Yes, it’s that time of year again. With Memorial Day just over, you should consider joining or renewing your annual membership with the Preppy Anti-Defamation League (PADL). Even though we’re in the middle of a pandemic, summer is still go-to-hell season, a time when Nantucket Reds, madras patchwork plaid, and other clothes of blinding primary colors will be worn to the consternation of Zoom meeting attendees across the country. However, those of you venturing outside with your seersucker masks and radiant ensembles shouldn’t have any trouble with social distancing. The general public will go out of their way to avoid your brilliance, but those caught by surprise may complain about retina damage due to the intensity of your clothing. You will need proper support. Other than a trust fund, your PADL membership is the best support mummy and daddy can give. Meet this year’s PADL officers, all just re-elected by mail-in ballot (L to R): John J. “Jake” Balderdash, III (President), Muffy Armitage Balderdash (Secretary), and John J. “Skip” Balderdash, IV (Vice-President).

One of the leading candidates for “Nattiest Dresser of the 20th Century” might well be Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.  He graduated from Phillips Exeter, perhaps the most elite prep school in America.  He was also an alumnus of Harvard, serving on the faculty there before going to work for the Kennedy administration in 1961.  Designated as Special Assistant to the President, he functioned as a roving intellectual in the White House, advising Kennedy on a number of matters, particularly Latin American affairs.  Schlesinger was rarely seen without his trademark bow tie and P3 tortoiseshell glasses.

I was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity (Nu Chapter).  This is the fraternity composite from the spring of 1985.  A large framed and matted version of this print was hung on a wall in the Pike house.

During rush, my fraternity brothers at Wofford did not behave like Doug Neidermeyer and Greg Marmalard of Omega at Faber College.

But the Pikes did behave a lot like the Deltas when throwing a toga party.  Yes, we actually had those, and we did gator!

College Fashionista recently posted this image of a current Wofford student wearing Nantucket Reds, a motif belt (ribbon with South Carolina palmetto and crescent over webbed cotton backing), a white button down with Vineyard Vines bow tie – also with palmetto and crescent – and a pair of Sperry Topsiders.

Is Wofford still preppy?  You bet your plaid cotton boxer shorts!  However, the school is much more diverse today, which is a great thing, and the student body is about 1/3 larger than when I was there.  Total enrollment is just over 1,600, and 40% of them belong to a fraternity or sorority.

America’s Best Kept College Secrets has this to say about the school:  “Like Furman and Wake Forest, Wofford attracts a healthy, happy, preppy, active, sporty student body that intends to take up a career as a doctor, lawyer, or corporate chief.  The students are good looking and friendly, and the campus has the feel of a college in which poise and good looks prevail.”

In the 80s, although we did wear jeans and sweatshirts to class from time to time, khakis and button downs or Lacoste shirts were more the norm.  Blue blazers and ties were added for campus events, interviews and, as already mentioned, football games.  Even students who did not pledge a fraternity wore the uniform.  Note the college seal buttons on the student’s blazer to the left (see detail shot).

Founded in 1854, Wofford has long been known for academic excellence and was the first college in South Carolina to receive a charter with Phi Beta Kappa honor society.  Some recent accolades for my alma mater (as listed on the college website):

• U.S. News & World Report’s 2014 edition of “America’s Best Colleges” ranked Wofford 65th among national liberal arts colleges, and 27th among 40 national liberal arts colleges as “Great Schools, Great Prices.” Wofford also included in the 2014 “Up and Comers” list of 10 liberal arts colleges noted among peers for their “promising and innovative changes in the areas of academics, faculty, student life, campus, or facilities.” (September 2013)
• Forbes’ “America’s Best Colleges” lists Wofford among the top 120, the highest-rated South Carolina institution (September 2013)
• The Princeton Review’s 2014 edition of “The Best 378 Colleges” features Wofford among the best undergraduate institutions, and ranked Wofford 19th for “Best Science Lab Facilities, The college also is the only South Carolina institution listed among the 75 “best values” among the top colleges. Wofford also is noted for its “career services” in the publication. (August 2013)
• Fiske Guide to Colleges 2014 cited Wofford among “Small Colleges and Universities Strong in Business” (August 2013)
• Forbes magazine ranked Wofford among the top 120 colleges and universities in the country – 119th overall and the highest-ranked South Carolina institution – in the sixth annual rankings of “America’s Top Colleges” in 2013. Wofford was ranked 20th among the Best Colleges in the South and 89th among the Best Private Colleges. (July 2013) In 2010, Forbes ranked Wofford 14th among all the nation’s colleges and universities for women desiring to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

Wofford’s 170-acre tree-lined campus has been designated as an arboretum.  On a sunny autumn afternoon, while the leaves are changing color, it is an especially beautiful place to be.

Students at Hampden-Sydney take a great deal of pride in their appearance and believe in good manners.  In fact, the school has published its own etiquette guide:  To Manor Born, To Manners Bred (now in its 7th edition), which has been updated for the social media age.  That’s serious dedication!  Some gentlemen of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity above display a range of attire:  plain front khakis, blue blazers, a navy suit with a Brooks Brothers repp tie, freshly pressed pinpoint and oxford cloth button downs, bow ties, ribbon belts with motifs and a needlepoint belt.  This is all standard dress on campus, and one of the reasons Hampden-Sydney is considered a very traditional college.

In the February 2013 issue of Town & Country, Hampden-Sydney alumni were featured tailgating on campus prior to a football game against arch rival Randolph Macon. All of these gentlemen are sporting bow ties, and one is wearing Nantucket Reds with a pair of go-to-hell socks that would make President George Herbert Walker Bush envious.  Tailgating was spoofed in Lisa Birnbach’s The Official Preppy Handbook (1980) in which she also listed Hampden-Sydney as the #3 preppy college in the country behind Babson (#1) and Hamilton (#2).

Also in The Official Preppy Handbook, noted both for its finely drawn satire and anthropological treatment of preppies, is a section on body types with representative photos and descriptions of each.  The Good Old Boy’s biography includes attending Lawrenceville and Hampden-Sydney, and his stated attributes suggest a fun-loving, if not bawdy, demeanor.  He is holding a “genetically attached beer can,” while wearing a button down layered over a Lacoste shirt (Southern collar notably not popped), rumpled, flood level khakis and a pair of penny loafers, one of which is duct taped to keep the sole and the upper together – a practice cultivated at Lawrenceville.  He’s the one of the three I think I’d most enjoy being around.

As an homage to Birnbach, whose publication became a national bestseller, the college’s Kaleidoscope yearbook staff responded with The Official Preppy Yearbook.

Birnbach visited Hamden-Sydney a few years ago to promote her most recent book, True Prep, in which she elevated the college’s sartorial place, writing,”… allow us to assure you, in no uncertain terms, that Hampden-Sydney is, without equivocation, the preppiest college in the United States.”  In fact, one enterprising student there, Samuel Thomas, recently co-founded a bow tie company called Dogwood Black (originally Southern Ties) and is now marketing his expanding product line nationally after getting requests from upscale men’s clothiers.

In addition to the classic madras bow tie shown above, Dogwood Black offers such unique items as a camo bow tie.  I think this qualifies as the Southern version of go-to-hell style, allowing  a wearer to go from duck blind to formal party without skipping a beat.  One quote on the company website functions as a philosophy about wearing one of their ties, “If you can handle being the center of attention.”

Hampden-Sydney has become more diverse in recent years, and with that change has come a difference in fashion sensibility on campus.  The look among some students retains the preppy style but is much more updated.  The gentleman on the right (below) looks as if he might be wearing a Dogwood Black Delta Chi fraternity bow tie, but I’m not positive.  The gentleman on the left seems more aligned with Unabashedly Prep, which I’ve heard described as “new wave prep” or as “preppy with a twist.”

Dr. Christopher B. Howard, Hampden-Sydney’s 24th president, is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy.   This gentleman was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, where he earned a Master of Philosophy and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Politics.  He also holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.  Howard is the first African-American president in the college’s history, and he is proudly a Brooks Brothers man.

In 2010, Hampden-Sydney entered into a formal partnership with Brooks Brothers to provide a 15% corporate membership discount to students, faculty and staff of the college.  The program is titled “Dressing for Success with Brooks Brothers.”  In this YouTube video, President Howard discusses the program and the investment in college education with parents of prospective students at an event hosted in a Brooks Brothers retail store in Richmond, VA.

