Customer Reviews

The Official Preppy Handbook

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This book was a spot-on parody when it came out in 1980, but also a quite accurate and even useful "field guide" to the North American prepster. Almost 25 years later, it still holds up as humor, and also as a great guide to the prep look and lifestyle. And best of all, it may even be timely once again: An article in the New York Times a few days ago suggested that teen fashion trends are turning away from overexposure and punk and back toward plaid, chinos, polo shirts (with turned up collars, natch), even repp ties! Everything comes around a second time, so Lisa Birnbach call your office. It may be time for an updated edition for today's rising BMOCs.

All I know is that my copy is well-thumbed from two-plus decades of hard work, and it's showing no signs of irrelevance yet!

When I first moved to new York City to work in the corporate world I came across Lisa Birnbach's Preppy Handbook. Suddenly everything made sense. I could understand why the blonde vice president in the elevator had the "executive look" and I didn't. I understood the vague references. Coming from somewhere where no one ever had tailgates, much less parties on them, it introduced me to a whole other way of life. I needed to understand preppies if I were to achieve success in the East and Lisa let me know the code. The book is a wonderful piece of cultural anthropology.

I routinely recommend this book to talented kids from other classes and other places who are trying to make it in the Northeast. Along with John Molloy's Dress for Success, this book made it possible for me to adapt to corporate life.

I am hard pressed to recall a humor book that was so very well done, that academics routinely cite examples from its pages. The Official Preppy Handbook has achieved that.

Lisa Birnbach and company, successfully documented the lives of the Prep School set, from youth to retirement. Along the way they explore in a brilliant and witty way, the mindset and lifestyle of this group. You learn immediately that being a Preppy is well beyond going to a private school. Preps exude Noblesse Oblige, while wearing Lacoste polos and drinking Bloody Mary's. You learn about their cars, colleges, clothes, food, jobs, music, pets, what they read and how they decorate their houses. You learn what "To Summer," REALLY means. You even learn their speech patterns, and prep vocabulary. Along the way you have a lot of laughs, while getting an education about what makes these people tick. Years later, I still pull out my pristine copy not only for laughs, but for reference as well. In recent years others have tried to follow this groundbreaking formula only to have missed the mark. You will find many books with: "In the traditon of The Preppy Handbook" in their titles. They do not even come close.

Sadly, this artifact is out of print. Perhaps someone will start a letter writing campaign to Workman Publishers, begging them to reprint it. It is REALLY that good!

Mummy, Daddy, Trip and Buffy eat your hearts out! This is the funniest book I've ever read, and I have to admit I've gleaned more than a couple of fashion hints from its sacred pages. While it is primarily a tongue-in-cheek spoof on old-line preppies, it is also a definitive, flawless, and well-written authority on The Tradition. Owning the out-of-print book is a coveted honor. And know to refer to it by its abbrevaition: The OPH. Find it in paperback, discuss it only with your preppiest friends, and tuck it away in a descreet bedroom drawer. And it is important to keep the rare item safe for passing it on to the future generations, as preppy style never ages.

Extemely accurate description is now a sort of litmus test for the modern preppy: if you think that boat shoes, polo shirts with upturned collars, and cuffed khakis are "dated"... then you are not a preppy! That is the whole point. True, MOST people do not dress like this. But MOST people are not described by this book.
This book describes a much more rarified segment of society than some people think the word "preppy" implies, and I sense this confusion in some of the negative reviews. These days, anyone who is white and does not dress like Marilyn Manson is called "preppy." But this broad swath of the populace is NOT who Birnbach is referring to in this book. She's talking about a really rather elite group of people and their somewhat odd and peculiar mores. These are not kids who are preppy in that they hang out at the mall rather than on some streetcorner. She is talking about people who in actuality probably hang out places most people have never heard of, live in houses you cannot see, and go to schools that are so prestigious that you probably don't even know exist. I'm not making a value judgement, I am just trying to clarify. If you don't like it, too bad; Birnbach is the messenger, not the problem.

