Preppy?

When I was younger the preppy handbook came out - which was mystifying to me. A world of Chips and Buffys was strange to a nice jewish boy growing up in the southwest. My brother being the alienated member of the family he is embraced the preppy mantra and wanted to be like his friend Craig - whose family were as WASP as they come. At some point in his teenage years I remember my brother screaming at the family because we were not more like Craig's family, but i digress ...

... today I was surfing the guys on dudesnude and found a strange profile from the Netherlands with "preppy" as part of it. Now being a loyal reader of the London Preppy Blog - it suddenly hit me how odd that is that preppy has become a style descriptor used world over. For the past 20 years I have lived in New England - and learned about a social world of prep which is all about boarding schools, ivy league colleges and sailing. The clothing is about a lifestyle. A very specific lifestyle. And even though I may be caught in clothing loosely resembling these people I hardly think that I am one of them or want to be ...