Omg. That’s even funnier @PhotographerMom !!!
@PhotographerMom I hope your husband uses his best Thurston Howell III, clenched jaw voice. 
Well…at the risk of insulting someone on this list…roommate’s mom wore Tory Burch and brought her dog. I wore flip flops, a t-shirt and shorts. This will be an interesting year.
Roommates parents came in wearing full business attire…Dad was wearing a suit…But the mom was wearing a pencil skirt, formal blouse, 5-in stilettos, fancy bag, the whole works… It was amazing she got unto the 3 rd floor without slipping or falling down because the stairs here are a bit slippery… ;
My husband did in fact walk around doing his Thurston Howell III voice, albeit under his breath. Extreme preppiness, everywhere (I guess to be expected), but no truly outrageous sights. DS’s roommate wasn’t there for preseason sports, so we haven’t met him or his family.
OMG @Atria so good to see you-I’m guessing MX hasn’t completely ramped up yet! And @HMom16 it sounds like we saw cousins! The mom I saw had the color coordinated stilettos, wide brimmed hat, flared midi skirt with silk blouse and a matching dog purse for her fluffy dog that she carried around while her family was hauling boxes!!! I’m so glad to read these posts because being the BS virgin, I was beginning to think that we were the oddballs out for lack of preppiness/vineyard vines ensembles/personal stylist coifs! (After all, my kid threw up all over the dining hall in the middle of the buffet lunch). Y’all have been my comedic relief while studying for my recertification boards exam. Thank you!!!
My older sister’s freshman Putney roommate was Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward’s daughter, (founder of Newman’s Own) My mom was happily unpacking sis’s undies when Paul Newman walked in. But I give the 2017 first impression rose to @buuzn03 kid for sure! I suspect this will come up again before graduation, excuse the pun.
@chemmchimney =))
It seems that class based clothing choices are a concern for only women . I would imagine that most average men would say “Clothing is a good thing to wear at the move in of your children.” I’m not a man yet I have no idea what the average Boarding school Mom “woman” would think. It isn’t a nudist colony nor an equestrian arena unless the boarding school allows you to ride your horse in. The Kentucky Derby only happens in the Summer, Tennis clothes are comfy if you actually play tennis. How about just not caring.
@chemmchimney I am just waiting to see how wide a berth we are given at Parents’ Weekend!! :-& 
One that I’ll never forget was a drop off years back. It was like ‘Theater of the Absurd’ come to life on that warm, early Sept day in CT: A heavily made up woman, sporting a vermillion puffer jacket and kicky-heeled boots, was accompanied by an also “nattily dressed” dad (3-pieced suit and fedora). He was also carrying a huge box with a new oscillating desk fan in it.
Photodad ddn’t do exaggerated accents… sadly. That would’ve been funny! Just a sharp, curt and relatively loud , Spaulding! … with loud sidebar comments like, Doesn’t your mother look ravishing today?
What with all this little dog stuff? So disappointing. Everyone knows the preppy families have labs and more labs. Well, maybe a golden, but usually just labs. Lots and lots of labs.
Unless, @doschicos, they’re horsey-preppy (which would be Ms. C. Newman, back in the day). In which case, corgis and jack russells, both know for the portability and ease of sneaking into hotel rooms at horse shows. Or the favorite hound that somehow found its way out of the kennel into the house. :o3
@chemmchimney It amused me that you described Paul Newman as “the founder of Newman’s Own.” I think you must be quite a bit younger than I am! He and Joanne Woodward were my best random celebrity sighting (come to think of it, maybe they were my only one, but what the heck, they win every game of “can you top this” when people mention whoever it was they just happened to see ).They walked in front of my cab in the Theater District of NYC one night in the mid-90s. The cabbie and I just looked at each other in wonderment.
I’m glad parents at Mercersburg usually dress down. At most events, I find myself dressed slightly more formally than most others. Most of my actual casual clothes are old and schleppy looking by now, and were never anything I would feel comfortable in among other parents I barely knew. In my recent role as preppy parent, I have started to accumulate a few “nice casual” items, but there’s no way I can match the people whose casual clothes are, although simple, much more expensive than mine. I usually wear my work clothes and look a little bit overdressed.
Thanks, @twinsmama. I was wondering how to respond to the Newman’s Own reference but was too busy yelling at pesky kids to Get Off My Lawn! Salad dressing and popcorn do NOT figure into my impure thoughts of Paul Newman.
All I can say is this… ^:)^
http://media.independent.com/img/photos/2008/09/30/paul_newman.jpg
He was always my “older guy” crush. When everyone else was crushing on Redford, I always preferred Newman.
Paul Newman is crushable for sure but it was actually his daughter aka the roommate who founded Newman’s own. She wanted to convince her dad that organic could be tasty and she certainly succeeded! She developed all the recipes too. A mission very much in sync with the Putney School’s which in the 70s did not allow condiments. As I recall, Students also marched at graduation in bare feet which horrified my parents so much that I was not allowed to apply.
Ah, thanks for the clarification, @chemmchimney. Good for her. It would be a tragedy to reduce her father to a grocery-shelf face.