A Separate Peace, & the History of Preppy Collegiate Fashion

Rather than focus on overall themes of John Knowles’ coming-of-age tale (homoerotic tension involving male prep-school students set in WWII… what…?), the development of setting provides ample interest to the idea of prep school, college fashions. While many of us haven’t had the privilege to attend Cambridge or summer in the Hamptons, one can still make attempts to emulate these fashions that often work well in the autumn months.

This being said, let us review a history of collegiate-wear!

Pre-1500s: Tartans begin being used to distinguish various Scottish clans. Particularly, the argyle pattern affiliated with Clan Campbell becomes popular among the prep aesthetic of America following WWI.

1818: Brooks Brothers is founded by Henry Sands Brooks, creating high-end suiting for much political elite, going as far as designing suits for 39 of the 44 presidents.

1902: J. Press, a men’s clothing company opens directly on Ivy League turf, Yale University.

1935: The modern boat shoe is designed by Paul A. Sperry, providing comfort and ease while upgrading frat-boy style away from the Adidas slides.

1951: J. D. Salinger publishes The Catcher in the Rye. The privileged, prep-schooled Holden Caulfield becomes the teenage antihero of the century. John Knowles follows the boarding school aesthetic, publishing A Separate Peace eight years later.

1970: The movie Love Story debuts with the typical, WASP-y Harvard student falling in love with a working-class Radcliffe student. Lots of tweed. Lots of camel. Even more crying. 

1980: Finally, something specifically, addresses the subculture of collegiate-wear and subculture through by publishing The Official Preppy Handbook. With comedic intentions, the book does uphold the overall concept of the Ivy League style-set… even providing diagrams on what to wear, and why.

1985: A huge year for collegiate style… the book Take Ivy is published, exhibiting fashion photography taken from Ivy League schools. Interestingly, the book is curated by four Japanese photographers, demonstrating the growing fascination and admiration for this particular American style.

In addition, college student Bret Easton Ellis gets his novel Less Than Zero published. Focusing on yuppie culture and it’s effect on collegiate youth, the main character comes home for winter break and essentially realizes how horrible he, his family, and his friends actually are. Visually, the story is adapted into a film two years later.

Finally, Tommy Hilfiger‘s namesake company is founded with a strong focus on American patriotism that continues to this day. This patriotism is a strong, concurrent culture enveloping the original blue-blooded preps of the nation.

1988: In a similar, albeit morbid, fashion as The Official Preppy Handbook, the film Heathers debuts. Seriously, it’s like a visual depiction of the handbook, just add murder disguised as suicide. Oh, and add some salacious forms of homoeroticism, like in A Separate Peace!

1995: Preppy, over-the-top chic enters the nineties with the film Clueless. Cher Horowitz may still be in high school, but she’d never date a high school boy, right?

2003: Drawing back to earlier, timeless collegiate-style, the film Mona Lisa Smile demonstrates both the fashions and college dynamics for women in the 1950s.

2007: The television program Gossip Girl debuts, depicting, “the scandalous lives of Manhattan’s elite.” Like Clueless, the show begins unbelievably with high school characters. Eventually, a large portion of them move on to the Ivy League… how weird! The inclusion of this collegiate-style within the show has since largely gained acclaim for having such a strong sartorial-focus. 

References

Banks, Jeffery; de la Chapelle, Doria (2007). Tartan: Romancing the Plaid. New York. Rizzoli.

“Brooks Brothers Our Heritage, Our History”. Brooks Brothers. 2013-02-11. Retrieved 2015-10-6.

Elie, (April 7, 2014). “Today in 1818: Brooks Brothers Debuts on the Lower East Side”. Bowery Boogie.

Ellis, Bret Easton. Less Than Zero. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1985. Print.

Hodgkinson, Mark (2004-07-15). “Diamonds are for Heather – and All Parts of a Gold Course now Pringle’s Back”. The Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 2015-10-5.

Ishizu, Shosuke, Toshiyuki Kurosu, Hajime Hasegawa, and Teruyoshi Hayashida. Take Ivy. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

New Flagship Updates J. Press DNR, 2007-5-7. Retrieved on May 30, 2007.

“Nonskid Sneakers Invented”. The New Haven Register. October 9, 1977.

“Our Story”. Discover and Learn More About Us. Sperry. 2015. Retrieved March 24, 2015.

Trebay, Guy. “Prep, Forward and Back”. New York Times. Retrieved 20 June 2012.

Ulin, David L. (2010-01-29). “J.D. Salinger: a gift of words and silence”. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2015-10-6.

Williams, edited by Lisa Birnbach ; writers Lisa Birnbach … [et al.] ; photography Robin Holland ; illustration Oliver (1980). The official preppy handbook (19th printing. ed.). New York: Workman Pub.