Johnson, Kim K. P., and Sharron J. Lennon, eds.Ap-
pearance and Power. Oxford, England: Berg, 1999.
Welters, Linda, and Patricia A. Cunningham, eds.
Twentieth-Centur y American Fashion. Oxford, En-
gland: Berg, 2005.
Jean Owens Schaefer
See also Advertising; Business and the economy in
the United States;Designing Women;Dynasty; Fash-
ions and clothing; Feminism; Hairstyles; Leg warm-
ers;Moonlighting; Preppies; Television; Women in
the workforce.
Preppies
Definition People who fit the stereotypical
description of students and graduates of
prestigious preparatory schools
The stereotypical culture of college-preparator y schools be-
came an influence upon and focus of mainstream Ameri-
can culture during the 1980’s. Preppies dressed and acted
conservatively, and the preppy look and manner came to
stand as a conservative alternative to the more outlandish
fashions of the decade.
The term “preppy” received widespread recogni-
tion after Ali McGraw’s character applied it to Ryan
O’Neal’s character inLove Stor y(1970). It quickly
caught on as both an identifier of a certain class of
privileged young people and, for those who dispar-
aged them, a derogatory label for a snob. The term
gained renewed currency in 1980, whenThe Official
Preppy Handbookwas published. Similar to books cat-
aloging the features of mythical creatures such as
gnomes, the book used illustrations and lists to ex-
plain the characteristics and behavior of the modern
preppy.
The most innocent usage of the term “preppy”
meant a student or alumnus of a private college-
preparatory school, such as Phillips Exeter Acad-
emy, Andover, or Emma Willard School in the
Northeast, or the Altamont School, Baylor School,
or Foxcroft Academy in the South. Those schools’
alumni seemed able to recognize one another, even
if they were graduates of different years or different
schools. Used negatively, the term referred to those
thought to display “superior” attitudes of ennui, sar-
casm, exclusivity, and an excessive enthusiasm when
around their peers.
Outstanding Characteristics Preppies were associ-
ated with moneyed families, usually “old” money, and
were the product of selective “good” breeding, with
couples matched to each other with careful thought
and planning. Their children were raised with in-
struction in good manners and good taste. When of
school age, the children were sent to day schools or
boarding schools, such as the Chapin School or the
Dalton School in New York, Deerfield Academy or
Groton in Massachusetts, or the Hotchkiss School in
Connecticut. By the time they were ready for college,
they had experienced extensive travel on at least one
continent other than North America and had a fair to
excellent fluency in at least one language other than
English. A preppy was likely to attend the same col-
lege or university as had his or her grandparents, par-
ents, uncles, and aunts. High on the list of preferred
schools were Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth,
Bowdoin, and lesser-known preppy schools such as
Colorado College and Trinity.
The most often remarked feature of preppies was
their style of dress. They tended to follow classic
American fashion, wearing clothes made of natural
fiber fabrics, with simple lines and fine workman-
ship. The Brooks Brothers suit was the uniform for
business and formal attire for men, and it was worn
with button-down oxford cloth shirts in pastel shades.
More casual wear included cuffed khaki pants, Izod
Lacoste polo shirts with their distinctive alligator
icon, and topsiders (sailing shoes) worn without
socks. Female preppies wore ribbons in their hair,
headbands, cardigan sweaters, and pearls. Both sexes
seemed partial to the color combination of pink and
green.
It was this style of dress that made preppies most
significant in American culture, because it was easily
imitated. As a result, over the course of the 1980’s,
“preppy” ceased to refer solely to attendees of elite
schools and came instead to refer to anyone who
dressed in similar clothing or cultivated the haughty
and overly cultured attitudes associated with the
preppy stereotype.
Preppies spent their leisure time or vacations in
Nantucket or Martha’s Vineyard, for instance, a tra-
dition of several generations. Because they were usu-
ally in good physical condition, they were often avid
sportsmen and -women, indulging in skiing, tennis,
golf, swimming, squash, horseback riding, and boat-
ing. Preppies hoping to impress a potential boss or
future fiancé strove to participate in at least the trials
The Eighties in America Preppies 777