats, stuff like that? Jw.</p>
<p>I wear abercrombie, hollister, & lacoste..and most people @ school or around people don't really classify my friends and I as a "prep or preppy" most people don't really care because thats the norm at my school..</p>
<p>yea at my school anf, hollister, lacoste, and ralph lauren are the norms. It cant be considered preppy. Check up preppy on wikipedia.</p>
<p>Brooks Brothers, Patagonia, L.L. Bean, J.Crew, J. Press, Barbour</p>
<p>Those are the ones I can think off of the top of my head right now... (LOVE Barbour)</p>
<p>Hollister and Aberc. totally</p>
<p>Where I come from preppy people think they're better then everyone else. The problem is 95% of my school is preppy and they're all trying to outdo each other to see who is the preppiest. My favorite is when they are tan [ORANGE] in the dead of winter (Michigan's winter) and pretend like it's real. I swear the preps or wannabe preps or whatever they are, are in a contest to see who can look the fakest orange. </p>
<p>Again this is where I live, I'm sure it's different elsewhere.</p>
<p>/\ new money vs. old money</p>
<p>This is correct - the majority of old money people at boarding school don't feel a need to flaunt their wealth...you can find them wearing hand-me-down shetland sweaters and salt-stained topsiders.</p>
<p>Old money people are raised that its gauche to show that you have any money at all.....hence the beat up Volvos and sweaters with holes in them. Reverse chic.</p>