I live in the UK and the word ‘Preppy’ has emerged from American popular culture in recent years and is a North American adjective regularly used to denote a certain taste and style of clothing with which some people wear. It originally was portrayed as privately educated children or people who want to appear as people with lots of money and from higher classes in society. This view is limited as I believe it was coined by people who became frustrated with the style or simply couldn’t afford the clothing brands under question ( Ralph Lauren, Abercrombie and Fitch and Jack Wills ). The word preppy has come to refer to people of a certain class, economic status, and ethnic origin. The fashion or trend is seen by many as a type of clothing for people who have snobbery, arrogance and elitism as high priority. However I believe the so called ‘fashion’ is actually a term incorrectly used, as this style of clothing has been worn by many people for decades and hasn’t gone out of fashion, as it hasn’t changes for many years. Therefore the style of clothing is a portrayal of moral, social and even political values in relationship to life. Often the cloths in question, such as polo t-shirts, loafers and chinos have practical applications for exclusive sports such as polo, yachting and croquet.
Overall, people are free to express their own style and expression through clothing, however to generalize a typical stereotype through certain clothing items; I believe is a huge misjudgment as not only can this be drastically inaccurate but also lead to misguidance as the majority of the people are down to earth and just striving to look their best!
PS. If you do feel that you fall into this category and possible opitimise the word then you may be interested in following the ‘Preppy’ scene in England, colloquially known by the term ‘Sloane’ after Sloane Square in London – http://www.sloaneys.co.uk/.
Further reading can be found at:
http://www.intrepidsloane.com/
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