The Official Preppy Handbook

The Official Preppy Handbook (1980) is a satirical reference guide edited by Lisa Birnbach and written by Jonathan Roberts, Carol McD. Wallace, Mason Wiley, and Birnbach.[1] It discusses an aspect of North American culture described as prepdom. In addition to insights on prep school and university life at socially acceptable schools,[2] it illuminates many aspects of the conservative upper middle class, old money WASP society.[3] Topics range from appropriate clothing for social events to choosing the correct college and major.[4]

The Official Preppy Handbook
Cover of first edition
AuthorLisa Birnbach
Jonathan Roberts
Carol McD. Wallace
Mason Wiley
IllustratorOliver Williams
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SubjectHumor
Secondary education
PublisherWorkman Publishing
Publication date
October 1980
Media typePaperback book
Pages224
ISBN0-89480-140-6
978-0-89480-140-2
OCLC6762701
373.2/22/0973
LC ClassLC58.7 .O35 1980
Followed byTrue Prep: It's a Whole New Old World 

The book addresses "preppy" life from birth to old age, lending understanding to the cultural aspects of "preppy" life. In general, elementary and secondary school, college, and the young adult years receive the most attention. Coverage lessens during the book's latter chapters. The book was first published in 1980 by Workman Publishing.

Overview

The Official Preppy Handbook explains and satirizes what it takes to be a preppy person in the 1980s, parodying the lifestyle of the WASP elite. Birnbach reveals through an ironic tone where preps go to school, where they summer, what brands they wear, and how they decorate their homes. Birnbach divides The Official Preppy Handbook into seven sections, each devoted to a different period of the preppy lifestyle. The Handbook begins by caricaturizing the childhood of a preppy person in 1980.[5] Lisa Birnbach satirizes a prep’s ideal family lifestyle, and humorously advises readers how to pick, interview, and gain acceptance into a prep school.[6] The book then wittily discusses “the best years of your life” – a prep’s college years.[7] With tongue in cheek, Birnbach elucidates which college courses to take, how to design one’s dorm room, and how to party at college.[8] In Chapters 5 and 6, the book explains the prep adult life as first a “young executive”, and later as a retired adult in “the Country Club Years”.[9] Birnbach jokingly educates readers on navigating a cocktail party, networking, and vacationing.[10] The Official Preppy Handbook also teaches readers how to dress preppily.[11] In chapter 4, Birnbach emphasizes the importance of appearing effortless, preppy and casual, writing, “socks are frequently not worn on sporting occasions or on social occasions for that matter. This provides a year round beachside look that is so desirable that comfort may be thrown aside”.[12]

Effect

The book's reflections on young urban professional culture inspired Arthur Cinader, the founder of the J. Crew clothing line.[13] Cinader hoped to capitalize on the book's success.[13]

The book also represented a resurgence of interest in preppy culture that aided the growth of retailer L.L. Bean, which the book describes as "nothing less than Prep mecca."[14] The book's exposé of university life and the drug and sex culture at various schools had a significant impact on public thought about those schools.[15] The book spawned many other "official" handbooks for other American subcultures.[16]

The Handbook exposed preppy culture to the masses, and helped to democratize the preppy subculture. Prior to the book, primarily only wealthy WASP elites adopted the preppy subculture. From the 1920s, WASPs dominated American universities, and preppy fashion was traditionally worn on university campuses.[17] However, as universities became less exclusive as a result of economic and cultural shifts, preppiness as a subculture became less exclusive. Preppy fashion adopted new nuances, and preppy culture has become more inclusive.[18] By writing The Official Preppy Handbook, Lisa Birnbach helped to further democratize preppy fashion and culture. Birnbach explained in her introduction that the handbook is not intended as an exclusive text describing preppiness as subculture reserved for “an elite minority lucky enough to attend prestigious private schools”.[19] Rather, the Handbook was written as a guidepost for the revival of the preppy style. It shared the secrets of the preppy code, making preppy seem “neat, attractive, and suddenly attainable”.[20]