Now in its third century of operation, Hampden-Sydney has a beautiful campus, an excellent academic reputation, a long tradition and a very loyal alumni base, many of whom contribute substantially to the institution every year.  Its past is distinguished, and its future looks secure.

For this year’s list, I’ve decided to expand the number to 20.  I use the term colleges, but I’m including both colleges and universities.  So the range is extensive.  Most of the schools listed this year are relatively small, private liberal arts institutions.

Hampden-Sydney College keeps its  #1 ranking again — as the most preppy college in the South – while Washington and Lee University moves up to the #2 ranking to challenge.

The state of Virginia has the most schools listed (8), followed by  North and South Carolina (4 each), Tennessee (2), Mississippi (1) and Alabama (1).  Is there a bias? Probably.  Am I open to suggestions and revisions?  Definitely!  Let me know which schools you think should make the list, or which ones should be excluded.

THE TOP 20 PREPPY COLLEGES IN THE SOUTH – 2014

1.  Hampden-Sydney College, Hampden-Sydney, VA.  (Founded 1775)

2.  Washington & Lee University, Lexington, VA.  (Founded 1749)

3.  Sweet Briar College, Sweet Briar, VA.  (Founded 1901)

4.  University of the South, Sewanee, TN.  (Founded 1857)

5.  University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA. (Founded 1819)

6.  Wofford College,  Spartanburg, SC.  (Founded 1854)

7.  Furman University, Greenville, SC.  (Founded 1826)

8.  College of Charleston, Charleston, SC.  (Founded 1770)

9.  Converse College, Spartanburg, SC.  (Founded 1889)

10.  Hollins University, Roanoke, VA.  (Founded 1842)

11.  Mary Baldwin College, Staunton, VA.  (Founded 1842)

12.  Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, VA.  (Founded 1830)

13.  Elon University, Elon, NC.  (Founded 1889)

14.  Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.  (Founded 1873)

15.  University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS.  (Founded 1848)

16.  Davidson College, Davidson, NC.  (Founded 1837)

17.  Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC.  (Founded 1834)

18.  University of Richmond, Richmond, VA.  (Founded 1830)

19.  University of Alabama, Tuscalosa, AL.  (Founded 1831).

20.  Duke University, Durham, NC.  (Founded 1838)

J. Press grosgrain watch bands retail for $18.00 to $29.00, but they currently have a 40% off sale.  As much as I’d like to find these in a thrift store, it’s nearly impossible.  So I wait for a good sale to buy the ones I want at a discount.  Maybe it’s a lot of fuss over what will support a very cheap Timex with a visibly scratched face, but I’m just quirky that way.

For more about the place of grosgrain ribbon watch bands in preppy culture (and their recent resurgence in men’s fashion), check out Ivy Style.

I have a very old sweatshirt from the Yale Co-op that I bought as a grad student in New Haven in the early 90s.  It is full of small holes here and there and is fraying badly on the collar and cuffs.  It’s 100% cotton – very soft – and I wouldn’t part with it.  I’ll wear this sweatshirt until it falls apart.  Unfortunately, the Yale Co-op, which served generations of students, is no longer around.  They had to file for bankruptcy in 1999 and went out of business the following year.

This shot was taken with a forward facing camera on my iMac, using Photo Booth, and then modified with the oil paint filter in Photoshop, experimenting with a few things there, I guess.  Also visible is the collar of a frayed Brooks Brothers button down shirt (thrifted:  $2.50).  I have on a Timex watch with a red, white and blue striped grosgrain band from J. Press and a pair of P3 “tortoise shell” (acetate) glasses from Coastal.com.  They have great deals on glasses.  I got the frames with progressive lenses and had them shipped for a total of $149.00.

My wife took this photo of me looking at books among the vendors at Union Square near 17th Street in New York City.  As best I can recall, this was taken around December of 1997.  We had been in the city nearly a year, having moved up from South Carolina, and I was working for MoMA.

Union Square was a seven minute subway ride on the L Train from the Bedford Avenue stop in our neighborhood:  Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  The World Trade Towers are visible to the right, just beyond the pedestrians.  Washington Square Park was a short walk south down University Place in the direction of the towers.

My sartorial style was largely out of synch with the burgeoning hipster population of Williamsburg, but drew respect from our old school Italian neighbors.  In this photo, I was wearing charcoal gray wool flannel pants, a button down shirt, a wool argyle sweater (non-thrifted Christmas gift) from Brooks Brothers, a wool herringbone pattern topcoat and a pair of black Bass Weejuns.  The glasses were tortoise rim.

I’m not sure whether to love or hate the fact that hipsters have appropriated (maybe hijacked is a better word) the preppy look in the last few years.  They are certainly dressing better.  I suppose that is a good thing.  So I won’t complain too much about their “preppy with a twist” aesthetic.  How ironic!  When walking down Bedford Avenue once in the late 90s in khakis, a ribbon belt and a pink button down, I felt as though I was doing a perp walk based on the scornful looks I received.  That preppy has been embraced by the same kind of people proves good taste never really goes out of style, even if for them it is a fad.  You can read more about hipsters on Free Williamsburg.  (Note:  after I made this post, I found this related article published in The New York Times:  “How I Became a Hipster.”

On the same day as the Union Square photo, my wife and I went uptown to see a Broadway show at the Neil Simon Theatre.  I can’t remember which show it was.  Maybe I can track that down by going through some old playbills.  A Christmas tree is visible on the balcony above the Russian Samovar restaurant next door to the theatre.

Pete and Trudy Campbell invite you to consider joining or renewing your annual membership with the Preppy Anti–Defamation League.   Summer is go–to–hell season, a time when Madras plaids in blinding primary colors, which have caused traffic accidents, and radiant Lilly Pulitzer tropical patterns are worn to the consternation of the legible-clothing-wearing general public.  Other than your trust fund, a membership in the Preppy Anti–Defamation League is the best support mummy and daddy can give.

President John F. Kennedy and his family defined classic casual style, whether on the water at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts or in the rural Virginia countryside near Middleburg.  The home movie footage below captures the Kennedy sense of ease and comfort while at play.

A few years ago on Ivy Style, Christian Chensvold published Jack and John:  The Sartorial Dichotomy of JFK.  This is an interesting essay on Kennedy’s use of clothing to build a public image that, in many respects, was a rejection of the conservatism of the Eisenhower era.

Kennedy was educated at several elite schools, Choate and Harvard (with a brief stint in an MBA program at Stanford), and his manner of dress was very Ivy League.  As he entered public life and pursued politics, he became aware of the class associations of that style and, fearing that it might alienate certain voters, opted for a hybrid style that combined the apparel of preppy leisure with a more modern presentation in his role as Chief Executive, as Chensvold writes,

 Photographs of John F. Kennedy generally fall into two categories. In the first, we see him at his family’s Cape Cod retreat, sleeves rolled up, wearing khakis grass-stained from touch football, or clad in Nantucket Reds and sunglasses sailing the sea. In the second, his presidential kit, we see another man altogether. Kennedy’s dark suits hang with a certain awkwardness, the shoulders large and high, his two chest buttons both fastened.

Though both are equally iconic, these two images of JFK reveal the sartorial differences between the man’s public and private lives. Privately he was the Choate and Harvard-educated scion of a patrician American dynasty, while publicly he was a progressive young Democrat, commander on the frontlines of the Cold War, and careful crafter of a public image in the new age of television.

This schism makes JFK both the ultimate preppy president — his administration reigned at the height of the Ivy League Look — and an ironic hastener of the look’s decline, undermining the very style he so perfectly embodied.

In 1956, while was serving his first term in the United States Senate, JFK made a bid for the Vice-Presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.    Although his bid fell short, losing to Sen. Estes Kefauver of Tennessee by just 38.5 votes, JFK became known as a rising star to millions of Americans.  He spoke twice at the cenvention, placing Adlai Stevenson’s name in nomination for the Presidency and later giving a gracious concession speech (@ 23:41) after losing the Vice-Presidential nomination.  Stevenson lost the general election that fall, as President Eisenhower was re-elected in a landslide.