Cardigans carelessly draped over shoulders, Pappagalo, little children who wear no jewelry, not even watches, because "Nanny knows what time it is." A wonderful tribute to the days when Abercrombie & Fitch was not the classless chainstore it is today. The clothing section alone is a primer in timeless quality. And it's always fun to practice Locust Valley lockjaw with friends.

Last summer I shopping at a store in Bar Harbor and a group of kids came in: maybe in their early teens. Each was skinny, wore a polo shirt and shorts, had shortish hair, and a deep tan. I could not for the life of me tell if any of them were boys or girls. All I could think about was the Preppy Handbook, and how they describe EXACTLY that phenomenon in the childhood section.

Why is this book out of print? It was brilliant, is brilliant, and will always be brilliant! Anyone who lives in New England should own this book.

This book written in 1980 says that the Preppy outlook is timeless. As a non-prep, I can't vouch for all the features, but as for clothes and jobs it still holds true. Putting aside all the details in this book (which are many) is a certain "je n'est ce what the f*ck" unique to the preppy worldview that this author has revealed.

As for clothes, J.Crew 25 years later still features the same Fair Isle sweaters, the hot pink and lime green striped grosgrain belts, the loud print skirts (small prints are considered "ditsy"), and the embroidered repeating motifs on pants. All of these things that I just thought were... ugly, actually are quintessential preppy style.

As for jobs, the 2004 movie Born Rich by the Johnson & Johnson heir was made by interviewed his 20 something peers and their careers match up with those in the book: stockbroker, investment banker, art dealer, rare-book dealer (a career suggested by the filmmaker's father) and ne'er-do-well. The book covers additional career ideas such as account executive at an ad agency, editor, tennis pro, philanthropist and carpenter (PhD in philosophy preferable for the latter).

The information in this book covers every stage of preppy life from childhood to the country club years. Attention to lifestyle is paramount and this book lives up to the task by including the well bred preppy home complete with duck prints, french windows, liquor in large sized bottles and a silver cigarette box (prize for 1965 Labor Day regatta).

Prep schools themselves are covered (including the importance of getting kicked out) as are colleges. Harvard, alas, is not as prep as the ivy would imply because they often select students on academic achievement which provides for a less exclusive environment.

Middle class people often see college as a place to build a career and partying is considered recreation, but for the prep (who already has established inroads into a career due to family connections) the partying is social networking of the highest order. The social life is important and "beeritory confinement" is a bonding experience that lasts a lifetime through the later corridors of power.

Both George W. Bush and John Kerry were in Yale's secret Skull & Bones society which is covered briefly in the book along with other good college clubs. *note to self, join the A's*

All kidding aside, this is a great little book jam packed with information.

For those of us raised slightly below true "prep" status--good public schools, went to country club with friends (family too poor for own membership), prep clothes from consignment stores...this book helped us to fake it well. Everything in this book still holds...if one wants to fit into "good" society. Parts are good for a laugh, though, because in our thankfully diverse modern society, it seems antiquated to suggest that one needs to be either White, Anglo-Saxon, or Protestant (i.e., a WASP)to partake of the casually elegant prep lifestyle.

Lisa Birnbach's The Official Preppy Handbook was certainly equal parts light-hearted ribbing and serious. Growing up in Atlanta and vacationing on Sea Island and Hilton Head, the information in this book was more real than, I suspect, Birnbach ever intended. Although the book more accurately chronicled North Eastern prep life, it fairly accurately represented Southern preps.

Now with prep coming back into popularity, albeit not quite to the level it once held in the 80's, The Official Preppy Handbook just may be derigeur once again. Companies like Vinyard Vines have appeared and old standards such as Lacoste have certainly seen a resurgence.

When I met Ms. Birnbach at a book signing, she regaled those in line with quips and charm and said she was more than amazed that Southern prep was so much more colorful than Northern preps.

If you can grab a copy of this fine, fun book, I would encourage you to do so.

And remember Ms. Birnbach's statement about what should be hanging from every prep's rear view mirror still holds true today: "Nothing! Absolutely nothing!"