This is one of my favorite quotes, because it’s so true. (Thank you, Nora Ephron, for your spot-on eloquence.) Just swap NYC for New England and it embodies perfectly, in three sentences, how much I love fall. It’s the season of crisp, blustery days, layers, foliage, and the smell of a new Moleskine.
Fall also means that I can fully embrace my favorite style of dressing: preppy. And I’m not talking the pink and green, Lilly Pulitzer style of prep. I’m talking classic, all-American sportswear prep: khakis, loafers, varsity cardigans, bouncy ponytails, and understated classic colors. I prefer to think of this mode of casual preppy style as polished but slightly rumpled, like an Ivy League grad student working on her Faulkner dissertation. I desperately wish that I went to Yale, if only because I’ve found so many amazing vintage college sweaters on Etsy while looking for one with a perfectly monogrammed “E.”
So, in the optimistic spirit of going back to school (whether you’re happy about this fact or not), I’ve cobbled together a few of my favorite collegiate style books for your preppy pleasure.
Credit: Rizzoli/Rue La La
Seven Sisters Style: The All-American Preppy Look
By Rebecca C. Tuite
For those who aren’t freakishly enamored of the history of preppy fashion, the Seven Sisters refers to seven elite American women’s colleges: Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Radcliffe, Smith, Vassar, and Wellesley. From campus life to Hollywood, this book looks at the history and influence of women’s casual preppy style. Basically, these schools were to women what Harvard and Yale were to men, and the students looked the part. Seven Sisters Style is full of vintage and modern photos, from stills of Betty Draper to candid 1950s campus shots to modern fashion editorials. Check it out if you’re interested not only in what preppy style looks like, but also its roots.
Credit: powerHouse Books/Rue La La
Take Ivy
by Teruyoshi Hayashida, Shosuke Ishizu, Toshiyuki Kurosu & Hajime Hasegawa
American preppy fashion is so prevalent that even in 1965, when this book was originally published in Japan, it sparked a huge Ivy League style-inspired style moment among students in Tokyo that still exists today. Take Ivy focuses on candid photos of men in their collegiate surroundings, doing what they do best: walking, biking, and lounging. Originally a report called “Everything About the Ivy League,” it features photos with delightfully sartorial titles like “Elbow patches,” “An uncouth dresser,” and “Bermuda shorts: two variations.” Anyone interested in men’s collegiate style during the mid-20th century should give this one a leisurely look.
Credit: Rizzoli
Preppy: Cultivating Ivy Style
By Jeffrey Banks & Doria de la Chapelle
Preppy: Cultivating Ivy Style is a more dense and in-depth look at the history of preppy style, in all its forms, from the Kennedy set to the Lilly-lover (in fact, Lilly Pulitzer herself wrote the foreward). This book not only looks at the iconic elements of the preppy look – khakis, madras, Peter Pan collars, penny loafers – but also at the companies that pioneered the great plaid frontier of American sportswear, like Ralph Lauren and Brooks Brothers. Everything about Preppy is fascinating, and it really sheds light on the influential place that the preppy style has within the fashion zeitgeist.
Written by Emma Lifvergren, Staff Writer