As Chris Matthews of MSNBC’s Hardball commented, “In the 1950s, politics meant men in gray flannel suits – guys like Dwight Eisenhower, Robert Taft, Adlai Stevenson, and Richard Nixon.  They were dull, stodgy…sexless.”  All of that changed in November 1960 when JFK was elected President at 43 years old, the youngest man ever to occupy the White House.   Aside from JFK’s political accomplishments during his tragically short term in office (1961-1963), he became one of the undisputed style icons of the 20th century.

It’s been a couple of weeks since WASP 101 was taken down.  I wasn’t a regular reader of that blog, and I would never have taken advice, sartorial or otherwise, from Richard.  His peculiar style made him the whipping boy of preppy/Ivy/trad bloggers and those who follow them.  My visits to WASP 101 were almost always prompted by commentary on other sites about Richard’s pretentions or particularly bad clothing combinations.

In the spirit of freedom of expression, I ask you:  Should WASP 101 return?  I have a feeling that your answer may depend upon how much you like being at the circus.  While it can be fun for some, others will feel uneasy, especially around clowns.  The potential for chaos lurks in the background.  If you accept the risk, you might be entertained…but you might just as easily find yourself running for the exit.  Choose wisely.

TAKE THE POLL

A Madras plaid tie makes a sharp addition to the summer wardrobe.  The one I’m wearing is from Ralph Lauren.  I bought it last spring for $6.99 at Unique Thrift Store in Riverdale, NY.  The retail price of the tie was about $67.99.  Patches, our border collie, decided to do a walk on in this photograph.

Breakdown on the rest of the clothes, a combination of eBay bidding and thrift store purchases:

eBay

• Brooks Brothers blue blazer:  3-button, undarted, sack cut with natural shoulders for $76.00 vs. $598.00 retail.  This is the only blazer design I’ve ever worn, and it took several weeks of eBay monitoring to find one at the right price.  I would have preferred a J. Press blazer, but people don’t part with them that often.  This blazer is in perfect condition with no signs of wear.  The lining looks brand new.
• Ralph Lauren buckle back khakis: 100% cotton, plain front with 1 and 3/4 inch cuffs for $19.99 vs. $125.00 retail.  Buckle back khakis were worn for a brief period in the 1950s, if I recall correctly.

Thift 

• Brooks Brothers pinpoint button down:  100% cotton, traditional fit for $8.99 vs. $87.50 retail at The Nearly New Shop in Greenville, SC.
• Bass Weejuns in Logan Burgandy for $5.99 vs. $109.00 retail.  Purchased at The Salvation Army in Greenville, SC.
• Dockers surcingle belt:  navy, braided cotton for $4.99 at Unique Thrift Store in Riverdale, NY.  I am unsure of the retail price for the belt, but I’d guess about $24.99.

The pocket square was a gift from my grandfather (priceless).  

]]> https://thriftstorepreppy.wordpress.com/2013/06/10/summer-classics-ebay-and-thrifting/feed/ 2 1981 Bryan Hiott Summer Classics Brooks Brothers Blazer - Retail https://thriftstorepreppy.wordpress.com/2013/06/06/jfk-in-1946-ivy-style/ https://thriftstorepreppy.wordpress.com/2013/06/06/jfk-in-1946-ivy-style/#respond Thu, 06 Jun 2013 22:28:43 +0000 http://thriftstorepreppy.wordpress.com/?p=1958 More]]>

John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s first political campaign came in 1946 when he ran for Congress in the 11th District of Massachusetts.  He was 28 years old, a graduate of Harvard University and a veteran of WWII, having served as a PT Boat commander in the Pacific Theatre.  He was recognized for heroism, helping to save his crew members after being rammed by a Japanese destroyer.

Kennedy is shown here relaxing in a chair below one of his campaign posters.  Photographs of his mom, Rose, and his father, Joseph, are on the mantle.  He is wearing a white shirt with a rep tie and gray flannel pants.  When inaugurated as President of the United States in 1961, Kennedy brought a dramatic improvement in style to the White House.

1999 – A professional headshot of me taken by a photographer in Tribecca when my wife and I were living in New York City.  I took my glasses off for this shot because the lenses, as I recall, didn’t have an anti-reflective coating, and because the photographer was going for more of an intense lawyerly look.  I have on a Ralph Lauren navy blue wool suit with gray chalk stripes that I bought for $50.00 at a thrift store in Asheville, NC.  It was memorable because, though a great suit, it was one of the most expensive thrift purchases I’ve ever made, but I still wear it occasionally.  I’m not sure where I got the button down shirt and foulard tie.  Both were likely thrifted.

1999 – My beautiful wife and I on our wedding day outside her aunt and uncle’s house.  They hosted the reception.  I have on a charcoal gray suit with suspenders, a paisley tie with navy background and a white button down shirt.

1999 – Outside the small Episcopal chapel where our wedding ceremony was held in Greenville, SC.  I think my wife looks lovely here!  Opting for simplicity, we kept the invitation list to 50 and had no groom’s men or bride’s maids, just a priest, a crucifer and musicians.  We designed and printed our wedding announcement and program for the ceremony and asked that there be no gifts (though this was largely ignored).  We tried!

The coup in the do-it-yourself approach was my wife’s wedding dress.  While we were in New York, she selected her own material from a shop in the Garment District and took it to a boutique in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  She asked them to design a party dress, which cut the cost down considerably.  The cap toe dress shoes I’m wearing with the charcoal gray suit were polished, but cracked, and had a small hole on one of the soles – likely visible to our guests when we knelt at the altar.

We’ve been happily married for 13 years.  As we look back on the wedding, we’re glad that we kept it a simple ceremony.  The organist was wonderful.  There were solos from a friend who was a professional opera singer.  A string quartet of classically trained musicians, my wife’s friends since childhood, played for us.  It couldn’t have been a more prefect day.

1998 – My wife-to-be and I on the balcony of a friend’s apartment in New York City.  You can’t tell here, but we were on the 44th floor high above 9th Avenue near Times Square.  We had been invited to a Christmas party.  I have on a wool houndstooth sport coat, a sage turtleneck and a pair of khaki pants.  My wife is wearing a vintage (60s) green and black houndstooth jacket whose design was very Sherlock Holmes.  That was a thrift find at Anne Merchant’s Time Warp shop (now out of buisness) in Greenville, SC.  I still have that jacket, too.

1993 – With friends in Upperville, VA after the fall Piedmont Hunt Point-To-Point races.  I’m wearing a light windbreaker, a classic Norwegian Fisherman’s Sweater from L.L. Bean, a pair of rumpled khakis – rumpled being their usual state – and Bean Boots.  Among my friends is a sampling of Barbour, Burberry and Brooks Brothers.

At The Nearly New Shop in Greenville, SC last week, I found a very comfortable Madras plaid short sleeve button down shirt from Gant.  I combined that with a pair of Merona all cotton plain front khaki shorts that I bought last spring at Unique Thrift Store in Riverdale, NY.  The Bass Weejuns were a recent find as well at the Salvation Army Thrift Store in Greenville.  The leather leather belt is about 10 years old, and I don’t remember where I got it.

Price Breakdown

Gant Madras Shirt            $8.00

Merona Khaki Shorts       $5.99

Bass Weejuns                  $5.99

___________________________

Total Cost                      $19.98

Warhol’s first job was working for Glamour Magazine, which was one of the Conde Nast publications.  He was hired by the art director there, Tina Fredericks, to do illustrations for a story called, “Success is a Job in New York.”  Fredericks wrote of her first meeting with this curious-looking person in tortoiseshell glasses,

“I greeted a boy with a big beige blotch on his cheek, possibly going all the way up to his forehead.  He was all one color.  Weird.  There seemed to be something other earthly or offbeat, different, for sure.  Elfish.  From another world.  He had a breathy way of talking.  His voice was slight, unemphatic, whispery, covered over with a smile.”

As a child, Warhol had suffered St. Vitus Dance, a neurological disorder that left his skin permanently discolored.  He would remain highly self-conscious his entire life about his physical appearance, famously choosing to wear an outlandish gray wig when confronted with thinning hair.

 During the 1950s, Warhol became one of the most sought-after and well-paid illustrators in Manhattan.  His increasing income allowed him to move into his own townhouse.  He began to shop for his clothes at Brooks Brothers.  For the remainder of his career could be seen, even during the psychedelic days of The Factory in the 60s, wearing a Brooks Brothers suit and button-down – sometimes with a repp tie.  He apparently ceased wearing bow ties after the 50s.

