News Staff Reporter
True story: A girl I toured for Admissions once asked if it was part of the dress code at Choate to pop your collar. You can’t really blame the girl for asking. At first glance the many Preps of Choate Rosemary Hall all appear alike. Closer inspection, however, reveals that there are at least five strains of the preppy type in our little stylistic Petri dish.
‘Established Preppy’ is the oldest form of preppy. Navy blues, reds, and dark browns make up this group’s palette. Its members prefer oxfords to polo shirts and wear loafers or topsiders with no socks. Stores of preference are J. Press, Brooks Brothers, Ralph Lauren, and Murray’s Toggery Shop (Main Street, Nantucket.) Their parents’ generation may have worn select items from the L.L. Bean catalogue such as ‘the Bean’s Norwegian fisherman’s sweater,’ ‘the tattersal print shirts,’ and L.L. Bean boots with chain-linked soles, the Uggs of an earlier era. The men’s Ralph Lauren store in New York embodies the mood of this dark ‘Established Preppy’ movement with mahogany paneling, crystal chandeliers, and leather chairs the color of velvety dark chocolate. By nature reserved and understated, these preps don’t need to pop their colors to display their caliber.
The ‘Nouveau Preps’, the largest group of today’s preppies, are the ones wearing pink and green pastel, men and women alike. The girls can be seen wearing Lily Pulitzer dresses to school (even when there isn’t a special program) with a J. Crew cardigan and the requisite pearl set. They always pop the collar on their polo shirts and have an obsession with tropical-hued madras. Palm trees, ribbons, and embroidered whales war with bright colors in super coordinated and sometimes outlandish outfits. Some ‘Established Preps’ are irritated by the gauche ways of these colorful preppies. The ‘Nouveau Prep’s’ chosen stores are Lily Pulitzer, Polo, J. Crew and Vineyard Vines.
The newest group to emerge is the ‘Hip Preps’. Perhaps in reaction to their parents, or perhaps to mock ‘real’ preps, this look is caricature of preppy style. The new store Rugby, a subsidiary of Ralph Lauren, embodies this style, as does J. Crew’s Jolly Roger line. The college-aged staff appear hand picked for their fiercely hip looks. For our school, we are talking about a shaggy-haired young man sporting an oxford, two polo shirts, a vest, logo’d tie, and clashing madras pants. Countercultural emblems such as skull and cross bones replace lobsters as critters on belts, capris, and jackets. According to one questionably lucid Rugby shopper, the style is “a revolution for preps.”
Returning to the parable of my hapless ‘touree,’ I found myself responding that ‘popping the color’ is neither enforced nor promoted by the school. However, that answer is not only catty but also deeply unsatisfying. It is only in retrospect that I realize the entire divergent preppy flora and fauna I could have detailed, instead of using the fifty-minute time we had together showing her the buzz and buildings of Choate. Knowledge of the divergent preppy types is de rigueur for sorting out the messy masses clustered outside the Humanities building.
Best-Dressed girl: Kate Walton ‘07. A particularly memorable outfit included a light blue skirt covered in pink whale critters, and a polo in the exact same shade of pink.
Best - Dressed boy: Steve Gilbert ‘06 wears crisps oxfords and has beautifully flowing blond hair. He is currently dating Kate Walton, joining forces to form the preppiest couple at Choate.
