What is “Preppy”? Is it an aesthetic or something more than that?
Could I ask a perhaps provocative, but foundational, question and please excuse my ignorance on the topic. Is there a universal definition for “preppy” on this community? I don’t associate it with old money, albeit there is a correlation. I associate it with mid century teenagers who attended prep school on the US Eastern seaboard, and then matriculated at a leading liberal arts college or university. Clearly this definition has expanded geographically and temporally since then and now it is more commonly used as related to a fashion aesthetic associated with these origins. By this definition, per another post on this community, president Kennedy clearly has preppy pedigree as I believe he studied at Choate and then Harvard. I have seen people in this community ascribe values, behaviors, and morals to “preppy” akin to it being a moral philosophy. Is there a rationale for this extension, as I feel people can have any set of behaviors and still be deemed “preppy”. Maybe I am ignorant, but I spent years surrounded by so called “preppies” at a prep school and then an Ivy League university, and am totally dumbfounded by people ascribing values to the the term “preppy”. I understand having a penchant for ascribing values to the term, especially values said people deem positive, but I am unaware of any justification for this beyond aspirational. I have know people who would describe themselves as ”preppy” who were borderline psychopathic, and others who could be candidates for sainthood. I don’t consider myself “preppy” but certain clothes in my wardrobe are consistent with this aesthetic.