Unsatisfied with his commercial success, Warhol longed for something more.  He wanted to get exhibitions in important galleries.  Presenting his portfolio of drawings, he was rejected time after time – partly because his work was representational in an art world dominated by abstraction, and partly because of his homoerotic themes, which were taboo back then.

 By 1956, the only venues willing to show Warhol’s work were Serendipity, a popular ice cream parlor on the Upper East Side that was also a meeting place for gay men, and the Bodley Gallery next-door.  He did not sell a single drawing.  Two years later, artists Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, breaking with the dominant mode of Abstract Expressionism, laid the foundation for Pop Art with their sensational one-man shows at Leo Castelli Gallery.

Warhol’s work was maturing, moving toward a critique of consumer culture and mass production (best represented by his Campbell’s Soup series) in which all traces of the artist’s hand – brush work, dripped paint or process – were eliminated.  In November 1962, his one-man show at Stable Gallery in New York City took the artworld by storm and established him as the leading figure of contemporary art.  It was instant celebrity.  Warhol was on the way to becoming a superstar, one of the most important artists of the 20th Century.

Hub City Bookstore is a great independently run bookstore in Spartanburg, SC. On a rainy Saturday morning not long ago, I sat in a sheltered area outside, smoking a cigar and drinking strong black coffee from Little River Roasting Company next-door.

I was reading James Breslin’s biography of the Abstract Expressionist painter Mark Rothko, whose life story and work I’ve been very interested in lately:  born in Dvinsk, Russia (now part of Latvia) to a Jewish family, emigrated to the United States, attended Yale University, whose students were overtly anti-semitic in the 1920s, on a scholarship before dropping out and moving to New York City.

Rothko lived in near poverty for many years, devoting himself to his art, before gaining recognition as one of the most important and well-paid painters of the 20th Century.  In the 1950s, he was commissioned for a series of large works for the Four Seasons Restaurant in the Seagram Building on Park Avenue in Manhattan.  The $30,000 commission was the largest of its kind ever offered at that point and would be the equivalent of $2,000,000 today.  Rothko completed the work and then, always the prickly, argumentative personality and prone to depression, refused to sell it on the grounds that the restaurant’s bourgeois clientele would not be able to comprehend it.  He was probably right about that.

I love Rothko’s story.  He had very little when he arrived in America, although there was a support network of family.  He defied career expectations and didn’t choose safe and financially lucrative work.  He chose something that was incredibly difficult, cultivating an artistic talent, developing his skills and his vision and forging them into a successful aesthetic, while also contending against class prejudice, anti-immigrant attitudes and anti-semitism.  Although his life had a tragic end in suicide, his art transcends his life and moves us today.  He will always be remembered.  Bravo!

Thank you notes.  That’s about it.  That is the vestigil appendix of…of Waspdom, I think.  Thank you notes.  Uh, and actually, what endures, at least in my family, is furniture from a hundred, two hundred years ago, books from the same era, rugs that are quite threadbare, but are still around.  You don’t…I mean the old sort of joke, slash truism is that, you know, you don’t buy rugs, you have rugs.  You just keep the things that you have.  So until they positively wear out and would be, you know, no one would even want them on eBay, you’re going to keep all those things around.  Uh, so furniture…I mean it’s actually sort of a long tale.  It’s like a long, slow decline.  It’s, you know, the money is mostly gone, but there’s a little bit of land left.   There are a few houses here and there…that are falling down…and some heirlooms, and a sense that you ought to aspire to these old, uh, systems of achievement that are now much harder to achieve because other people have come in, very happily, and are now…are doing way better.  And, we are just kind of looking on in puzzlement from our sort of petting zoos in Bar Harbor  and Jupiter Island and sort of, ‘how did that happen?  Woah.

For related culture and behavior, read my post:  Preppy 10 Commandments – Episcopal Style.

1983 –  This photo was taken just after my 17th birthday, and I would be going off to college the next year.  I’m wearing a pair of white cotton pants (white ducks), a navy surcingle belt, a light blue button down shirt and a rep tie.  I have a blue blazer draped over my shoulder and a hand in my pocket, stock gestures that class photographers back then encouraged.  Do they still do that?  If so, someone should tell them to stop!  It doesn’t look nonchalant, but rather silly.

 1986 – Class photograph from my sophomore year of college.  Wow, where do I begin?  The hair was huge!  My wife refers to this as helmet hair.  The tortoise shell glasses were also huge, a style trend in the 80s, and should have come equipped with windshield wipers.  My smile was David Letterman-esque.  I’m wearing a tweed sport coat, a button down shirt (starched from the looks of things) and a rep tie.

1986 – With friends in the courtyard of Silliman College during the Summer Studies Program at Yale.  I’d changed to a smaller pair of tortoise rim glasses.  I’m wearing a polo shirt and a pair of Bermuda shorts.

1988 – Senior year of college.  Preppy on steroids in this photo just a week or so before graduation.  Madras plaid button down shirt, Bermuda shorts and a ribbon belt with a sailboat motif.  Yeah, those were the 80s.

The Brooks Brothers suit was a nice find at $15.00 and in perfect condition, showing no signs of wear.  But I’m picky about suits.  This has a 2-button front, and I like 3/2 roll.  It also has darts, and I prefer suits without them.  However, I couldn’t pass up this find.  A poplin suit is wonderful for summer, and the fit was correct (44 regular).  The the sleeves were precisely the right length, allowing 1/4 inch of cuffs to show, and the only alteration necessary was to have the collar lowered in the back, taking out a slight ridge that showed when standing still.

As for the suit pants, they are exactly what I prefer:  plain front with cuffs and the slightest of breaks.  The bottom of the pants just touches the top of my loafers.  These cuffs are 1 and 1/4 inch, which I wear most often.  But some of my pants have the more traditional 1 and 3/4 inch cuffs.  The suit pants needed no alterations at all.  This is the sort of find that is the best when thrifting.  Having to have several alterations done for a single suit can quickly become expensive.

The closest comparable suit to this one on the Brooks Brothers website is the sage colored Madison Fit Poplin Suit for $498.00.  The cut is a good bit different.  This one appears to be tapered on the sides, while mine is roomy and more of a sack suit cut.

The other thrifted items I’m wearing are a pair of tassel Bass Weejuns with a beefroll from the Salvation Army ($5.99) in nearly new condition and a silk rep tie from Christian Pelini also from the Salvation Army (.50 cents).

My button down is a 100% cotton oxford cloth traditional fit model from Brooks Brothers.  It came from the flagship Madison Avenue store and was a birthday gift from my wife last spring.  However, she did use her 30% corporate discount card to buy it ($55.65).  My cordovan leather belt is from the men’s department at Sears ($19.99).  We’re penny pinchers to the end!

SAVINGS BREAKDOWN

• Brooks Brothers suit ($498.00 retail vs. $15.00 Thrifted) = $483.00
• Bass Weejuns w/Tassel ($109.00 retail vs. $5.99 Thrifted) = $103.01
• Brooks Brothers OCBD ($79.50 retail vs. $55.65 discount) = $23.85

TOTAL SAVINGS = $609.86

Note:  Christian Pelini no longer appears to be a retail brand and is considered a vintage tie.  So I don’t have any information on the savings for that item.

Tad Friend, in his 2009 memoir Cheerful Money:  Me, My Family and the Last Days of Wasp Splendor, reveals in candid detail his complicated upbringing and emotionally insular life in an illustrious family, which includes a signer of the Declaration of Independence, a president of Swarthmore College and generations of Ivy League degrees.  He is a staff writer for The New Yorker and a graduate of Harvard University.

In the first chapter of Cheerful Money, Friend begins to unpack the meaning of Wasp and discusses why that term is not really accurate in describing old money families and their mores.  Given the frequency with which the term Wasp is bandied about by fashion bloggers, and particularly in light of the recent dust up between Ivy Style and Wasp 101, I thought it might be useful to let someone with some expertise on the matter cast some light.

