Preppy is more than a sweater tied over your chest

When I was a kid, preppy meant blindingly pink Lacoste polo shirts and sweaters tied at the clavicle. Now that look just screams ’80s. (Have I dated myself yet? I was born in 1987, don’t let my birth certificate tell you otherwise!)

The term preppy was coined in the early 20th century, referring to students or alumna from prestigious prep schools — or people who dressed like it.

Now the new preppy re-emerging from the dark shadows spread by the likes of the recently retired Gossip Girl (I can’t even look at a headband without flinching anymore) doesn’t even look remotely like it could emerge from the halls of a prep school. A grosgrain ribbon over a heavily sequined dress not a preppy make. In Catcher in the Rye, Salinger’s hero was repulsed by phonies yet had his own brand of elitism. (“It’s really hard to be roommates with people if your suitcases are much better than theirs,” he declared.) The makings of prep — as a Curtis Sittenfield novel would inform you —involves more than the elongated vowels of an aristocrat.

But then again, not many people would recognize a polo mallet if it whacked them in the head during an actual polo match. (Horses are involved, if Wikipedia isn’t joshing me.)

Not that preppy actually requires a pedigree. Ralph Lauren, heralded the sovereign of the plaid-wearing horse-owning population, hailed from the Bronx — originally a tiemaker before he made it big.

These days, his southwestern fringe, suede jackets and retro Polo sweaters emblazoned with bears are making a return.

Preppy is still tied to the central motifs that made it popular to begin with: nautical elements, cableknit sweaters, stripes, canvas, the trifecta of navy, white and red. Though ’90s elements are slipping in:  southwestern prints, elaborate patterns on knit sweaters.

And that is perhaps preppy’s greatest asset: what looked good then, looks good now. Some people call those things “classics.” I call it “one more reason to dig through your parents’ closet.”