Essential Reading: The Official Preppy Handbook

Sundar J.M. Brown, Editor... and Certified Preppy

by Sundar J.M. Brown

The Official Preppy Handbook. Jonathan Roberts (Author), Carol McD. Wallace (Author), Mason Wiley (Author), Lisa Birnbach (Author); Oliver Williams (Editor), Robin Holland (Illustrator)

Front Cover

The Official Preppy Handbook was a spot-on parody when it first debuted in 1980, but also a thoroughly accurate, and even useful field guide, to the Northeastern Hemisphere’s American preppy lifestyle. Almost 25 years later, it still holds up as both humorous and utilitarian. Contemporary news items suggest it may even be timely again; a recent article in the New York Times suggested that teen fashion trends are turning away from the overexposed grunge and punk trends, looking instead to madras plaids, chinos, polo shirts (popped collar of course) and rep ties as a means of daily wardrobe.

Suffice it to say that, while classicism dies hard, it is also rather easy to up-end. The price of traditional quality is that it is often sacrificed at the hands of marketing executives who manage to convince the lower classes that they too can, “rise the occasion of upper class life” by, “dressing the part”. Most unfortunate, for those innocent victims of American Eagle, The Gap, Hollister, Abercrombie & Fitch and Old Navy is that the “fashions” produced by those stores fall far short of authentic preppy style. Worse still, they are horribly cheap imitations which only serve to lower the existing social strata of those poor plebeians.

Rear Cover

For the uninitiated, please note that the following brands are officially acceptable as authentic preppy wear:

L.L. Bean
Brooks Brothers
Lilly Pulitzer
J. Crew
Hickey Freeman
Ralph Lauren Polo
Paul Stuart
Vineyard Vines
Sperry Topsiders

Please also note that, unless you come from a very specific cultural, social and economic background, even dressing in those brands won’t help you. You either have it or you don’t.

Lisa Birnbach and company, call your publicists. The time has arrived for a re-release targeting today’s rising BMOCs.

The Official Preppy Handbook on Amazon.com

About Sundar JM Brown

A University of Pennsylvania South Asianist, Seminary-educated Theologian, Legal Scholar and Intelligence Community Professional, Sundar J.M. Brown specializes in the critical analysis of Religious Terrorism and the influence of sacred text and rhetoric on religiously-motivated violence. His primary expertise is Theoterrorism, the intersection of Terrorism and Theology. His regional purview includes India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. His generalized research ranges from the ethics of religiosity in U.S. HUMINT Operations to modeling Political Theology structures in modern Religious Militant/Extremist Organizations. His present research focuses on apocalyptic themes in terrorist ideologies and on the theological components informing the radicalization and deradicalization of Violent Religious Extremists and Militants, especially in the South Asian region. He is the Founder and Director of the IntelliGen Consulting Group and the IntelliGen Conference on Religion & Violence.

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