From Cheerful Money (pages 11-14):

The ACRONYM “Wasp,” from “White Anglo-Saxon Protestant,” is one many Wasps dislike, as it’s redundant – Anglo-Saxons are perforce white – and inexact.  Elvis Presley was a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant, as is Bill Clinton, but they are not what anyone means by “Wasp.”  Waspiness is an overlay on human character, like the porcelain veneer that protects the surface of a damaged tooth.  Worse, the adjective is pejorative:  “Waspy” is reserved for horse-faced women, tight-assed men, penny pinchers, and a capella groups.

I’m too cheap to spring for a new acronym.  But my family and their friends, as Wasps, were circumscribed less by skin tones and religion than by a set of traditions and expectations:  a cast of mind.  They lived in a floating Ruritania losely bounded by L.L. Bean to the north, the shingle style to the east, Robert Falcon Scott’s doomed polar expedition to the south, and the limits of Horace Greely’s optimism to the west.

That cast of mind is excessively attuned to such questions as how you say “tomato” – a word I now find myself pronouncing both ways, usually at random and always with misgiving.  In this and more important respects I seem to have become, somehow, a motley product of my famously marvelous background.  Oh, sure, I don’t belong to any clannish or exclusive clubs, I prefer beer to hard liquor, I am neither affable nor peevish – the alternating currents of Wasp – and I love pop culture.

And yet.  Until quite recently, I had the Wasp fridge:  marmalade, wilted scalions, out-0f-season grapes, seltzer and vodka – nothing to really eat. (The Wasp fridge is like the bachelor fridge, but Wasps load up on dairy, including both 1 and 2 percent milk, moldy cheese, expired yogurt, and separated sour cream.  And atop the Wasp fridge sit Pepperidge Farm Milanos, Fig Newtons, or Saltines – some chewy or salty or otherwise challenging snack).  I have a concise and predictable wardrobe, and friends even claim that I inevitably wear the same oatmeal – colored Shetland sweater.  I will never experience the pleasures of leather pants or a shark’s tooth on a thong dangling in my chest hair.  I will never experience the pleasures of chest hair.  And, like the Tin Man, I don’t articulate my upper body sections; it moves en masse or not at all.

I politely stand aside:  no, no, after you.  I have a soft laugh, and I rarely raise my voice.  Though I have an outsize grin, and friends take pleasure in trying to elicit it, I am reserved upon first meeting (it’s Wasp women who are expected to charm).  I used to like being told I was “intimidating,” because it seemed to sanction my verbal jabbing to maintain a perimeter.  Making everyone a little uneasy came naturally.  When I characterized a college roommate’s dancing style as “Jimmy Cracked Corn,” he nursed the wound for decades, and a woman I fooled around with in my early twenties told me years later, that she had to get a new mattress and headboard after I remarked on her “game-show bed.”  I am slow to depend on people because I hate being disappointed, hate having to withdraw my trust.  All this has often led people to read me as aloof or smug.

I am fiercely but privately emotional – I was embarrassed, recently, when my wife, Amanda, found me having put The Giving Tree down while reading it to our twins, Walker and Addie, because I was in tears.  I married Amanda, a strong-minded food writer, seven years ago:  she revamped my fridge, and some of my other disaster areas.  And I convinced her to have children, the best thing we have done together.

I walk into parties with a confident air but wait to speak until I have a point to make or self-deprecating joke to offer. I can give a handsome wedding toast.  I am slow to pitch in on manual labor and not particularly handy, though I pride myself on the rarely called-for ability to carve a watermelon into the shape of a whale (a sprig of parsley makes the spout).  I am frugal to the point of cheapness – when out to dinner with friends, I used to contribute only for the dishes I had ordered.  I dislike having to eat quail or crab, all that effort and mess for scant reward, an aversion Amanda calls “No sex in public!”

For a long time I didn’t think of myself as competitive, though my friends kept assuring me, as they pointed out where my helicoptored five-iron had landed, that I was.  My belief that you shouldn’t do something you care about in a half-assed way often provokes the charge that I don’t want to take part in any activity I can’t do well, that I fear public ineptitude, which is certainly true for karaoke.  Despite my standoffishness, I am a good listener, and loyal, and friends often turn to me for advice.  A Wasp friend remarks that I would have made an imposing country parson.

Most of all, I am a Wasp because I harbored a feeling of disconnection from my parents, as they had from their parents, and their parents from their parents.  And because, deep into my thirties, most of my relationships had the life span of a child’s balloon.  I felt that I was carrying around a brimming bucket of walnut stain and that if anyone got too close it would spill all over both of us.  So I ended up spending my inheritance and then some on psychoanalysis.  I was in trouble, but it was nearly impossible for anyone who didn’t know me to tell, and I made it nearly impossible for anyone to know me well.

For those of you not familiar with WASP 101, it was a much maligned personal blog devoted to what Richard perceived as the manners, taste and lifestyle of the upper class.  He frequently posted images of himself wearing clothing that he thought suited to the landed gentry.  Apparently, Richard viewed himself as a gentleman and member of the leisure class, but this was clearly a fantasy.  The clothing combinations he posted were, in my opinion, ill-fitting affectations and signified the desperate longings of a social climber who was too incompetent to pull off even a passable act.  In fact, many bloggers have commented that they first thought WASP 101 was conceived as a satire and were disappointed to learn that it was in ernest.

One could take most of WASP 101, for Richard sometimes got things right, as an important source of what not to do for those looking to better themselves by improving their appearance.  Unfortunately, the WASP 101 site was deleted shortly after Chensvold’s post suggesting the Holloway connection.  Observers have taken this key point along with other clues on the possible Holloway/WASP 101 connection – physical resemblance (at least the chin), shared name Richard, same birthday, same pet dachshund named Governor and a striking similarity in clothing- as conclusive proof.

If you read Chensvold’s linked post above and his follow up, the evidence does seem fairly strong that Holloway is Richard of WASP 101.  Should this prove to be true, it will be up to the voters of the 91st district to decide whether their current representative, a man with strong upper class pretensions, a passion for men’s clothing and a fondness for posting images of WASPY women he deems desirable, should be reelected.  Maybe he could survive these revelations.  But more troubling is that Holloway is a married man.  If he, as Richard, was making the WASPY women postings, that could be more problematic for the “God fearing” voters of his district.  Even more potentially troubling:  Chensvold’s source suggests that Holloway’s administrative assistant was the female “Kipp” character of WASP 101.  That in itself would be innocent unless there was more of a John Edwards or Mark Sanford dynamic at work.  Imagine the derision that would ensue.

I have to say that I am disappointed that WASP 101 was taken down.  Along with many other people, I have more than once been amused by what Richard took to be the essence of good taste.  But I do not revel in a man’s misfortune.  If it is true that Bryan Richard Holloway finds his career ruined or his personal life distrupted over a fantasy world he created on a personal blog,  that would make me sad.  It is also a bit troubling – and amusing at the same time – that someone could so despise a blogger or his pompous behavior or his bad judgment in clothing that he would make it a personal mission to uncover his identity.  This much can be said with certainty:  never post anything on the internet that you would not want connected with you in the future.

POLL:  SHOULD WASP 101 RETURN?  VOTE NOW!

Correction:  In an earlier version of this post, I stated that Christian Chensvold had been contacted by an unnamed New York fashion writer regarding the identity of Richard at WASP 101.  That was incorrect.  I should have stated that he was contacted by an unnamed source.  I have revised my text above accordingly.

Going through my digital photo archive, I found a shot of me with director Whit Stillman (left) last May at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema in New York City.  Whit was there for a screening of his most recent film, “Damsels in Distress,” and a Q&A session with two of the actors in that film, Ryan Metcalf and Carrie MacLemore.  This was one of the last films I saw in the city before moving to South Carolina.

After the Q&A, Whit stopped to chat with me for a while.  He is one of my favorite directors, and has been known to indie filmgoers since the 90s as a chronicler of the “urban haute bourgeoisie.”  Though his films lack a precise time or place, they do seem to capture the decline of mainline families, whose values and relationships seem hopelessly old fashioned, and an evolving and complicated set of social standards.  His previous films Metropolitan, Barcelona and The Last Days of Disco have been referred to as somewhat of a preppy trilogy.  Metropolitan (1990) remains my favorite of his films.

The Last Days of Disco (1998) features an impressive Madras plaid sport coat worn by Chris Eigeman, who plays Des.  Eigeman strenuously objected to being asked to wear the Madras jacket, but Whit won the debate.

