Our Founder, Part 2

The High Priestess of Prep hamming it up for reporters in the early 1980s...

...but in the parlance of the time, looking rather bershon here. Some poseur like me has probably just asked for an autograph.

Preppy style from vintage knitting books

Mention of club collars in a recent post got me to thinking about a wonderful image I saw in a 1984 knitting book in the early days of my library career some twenty years ago. Since acquiring a good scanner and starting the blog, I’ve sometimes wondered about that book and how I might find it, considering I had no recollection of what the title was. Just for giggles, today I took a little walk through the 746s on the off chance, knowing by all rights it should have been gone years ago.

And there it was!

In Barbara Goldstein’s All Sweaters For Every Gauge, there exists a feast of layered looks that even I had forgotten.  Some of the sweater designs may not be preppy in the strictest sense of the word, or inspired by New England aesthetics like the Maine island patterns made popular soon thereafter by Chellie Pingree, but for the most part are fairly tasteful nonetheless. Granted, the proliferation of models in OCBDs may be a simple accident of timing, but it is an accident inspired by the authentic, and perhaps to some degree by the author’s Rhode Island education. It also reinforced a very preppy idea that has since lost currency: a sweater is something you wear over a shirt.

A cozy cardigan, regular-waist pants, a stylish belt, and a club collar worn up. It just doesn't get any better than this.

Of course, nothing screams early-80s prep like the standard oxford with button-down collar, whether rendered in pink...

...or white.

You won't see this outfit in True Prep, but it certainly would have fit in the Handbook.

A contemporary pattern adds just the right amount of whimsy to a classic ensemble. Author Goldstein cuts a fine figure.

This could pass for a yearbook photo of your faculty advisor.

I could swear I went to high school with this girl.

Don't forget the cowlnecks!

Nearby, there was also this 1979 British volume, which I don't recall ever seeing before. To those of us who lived through the period, it's easy to imagine this book being published in response to a huge surge of interest in the subject.

This reminds me of the sweater Christina Haag is wearing in the prep school photo that appears in her memoir.

The yoke that launched a thousand imitators.

I'm often fearful I use the words "Fair Isle" and "Shetland" too loosely.  At one time, they actually meant something.

New Signature pieces for women: a preppy guy's picks

I love the vibe of this layout. At first glance the car looks like a Volkswagen, but it's actually an '82 Toyota.

Summer shirdresses are always tasteful, especially paired with a dramatic belt. The boots are great too, but don't really belong.

A gal with her collar up always gets my attention, and the shoes here are a much better match.

A lot of women would probably like to kill me for advocating cork wedges, but I can't help it.  I miss the 70s.  :)

I spy...

Can you spot the preppy style on this 1979 magazine cover?  To the modern observer, it may not seem that obvious, but look closer. Can you find…

            A corduroy blazer?

            A Lacoste shetland?

            An OCBD?

            A plaid jumper?

            Two cowlnecks?

            Stripes galore?

This scene comes courtesy of the residents of Farmville, Virginia, who worked as extras in a Pepsi-Cola commercial shot with the cooperation of the Norfolk & Western Railway Company. The ad depicted the fictional homecoming by train of a World Series hero to a throng of cheering family and neighbors.  Farmville was selected as the location ostensibly because of the “Norman Rockwell” aesthetic of its depot, and as inevitably happens in show business, certain liberties were taken to reinforce this image.  For example, no passenger trains were running through Farmville at the time. If they had been, they almost certainly would have operated with Amtrak equipment, but N&W business cars and a retro-painted diesel were apparently rounded up for the occasion instead.  In the context of the period, this level of manufactured romance probably seemed necessary. But as a railroad historian, this blogger almost wishes the producers had gone further than halfway in letting the seventies simply be what they were. The contemporary, well-dressed locals certainly leave little room for complaint. But I’ll give Pepsi credit for not trying to use a steam engine.

Attempts to dig up the finished product on YouTube have so far come up lemons.  Truthfully, I can’t say I remember it.  Does anyone else?

Yearbook '78: The Big-Collar Brigade