<p>Rad-in-Plaid96, that was a joke. My cousins live in this suburb of Boston, and all they wear are jeans and sweats.</p>
<p>Most kids do not dress like this. I’ve been to my cousins boarding school a countless number of times and when not in uniform, they are in sweatpants, t-shirts, and sweatshirts not vineyard vines. Only stereotypical elite boarding school students actually follow cult-like trend such as these. Everyone should have there own style, and with diverse schools, you shouldn’t have to worry about not fitting in or looking right, but your friends, academics, and sports.</p>
<p>You have to realize that it isn’t all about the label. It’s about the quality of the clothing. The labels suggested are just ones that have been tried and tried again and have proven to be worthy. No one is going to go up to you and ask to see the tags on your clothing. They will be able to tell from the quality, the design, etc.
Sure no one is going to make fun of you or not talk to you if your clothes are not up to par with their standards, but you have to understand there’s a hierarchy- there always is one everywhere you go and you have to come to terms with that. So, don’t sit there and rant about how people are superficial and shallow- there has to be some way to determine societal rankings so if it were not clothes it would be something else.</p>
<p>It’s true that some clothing is expensive because it’s good quality. It’s possible to get good quality clothing for far less than Vineyard Vines prices. </p>
<p>As far as clothing-based (?!) social hierarchies go–if they matter to you, they matter to you, and you’ll limit your friends accordingly. However, it’s entirely possible to go to prep school, do well academically, letter in sports, get elected/appointed to leadership positions, have lots of friends of widely varied backgrounds, feel respected by faculty and students alike, and wear “regular” clothes. In other words, there’s no correlation between clothing and the “societal” rank of a competitive boarding school.</p>
<p>Was the OP serious?</p>
<p>Believe it or not…yes. Read on.</p>
<p>@classical, I just read and enjoyed your post on the 1st page. Thanks for the laugh. Perhaps the OP will be a fashion columnist.</p>
<p>I love Converse, Coach Purses, Jeans, Aeropostale, American Eagle. At my school, food deals from Old Navy, Target, Walmart, and Plato’s Closet should always be taken advantage of. Waisting money on a polo is deff. looked down upon. Braces aren’t gross and they aren’t really something you “decide” to have. Volcanoes look fine, they are apart of growing up. I agree that you shouldn’t let them just sit there, but don’t feel ugly if you can’t get them to go away.</p>
<p>You remind me of my ungreatful cousin who thinks she grew up “poor” and “unrecognized”. Now, however, she is so shallow that she tells her cousin who is 14 years younger than her that she shouldn’t be wearing Coach purses, because you don’t see any celebrities wearing them. I always thought the “C”'s were little ballet slippers, so I don’t mind “advertising” for the company.</p>
<p>Boarding schools look for diversity for a reason! If you want to go all tropical with sailor knot bracelets and “unheard” of colleges, go you! </p>
<p>We should all feel sorry for the OP. He/She cannot see anything but the cover of the book. Unfortunatly, the OP has or will surround themselves with a bad, shallow crowd. Sorry for ranting, I was just really surprised that any one could call my Converse undesirable, Coach purses “tacky”, and JEANS UGLY!!!</p>
<p>^Well lately coach purses have gotten kind of tacky, they’re not as cute as they used to be. Also you can decide to get Invisiline(sp?) instead of braces, and in some social circles jeans are something that you rarely wear and you only wear them when you are really dressing down.</p>
<p>I feel JCrew should be up there, maybe even number one for girls at some schools.</p>
<p>Also Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters</p>
<p>Um, I’ll be going to boarding school outside the USA and as far as i’m concerned i’ll be wearing my metal braces and the standard school uniform. but on the occasion that I don’t have to wear my uniform, i’ll probably be wearing things that aren’t name brand (walmart, target, etc. items) or aeropostale. I like things that are comfortable and affordable. I don’t really care about social status (which seems to be the highlight of this thread). Why do prep schools care so much on the looks of others??? I have no idea, but I think that this phenomena is only predominantly here in the USA. Things should be different in the country i’m going to be schooling in. I mean seriously people…its just clothes. As long as it looks decent and feels comfortable plus lasts a pretty long time then i’m sure things will be okay. I have only 4 pairs of jeans that i’ve happily had for more than two years. They are in good working condition. I also only have 5 pairs of shoes (dress, athletic, school, etc.). But then again, I don’t believe in impulsive and unneeded spending of anything extra.</p>
<p>Invisaline? Seriously? Braces are already close to $5,000 (over actually) by the best dentist in the area so why would anyone pay that only to switch to a different plan? Not to mention shine-y retainer teeth aren’t a lot more attractive (Sorry retainer wear-ers!) As far as preppy- This list is a bit of a joke. Take it lightly. I’d think the best way to go about “prep” shopping is buying pieces that you can mix. Like nice sweaters that can go with cheap shirts, or nice handbags/shoes to go with cheap jewelery. As far as breakouts people seem to be referring to- You can ask your regular family Dr. for help. Most people don’t need a derm & the generic versions of treatments are cheap if you have insurance. I’m on trentional gel .01%- working like magic within two weeks and is name brand for only $15 with insurance- generic would be even less. That isn’t that much compared to ProActiv (which alot of private school people use in my area), neutrogena ID, or many of the kits out there that are well over $30. Take the list lightly, I think that needs to be stressed. The only reason I’m really posting is because of the comments. Some of those are worse than the obviously one-sided list. </p>
<p>Sorry 'bout bad grammar.</p>
<p>Maybe the attire suggestions that the OP mentions are common at DA or SPS, but as a senior at a prep school, I can tell you that roughly 5% of the student body at my school is “preppy”. Most athletes are in sweatpants, others are in jeans and sweatshirts, while the lax players are in polos. If you dress in red pants or a bow tie here you will get laughed at.</p>
<p>I just want to say, having braces is better than really wonky teeth. And I don’t know how it is in the US, but here in Britain at least half the people I know have, or have had, braces.</p>
<p>And do people ever wear Jack Wills? They’re popular here and very preppy and expensive, so they fit with the other stuff on the list.</p>
<p>I’ve never heard of Jack Wills.
I don’t think its very common here in America.</p>
<p>but most people have braces here once, sometimes even twice. It’s very common and its better than having odd teeth.</p>
<p>@Alixindigo almost all the teenagers I know have braces too and I live in the U.S halfway through reading the OP’s first post I wondered if the lived in a different country or something O.o
lol how ironic for me cause in my mind (and the mind of most of my public school classmates) a person who spends more money than necessary on clothes or superficial things is just stupid. Maybe its because I come from a place filled with low middle class people but to me its outrageous to think that people would want to spend so much money on clothing when you could spend it on something that will actually help you in life like paying for special classes or for supplies for a hobby. If there are people like this in prep school then I really want to go and show them how the middle class people shop :D</p>
<p>Personally, I always being truly prep was reusing Grandpa’s sweater, Grandma’s earrings. Being tasteful, quiet, and versatile.</p>
<p>I’ll tell you that J crew is pretty popular for girls</p>