Today at the Nearly New Shop in Greenville, SC, I found a great bleeding India Madras, patchwork plaid, short-sleeve button down shirt for $8.00.  It was made for Rush Wilson Limited, an exclusive men’s store that has been in business in town since 1959.

The label inside the shirt indicates that the Madras was “hand loomed” and features irregularities in the weave that are actually a sign of authenticity.   The dyes used in hand loomed shirts are natural and not synthetic and bleed when washed.  Over time, the bleeding produces a wonderful faded look.  I’d guess this particular shirt might be 20 years old, judging from the fade of  the colors and the softness of the cotton.  Madras is a key summer fabric for preppies and is essential in the hot and humid climate of the South.

The Nearly New Shop is run by the Junior League of Greenville.  Store details:

118 Greenacre Road
Greenville, South Carolina 29607
(864) 232-1051
Nearly New Shop Collection Hotline: (864) 232-1091

Monday through Saturday
Hours: 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Karen Howard, Manager 
Shannon Simpson – Assistant Manager

Now that we’re past Memorial Day, the color barrage begins.  It’s full on madras go-to-hell season, and the colors run bold.   A few months ago, I thrifted a great pair of flat front 100% cotton madras plaid Bermuda shorts from Lands’ End.  The color pattern is  red, navy, yellow and white.  I also thrifted a braided cotton belt with leather tabs (unknown maker) of very good quality.  Yesterday, I got a shirt that finishes off the quintessential look of summer – a short sleeved navy Lacoste that I bought on eBay.  These items can be worn with Sperry Topsiders (leather or canvas), Weejuns or Bean Blucher Moccasins.

Cost Breakdown

Lands’ End Madras Shorts:  $15.00

Braided Cotton Belt (Leather Tabs):  $4.99

Lacoste Shirt:  $16.00

Total of all items:  $35.99 (less than 1/2 the cost of a new Lacoste at retail).

My wife and I recently made a trip down to Middleburg, VA for the spring point-to-point races at Glenwood Park.  She took this photo just after the final race of the day.  Most of what I’m wearing was thrifted.  Here’s the breakdown:

Thrifted Items

• 3-Button linen/wool sport coat by Huntington:  $6.99 @ Salvation Army, Greenville, SC.
• Brooks Brothers 100% cotton button down:  $9.99 @ Unique Thrift Store, Bronx, NY.
• Silk/Linen tie by Robert Jacobson for Rush Wilson Limited:  $1.00 @ Salvation Army, Greenville, SC.
• Ralph Lauren 100% cotton plain front khakis with 1 and 3/4 inch cuffs:  $8.00 @ The Nearly New Shop (Junior League), Greenville, SC.
• Total:  $25.98

Now is the time to consider joining or renewing your annual membership with PADL:  Preppy Anti-Defamation League.   Summer is go-to-hell season, a time when Nantucket Reds, madras patchwork plaid and other clothes of blinding primary colors, which have been blamed on traffic accidents,  are worn to the consternation of the legible-clothing-wearing general public.  Other than a trust fund, your PADL membership is the best support mummy and daddy can give.

Worn correctly, seersucker is an elegant statement – showing good taste and an understanding of seasonal traditions.  It shows a practical side as well.  Seersucker keeps you cool in the summer.  But this?    This is just fundamentally wrong!  A seersucker jacket does not need gee gaws adorning it.  Unfortunately, this is what happens when preppy goes mainstream, and a retailer like J. Crew fails to grasp the correct way to apply a much loved motif.

Overall, this is a colossal design failure.  Although the jacket is a 3-button model with half lining and patch pockets, a very good start, there is no 3/2 roll to the lapels.  J. Crew committed a further mistake by making the material darted in the front, rounding out the fiasco with the blue embroidered whales.

Now, what would a great seersucker jacket done correctly look like?  Let’s try an example from J. Press – clean, simple and timeless.

Monty Python’s Upper Class Twit of the Year Show suggests that the landed gentry – at least in England – have their share of problems, too.  Inbreeding can do awful things to the gene pool, as demonstrated by  contestants  Vivian Smith Smythe Smith, Simon Zinc Trumpet Harris, Nigel Incubator Jones, Gervais Brooke Hamster and Oliver St. John Mollusk.

In his book Class:  A Guide Through The American Status System, cultural critic Paul Fussell presents a concise analysis of ties and their class significance in America.  I am posting the text of that passage in its entirety along with representative images of each type of tie he discusses.    

______________________________________________________________________

The principle that clothing moves lower in status the more legible it becomes applies to neckties with a vengeance.  The ties worn by the top classes eschew the more obvious forms of verbal and even too crudely symbolic statement, relying on stripes, amoeba-like foulard blobs, or even small dots to make the point that the wearer possesses too much class to care to specify right out in front what it’s based on.  (This illustrates the privacy principle, or the principle of mind-your-own -little-disgusting-middle-class-business, a customary element of the aristocratic stance.)

Small white dots against a dark background, perhaps the most conservative tie possible, are favored by the uppers and upper-middles and,  defensively, by those nervous about being thought low, coarse, drunken or cynical, like journalists and TV news readers and sportscasters, and by those whose fiduciary honor must be thought beyond question, like the trust officers working for the better metropolitan banks.

Moving down [in class ] from stripes, blobs, or dots, we come to necktie patterns with a more overt and precise semiotic function.  Some, designed to announce that the upper-middle-class wearer is a sport, will display diagonal patters of little flying pheasants, or small yachts, signal flags and sextants.  (“I hunt and own a yacht.  Me rich and sporty!”)

Just below these are the “milieu” patterns, designed to celebrate the profession of the wearer and to congratulate him on having so fine a profession.  These are worn by insecure members of the upper-middle class (like surgeons) or by members of the middle class aspiring to upper-middle class status (like accountants).  Thus a tie covered with tiny caduceuses proclaims “Hot damn!  I am a physician!”  (Significantly, there is no milieu tie pattern for dentists).  Little scales signify “I am a lawyer.”  Musical notes:  “I have something to do with music.”   Dollar signs or money bags:  a stockbroker, banker, perhaps a wildly successful plastic surgeon, or a lottery winner.

I’ve even seen one tie with a pattern of little jeeps, whose meaning I’ve found baffling, for surely if you were a driver in any of our wars you’d not be likely to announce it.  Other self-congratulatory patterns like little whales or dolphins or seals suggest that you love nature and spend a lot of time protecting it and are thus a fine person.

Any of these milieu ties can be alternated with the “silk rep” model striped with the presumed colors of British (never, never German, French, Italian, Potuguese or White Russian) regiments, clubs or universities.

As we move further down the class hierarchy, actual words begin to appear on ties, and these are meant to be commented on by viewers.  One such artifact is the Grandfather’s Tie in dark blue with grandchildren’s names hand-painted on it, diagonally, in white.  Imagine the conversations that ensue when you wear it!  Another reads “I’d rather be sailing,” “skiing,” etc., and these can also be effective underminers of privacy – “conversation starters,” and thus useful adjuncts to comfy middle-class status, in the tradition of expecting neighbors to drop in without warning.

Some ties down in this stratum affect great cleverness, reading “Thank God It’s Friday” or “Oh Hell, It’s Monday”; and a way to get a chuckle out of your audience  and at the same time raise your class a bit is to have these sentiments abbreviated  on your tie with yachting signal flags.  At the bottom of the middle class, just before it turns to high prole, we encounter ties depicting large flowers in brilliant colors, or simply bright “artistic” splotches.  The message is frequently “I’m a merry dog.”  These wearers are the ones [John T.] Molloy is addressing when, discussing neckties, he warns “Avoid purple under all circumstances.”

Further down still, where questions of yacht ownership or merry doghood are too preposterous to be claimed even on a necktie we come upon the high- or mid-prole “bola” tie, a woven or leather thong with a slide (often of turquoise or silver), affected largely by retired persons residing in Sun Belt places like New Mexico.

Like any other sort of tie, this one makes a statement, saying, “Despite appearances, I’m really as good as you are, and my necktie, though perhaps unconventional, is really better than your traditional tie because it suggests the primitive and therefore unpretentious, pure and virtuous.”  Says the bola, “The person wearing me is a child of nature, even though actually eighty years old.”  Like many things bought by proles, these bola ties can be very expensive, especially when the slide is made of precious metal or displays “artwork.”

