The Little Black Dress

Every preppy girl knows the merit of have a little black dress (or two or three or four...) sitting in her closet.  It is perfect for all sorts of events, especially semi-formal and business casual soirees.  With a little black dress in your closet, you never have to worry about what you're going to wear!  It's always there to fall back on.  And there are so many ways to add versatility to your look!  One of my favorite ways to change the look of a black dress is to add a brightly colored cardigan over it.  You can also wear colorful skinny belts, bright scarves, or different colored shoes for a touch of whimsy, although I usually fall back on black leather pumps.  And your jewelry can be louder with a classic black dress than it might be with other colors.

Kate Spade

But the little black dress was not always the fashion icon it was today.  Before the 1920s, black was a color that was reserved exclusively for mourning periods, domestic uniforms, or the poor.  Coco Chanel was the first one to create a black dress that was meant for the higher-end customers that she catered to.  But the little black dress also went beyond that.  It was meant to erase some of the strict class lines of the time, and Chanel wanted all women to wear the little black dress.  She designed her dresses for utility and timelessness.  

An early Chanel design

The little black dress continued to be popular during the Great Depression and World War II, and after the war, Christian Dior made the little black dress a symbol of high sophistication with his New Look.  Movies such as Breakfast at Tiffany's helped this idea along.  Today, little black dresses are made in all sorts of fabrics and cuts, making it easy to find one that fits your personal sense of style.

Dior's New Look

One of my favorite places to look for little black dresses is J. Crew; they have a whole section of dresses online just for the little black dress.  Nordstrom is another great place to look: they have a large selection of dresses and a wide price range.  Ralph Lauren also makes lovely little black dresses.  The most important thing about your little black dress isn't where you buy it, though, it's how you add parts of your own preppy style to make it uniquely yours!  Tell me, do you have a favorite little black dress?  How do you make it your own?

J. Crew

Different Types of Preppy

"The Different Kinds of Preppy
I'm not sure if it's even possible to categorize preppies, but there seems to be really different kinds of them.
There are several types:

The East Coast Die-hard Preppy
These are the preps you find in areas like New England or Boston. Think of the Kennedy's. Vassar, Yale or Boston University. Favorite brands are Polo, J.Crew, Vineyard Vines, CK Bradley or the many small shops in the area that sell preppy clothes. These preps wear pants with whale prints or madras shorts during summer. Nantucket, Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, Maine, etc are Die-hard Preppy haunts.

The West Coast Hippie Preppy
You can find this kind of prep in the San Francisco Bay Area. They love classic clothes but the look is comfortable and lived in. The clothes are geared towards the year round 70 degree weather. The look is often cotton sweaters, jeans, chinos, walking shorts, clogs or Birkenstocks and arts and craft accessories. They drive old Volkswagens or Jeep Cherokees with PBS or KQED stickers in the bumpers or windows. Hippie Preppy haunts include Sausalito, Marin, Napa, Halfmoon Bay or the Monterrey beaches. Hippie Prep schools include Stanford, University of San Francisco, UCSF, Golden Gate, St Ignatius, Woodside etc.

The Cosmopolitan Metro Preppy
You can find these preps in major metropolitan cities like New York or Los Angeles. The Metro Preps like updated classics. Their style is sometimes called fashionably conservative. These preps can shop in stores in like Banana Republic, The Gap or Ann Taylor. I also think they're the more internationally travelled of all the preppies.

The Traditionalist Preppy 
This type of prep is very much into tradition. They are old school as old school can get. They wear their clothes according to strict rules of dress. For example, pants must be cuffed to an inch and a half. No more no less. They are also the more formal of all of the preppies. These preps will wear seer sucker suits during summer or full regatta clothing when sailing. If these preps had a choice of schools it would be British schools like Oxford, Cambridge or Eton in the UK.

The Southern Country Preppy
You can find them in Southern states like Virginia, Maryland and The Carolinas. Country preps tend to be more the outdoor types. Favorite items of clothing include barn jackets and duck boots. Patagonia, Lands End and L.L. Bean are common brands but they also buy Polo or J.Crew. Country Preps are very much into equestrian sports or hunting. You can find them hunting in Ashburn or riding in Middleburg and in the summers they go to Virginia Beach, Nags Head or The Outer Banks. Country prep schools include Altamont, Westminster, Harpeth Hall or boarding schools such as Woodberry Forest,Baylor, Foxcroft or Madiera.

The Classic Preppy 
These are the most common of all the preps. They just love anything that is classic and get their influences from all the above."


From the old Preppy Journal, no longer online.