Has “Preppy” Died?

Can it be?  Has preppy has finally met its maker?  Surely not.  Please tell me it isn’t so.

But here we are.  Brooks Brothers has apparently bitten the dust.  Ditto J. Crew.   If that’s not a harbinger of preppy-death, I don’t know what is.

Lily Pulitzer would have us believe otherwise.  She’s still everywhere.  Pastels.  Floral designs. Cute little shifts.  Handbags. The lot.  If you like Lily, you’re still in the groove.

I will quite miss J. Crew.  It was a stand-by, go-to source for certain things.  I always flipped up my collar and tightened my fish/whale/dog belt before I deigned to enter. J. Crew oozed prep from every pore. I wanted to, too.

Then there’s Brooks Brothers. The Mister always fought me tooth and nail about going to Brooks Brothers for suits, jackets, and shirts, even though he always looked quite smashing in their stuff.  He was convinced that they seriously overcharged their customers.  I generally prevailed in spite of his deeply held convictions.

But, there is and will always be, one very important BB item that even he greatly appreciated and depended on. It’s just one little word: Boxers.  Even the Mister agrees that nobody made boxer shorts like Brooks Brothers did.

We’re sorry to see you go, dear friends. But rest assured. Preppy lives in our minds, our hearts, and yes, our closets. We may be old but we’re not senile. We saw the handwriting on the wall and stocked up. Wise old preppy birds that we are.