The point again is that the money, although important, is not always the most important criterion of class.  Below the bola wearers, at the very bottom, stand low proles, the destitute, and the bottom-out-of-sight, who never wear a tie, or wear one – and one is all they own – so rarely that the day is memorable for that reason.  Down here, the tie is an emblem of affectation and even effeminacy, and you can earn a reputation for being a la-di-da by appearing in one, as if you thought yourself better than other people.  One prole wife says of her spouse, “I’m going to bury my husband in a T-shirt if the undertaker will allow it.”

I’ll lay odds this clown couldn’t hit the side of a barn with buckshot at 20 yards, and I’d let him saw off the shotgun barrel to be fair.  His hair and cynical demeanor read actor boy poseur or ironic hipster.  He attempts upper class references with the afternoon of shooting in the country theme – drinking a glass of sherry while wearing a tweed jacket that could have come from Richard of [the now defunct] WASP 101.  But he’s edging toward the Bee Gees with his wide open shirt and collar sticking out over his lapels, a completely unconvincing act.

This is a portrait of William Eggleston – one of my favorite photographers.  It was shot by his cousin Maude Schuyler Clay.  Raised in Mississippi and now living in Memphis, Eggleston is one of the most celebrated modern artists, and his work hangs in major museums all over the world.  But his clothing style is very traditional and a rejection of all that is trendy and hip.  He opts instead to dress like a gentleman.  In this portrait, he is wearing a tweed jacket with a faint camel windowpane pattern and 3/2 roll over a gray wool crew neck sweater (probably a Shetland knit) and a blue candy stripe oxford cloth button down.  Eggleston is the epitome of a natty dresser!  I believe he is holding a Leica M4 camera – the same model used by Henri Cartier Bresson.  A pair of smart tortoise shell glasses complete his timeless look.

Note:  Camera experts tell me Eggleston’s Leica appears to be an M3, a slightly earlier model.

“Hi, my name is Preppy Croc, and I’m a tie-o-holic.”  If you’ve never been to this meeting before, the correct response in a very affirming tone would be, “Hi, Preppy Croc!”  You’re just seeing the top layer of my tie rack.  There are several layers more underneath this one.  52 ties total.  All but four were thrifted, some for as little as .99 cents.  Most are Brooks Brothers and 100% silk or linen/silk blends.  Some are 100% cotton madras.  None contains polyester!  You may also consider me a tie hoarder.  Not so bad.  In fact, much better smell-wise than cat hoarding.  I sense a new reality show on the horizon, but that would be a decidedly unprep.  Hmmm.

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My latest thrift purchase was a nautical flag belt – embroidered on leather with a webbed cotton backing and a brass buckle.  The belt was made by Zep-Pro, a company I had no heard of before.  The low price ($3.99) and overall good condition made this an excellent find.  It always pays to check the belt section.  I often find motif belts in excellent condition by Leather Man Limited that are typically priced under $5.00 vs. $45.00 or more at retail.

 Zep-Pro is based in Pembroke Park, Florida and makes a range of belts and accessories, including ribbon on webbed cotton, collegiate belts and keychains as well as motif pet collars and leads.  By the preponderance of deep sea and fresh water fish motifs, it’s safe to say they cater to the angler.

I can’t access the Zep-Pro price list, which requires access to a secure server by request only.  Odd.  I’d estimate the price falls in the range of $45.00 to $60.00.  I think this belt will go nicely with my Nantucket Reds.

I always check the tie rack of any thrift store because there will inevitably be a gem lurking among the horrid polyester designs.    Yesterday, I found a perfectly good 100% cotton madras plaid tie by Ralph Lauren.  It was priced at $6.99.  One man’s last season tie, is another man’s treasure.  But I’m not sure whether I will actually wear this one.  I really don’t like logos on my ties – just a personal preference – so it may go up on eBay.

In one store, I found a slew of fine 100% silk Brooks Brothers rep ties for .99 cents each.  There was no sign of wear on any of the ties – you always have to check the section of a tie where it is  knotted (where friction occurs) to see if the material is worn.  You should also check the tip of the tie, where it is pulled through the knot, for signs of wear.

I wanted to compare the price of my thrifted tie vs. the Ralph Lauren retail price. There were no madras ties on the main website, but I did find an example on Lauren’s Rugby site.  The asking price was $69.50.  So my savings through trifting = $62.51.  Ties are usually priced low in thrift stores, and the asking price vs. retail creates a huge savings opportunity.

Matt Nelson interviewed Lisa Birnbach for Borders a few years back when True Prep was published, a book she co-authored with art director Chip Kidd.  Birnbach also edited The Official Preppy Handbook, which was first published in 1980.

In his unmercifully accurate 1983 book Class:  A Guide Through The American Status System, Paul Fussell wrote about a fashion faux pas he regarded as a lower class signifier – the “prole jacket-gape.”

Here, the collar of the jacket separates itself from the collar of the shirt and backs off and up an inch or so:  the effect is that of a man coming apart.  That this caste mark is without specifically reactionary political meaning is confirmed by a photograph of Richard Hoggart, the British radical critic and Labor Party enthusiast, used to promote a recent book of his:  his jacket is gaping a full inch at the rear, ample indication that jacket gape afflicts the far left as well as the far right.  What it betrays, indeed, is less the zealot than the stooge.  Like the poor chap interviewed on TV recently by William F. Buckley.  He was from Texas and wanted to censor school textbooks to repress, among other evils, pro-miss-kitty.  (As gently as possible, Buckley corrected this mispronunciation of promiscuity so that the audience would know what the poor ass was talking about.)  But even if the Texan had not, with complete confidence in his unaided powers, delivered repeatedly this prole mispronunciation, his perceptiveness and sensibility could have been inferred from the way his jacket collar gaped open a full two inches.  Buckley’s collar, of course, clung tightly to his neck and shoulders, turn and bow and bob as he might.  And here I will reject all accusations that I am favoring the rich over the poor.  The distinction I’m pointing too is not one between the tailored clothes of the fortunate and the store clothes of the others, for if you try you can get a perfectly fitting suit collar off the rack, or at least have it altered to fit snugly.  The difference is in recognizing it as a class signal and not recognizing it as such.  You’ve got to know that, as Douglas Sutherland says in An English Gentleman, almost the most important criterion in a suit worth wearing at all is “that it should fit well around the shoulders.”

I have mentioned in my thrifting posts that it is possible to find many well-made jackets and suits from traditional clothiers, which makes the task of getting a correct fit much easier.  J. Press and Brooks Brothers, for example, make jackets and suits designed to fit  the natural slope of one’s shoulders and come without excessive padding.  You must know your correct size, a point I will cover in more detail in another post.  It is very important to have a reliable tailor, who can adjust the fit and lower the collar, if necessary.  If you follow these principles, you will never suffer prole jacket gape.

Class:  A Guide Through The American Status System, by Paul Fussell.  This witty and spot on analysis of class distinctions among Americans was originally published by Touchstone in 1983.  Alison Lurie of The New York Times Book Review wrote, “A shrewd and entertaining commentary on American mores today.  Fascinatingly accurate.”

Thrifted items can be paired well with items purchased at retail, but it is always best to do your retail shopping with an eye for sales.  This combination features a pair of soft all cotton Bermuda shorts from Covington (thrift:  $4.99) with a grosgrain ribbon belt from J. Press (end of summer retail sale last year:  $29.00), a piqued all cotton polo shirt from Old Navy with a 2-button placket, capped sleeves and ribbed edging (thrift:  $8.00) and a pair of leather Sperry Topsiders (retail sale at Marshall’s:  $39.99).

The wine/navy ribbon belt is really sharp against the light blue shorts, and it looks great with khakis – perhaps the most traditional pairing for this belt.  I am not anti-retail.  I am anti-markup.  When a retailer puts something on sale, it’s closer to the actual value of the item.  That was true of the ribbon belt, which I got for $10.00 off the regular price.  While the store still made a profit, I got a better deal than I would have a week before.

What I like about traditional retailers is that they don’t force you to wear advertising – preferring to keep their labels hidden.  You don’t need to announce to the world where you bought an article of clothing.  The quality of the piece should speak for itself.  J. Press discretely stitches their labels on the inside of their ribbon belts.