See also

References
  1. Rich, Motoko (2010-04-04). "Rejoice, Muffy and Biff: A Preppy Primer Revisited". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2013-04-28.
  2. Lightfoot, Elizabeth (2009). Michelle Obama: first lady of hope. Guilford, Conn.: Lyons Press. p. 15. ISBN 9781599215211. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
  3. Hertzberg, Hendrik (2005). Politics: Observations and Arguments, 1966-2004. New York: Penguin. p. 556. ISBN 978-0-14-303553-4. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
  4. Lisa Birnbach (October 1980), The Official Preppy Handbook, New York: Workman Publishing Company, OCLC 681897418, OL 15163107W, Wikidata Q7754751
  5. Lisa Birnbach (October 1980), The Official Preppy Handbook, New York: Workman Publishing Company, p. 15, OCLC 681897418, OL 15163107W, Wikidata Q7754751
  6. Lisa Birnbach (October 1980), The Official Preppy Handbook, New York: Workman Publishing Company, p. 54, OCLC 681897418, OL 15163107W, Wikidata Q7754751
  7. Lisa Birnbach (October 1980), The Official Preppy Handbook, New York: Workman Publishing Company, p. 83, OCLC 681897418, OL 15163107W, Wikidata Q7754751
  8. Lisa Birnbach (October 1980), The Official Preppy Handbook, New York: Workman Publishing Company, p. 94, OCLC 681897418, OL 15163107W, Wikidata Q7754751
  9. Lisa Birnbach (October 1980), The Official Preppy Handbook, New York: Workman Publishing Company, p. 157, OCLC 681897418, OL 15163107W, Wikidata Q7754751
  10. Lisa Birnbach (October 1980), The Official Preppy Handbook, New York: Workman Publishing Company, p. 187, OCLC 681897418, OL 15163107W, Wikidata Q7754751
  11. Lisa Birnbach (October 1980), The Official Preppy Handbook, New York: Workman Publishing Company, p. 121, OCLC 681897418, OL 15163107W, Wikidata Q7754751
  12. Lisa Birnbach (October 1980), The Official Preppy Handbook, New York: Workman Publishing Company, p. 138, OCLC 681897418, OL 15163107W, Wikidata Q7754751
  13. Bourne, Leah (2010-01-20). "The Cult Of J.Crew". Forbes.com. Archived from the original on 2013-06-29. Retrieved 2013-04-28.
  14. Leon A. Gorman (2006). L. L. Bean: The Making of an American Icon. Harvard Business Press. p. 143. ISBN 978-1-57851-183-9. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
  15. William Freeman Galpin; John Robert Greene; Richard Wilson; Oscar Theodore Barck (1998). Syracuse University: Eggers Years. Syracuse University Press. p. 232. ISBN 978-0-8156-0549-2. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
  16. Selsberg, Andy (August 2007). "The Official Guide to Official Handbooks: The Rich Legacy of Putting Others in Their Cultural Place". The Believer. Vol. 5, no. 6. Retrieved 2013-04-28.
  17. Banks, Jeffrey; Chapelle, Doria de la (2011). Preppy : cultivating Ivy style. New York: Rizzoli. p. 4. ISBN 978-0847836611.
  18. Banks, Jeffrey; Chapelle, Doria de la (2011). Preppy : cultivating Ivy style. New York: Rizzoli. p. 11. ISBN 978-0847836611.
  19. Lisa Birnbach (October 1980), The Official Preppy Handbook, New York: Workman Publishing Company, p. 2, OCLC 681897418, OL 15163107W, Wikidata Q7754751
  20. Banks, Jeffrey; Chapelle, Doria de la (2011). Preppy : cultivating Ivy style. New York: Rizzoli. p. 127. ISBN 978-0847836611.
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