Combining thrifted items with smart retail purchases creates huge savings.  It would be a challenge for anyone to tell the difference between old and new at first glance.  If you put colors and materials together wisely, you can achieve a decidedly understated and seemingly effortless preppy look.

OK, I know you can see a Sperry name on these shoes. I’m busted for an inconsistency.  Would I prefer that the name not be there?  Certainly.  But this pair was on sale at $40.00 off regular retail at Marshall’s.  I couldn’t pass up the sale.  Actually, Marshall’s has become one of my favorite places to buy shoes.  You can find the classics at ridiculously low prices – at 50% to 60% off retail, sometimes more.  In the past year, I’ve bought Clark’s Desert Boots, black leather cap toe dress shoes and dirty bucks with crepe red soles from Cole Haan and the Sperry Topsiders above.

Making The Grade is another of the 80s preppy movies, but it was particularly bad, follwoing a cliche format of upper class collision with the lower class.  What happens when Eddie Keaton (Judd Nelson), a streetwise kid from NYC, gets offered a boat load of money to pose as rich preppy Palmer Woodrow III (Dana Olsen) at an elite boarding school?  Yep, you can see the sight gags and potential for misunderstanding a mile away.  I’m afraid that the actors in this film were subjected to prepsloitation, but they accurately represent the look from that era.

1. Thou shalt honor thy mummy and daddy, for they control thine inheritance, and grow not hair upon thy face, for it displeaseth them to look upon it.
2. Thou shalt not wear unnatural fibers, excepting that it be Polar Fleece, nor shalt thou adorn thy neck or hands with bling.
3. Thou shalt not wear cargo pants; neither shalt thou wear a fanny pack nor a belt hang down, for such things maketh thee to resemble the heathen.
4. Thou shalt wear natural shouldered sport coats with the blessed 3/2 roll and cuffed plain front pants, for the Lord despiseth pleats, which are the work of the Devil.
5. Thou shalt not wear seersucker before Memorial Day nor after Labor Day, for reverence of summer pleaseth the Lord.
6. Thou shalt not eat meat with a salad fork; neither shalt thou drink water from thy finger bowl, for such things are an abomination.
7. Thou shalt not add ice to thy Scotch, for it doth please the Lord that the golden nectar shouldst be consumed neat, and uncorrupted.
8. Thou shalt write thank you notes to those who sendest thee gifts, for good manners are pleasing in the sight of the Lord and encourageth future gifting.
9. Thou shalt not abide in the realm of NASCAR races, for such things doth attract the Philistines, who wear neither shirt nor shoes, and leadeth thee in the paths of unpreppiness.
10. Thou shalt neither dwell in a monster mansion nor commit other vulgar displays of wealth; for thou shalt live unseen by the heathen, reveling in the simple joys of popped collars and critter embroidered pants all the days of thy life.  Amen.

Amendment to the 4th Commandment – The Scottish Exception

Though the Lord doth look upon pleated pants for men to be the work of the Devil, His countenance doth look favorably upon pleated kilts worn by those of Scottish descent.  The Lord doth look most favorably upon this practice for family tartans.  Verily, I tell you that His mercy extendeth even unto to young ladies, though they be not of Scottish descent, at boarding schools with dress codes that requireth kilts.

PBS aired a fascinating documentary a few years ago:  People Like Us – Social Class in America, taking on one of the most taboo topics in a democracy based on the concept that all people are created equal.  The documentary explores the subtle and not so subtle distinctions about class that some people make in our culture, which have an impact on each of us every day.

Consider the famous quip by Sargent Shriver, who was George McGovern’s 1972 Vice-Presidential running mate.  Campaigning in West Virginia, Shriver gave himself away as upper class when he walked into a tavern full of coal miners and announced, “Bartender, a round of beers for the boys and a Courvoisier for me!”  In a Movable Feast, Ernest Hemingway claimed that F. Scott Fitzgerald once told him, “The rich are different than you and me,” to which Hemingway replied, “Yes, they have more money.”

Do money and a privileged position in society determine class, or is there something more to it:  manners, education, refined taste and a concern for the common good?  What things make one class different from another?  These are difficult questions to answer.  Certain clothing designers, most notably Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger, have built marketing campaigns based on entrée into the upper class – or at least the popular imagination of it – launching the aspirational preppy movement.

America is a meritocracy.  If you have skill and talent, you can rise socially.  You can gain admission to a first rate college or university, regardless of background.  Witness Bill Clinton of working class origins, who gained acceptance to Yale Law School, making connections that helped put him in the White House.  President Obama is another example of rising above one’s economic limitations and social prejudices, attending Columbia University and Harvard Law School, on the way to his history making election.  Part of achieving success in the workplace is dressing in a manner that creates the greatest opportunity for advancement and the least resistance, which is partly why books like Take Ivy and The Official Preppy Handbook have had such a lasting impact on fashion.

For more clips from People Like us, visit the documentary YouTube page.

On Ivy Style, Christian Chensvold has a great prep/class related post, “Poised or Oblivious?  The True Essence of Prep,”  He writes, “But since anyone today can don the clothing of the power elite, you never know just what the wearer of embroidered trousers may be really thinking. After all, he could be a radical environmentalist with an ironic sense of humor on a noble crusade to save the whales.”

For a very funny critique of the aspirational preppy movement, check out Rob Lanham’s piece, “True Prep:  It Is Not the Time for the Preppy New Testament.”  He pays homage to Lisa Birnbach’s influential satire The Official Preppy Handbook, while remaining sharply critical of her sequel True Prep, which was published in the middle of an economic recession.

The ribbon belt has no label, but it looks very similar to one made by Vineyard Vines.  The cyan color in the detail shots of the belt looks different from the color of the shirt, but to the eye, it’s an exact match.  Unfortunately, the lighting changed slightly between shots.

All of these items are in excellent condition.  The belt seems well-made and durable, and the quality of the J. Crew polo and Merona khakis is surprisingly good.  You need not have particular brand names or “status symbol clothes” (i.e. with a crocodile or oversized polo player and horse stitched to your shirt) to look preppy.  If you are discerning, you can get away with no name items of classic design and natural fibers, and you will be practicing two key prep traits – thrift and discretion!   Preppy is not about being flashy, unless you count the occasional go-to-hell item.  But that’s really another discussion.

A word about shorts:  I always buy plain front.  In my opinion, pleats are fundamentally wrong (this applies to long pants as well).  I avoid cargo shorts.  Although many people like them, I think they have a very unflattering silhouette.  They seem to be most often combined with legible t-shirts, fanny packs and flip flops.  Enough said.  I regard their popularity as a sure sign of cultural decline.

In the last few days, I’ve been focused on New England, posting about Nantucket Reds and their connection with sailing.  Today I found a YouTube video of two teriffic Boston Brahmin gentlemen bantering back and forth about their preferences in literature as well as their peculiar dialect, one associated with some of the original families in this country.  The Brahmin presence in Boston dates back over 350 years.  Many things preppy – including Anglophilia, a reverence for tradition and a thrifty, penny pinching approach – may be attributed to them.  Their dwindling number is directly related to a greater inclination to discuss literature and the arts than to procreate.  All of this somehow reminds me of the Cole Porter lyrics from “Anything Goes” with its Puritan and Plymouth Rock references.  The Ella Fitzgerald 1956 version – my favorite – is posted below.

I’ve been gearing up for summer lately.  Some recent buys include a pair of patchwork madras shorts, a ribbon belt and a pair of Nantucket Reds.  Today a Brooks Brothers long-sleeved, patchwork plaid madras shirt arrived via US Postal Service.

This shirt was a recent eBay purchase.  Price:  $24.94 + $3.65 shipping = $28.59.  Compare that with the current Brooks Brothers retail price of $89.50 (not including shipping, although I could have gone to their Madison Avenue store).  That’s a savings of $60.91.  In addition, the brethren are only offering a short-sleeved madras shirt, and I specifically wanted long sleeves.

Nothing says summer more than the light, breathable fabric of an India madras shirt.  It is a key item for the prep wardrobe.  I like this pattern much better than the current Brooks Brothers offering.  For more about how madras clothes are made, head over to Ivy Style for Christian Chensvold’s interview with Cape Madras cofounder Brian Sisselman.