HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''The Official Preppy Handbook'' (1980) is a
tongue-in-cheek The idiom tongue-in-cheek refers to a humorous or sarcastic statement expressed in a serious manner. History The phrase originally expressed contempt, but by 1842 had acquired its modern meaning. Early users of the phrase include Sir Walter Scott ...
humor reference guide edited by
Lisa Birnbach Lisa R. Birnbach is an author best known for co-authoring '' The Official Preppy Handbook'', which spent 38 weeks at number one on the ''New York Times'' bestseller list in 1980. Early life and education Birnbach was born to a Jewish family on ...
and written by Jonathan Roberts, Carol McD. Wallace,
Mason Wiley Robert Mason Wiley (May 30, 1955 – October 7, 1994) was an author who co-wrote ''The Official Preppy Handbook'' and ''Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards.'' Biography Wiley was born in Nash County, North Carolina on May ...
, and Birnbach. 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, it illuminates many aspects of the conservative
upper middle class In sociology, the upper middle class is the social group constituted by higher status members of the middle class. This is in contrast to the term ''lower middle class'', which is used for the group at the opposite end of the middle-class strat ...
, old money
WASP A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...
society. Topics range from appropriate clothing for social events to choosing the correct college and major. 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 Workman Publishing Company, Inc., is an American publisher of trade books founded by Peter Workman. The company is comprised of either imprints: Workman, Workman Children’s, Workman Calendars, Artisan, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill and Algonq ...
.


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. Lisa Birnbach satirizes a prep’s ideal family lifestyle, and humorously advises readers how to pick, interview, and gain acceptance into a prep school. The book then wittily discusses “the best years of your life”- a prep’s college years. With tongue in cheek, Birnbach elucidates which college courses to take, how to design one’s dorm room, and how to party at college. 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”. Birnbach jokingly educates readers on navigating a
cocktail party A cocktail party is a party at which cocktails are served. It is sometimes called a cocktail reception. A cocktail party organized for purposes of social or business networking is called a mixer. A cocktail hour is sometimes used by manag ...
, networking, and vacationing. The Official Preppy Handbook also teaches readers how to dress preppy. 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”.


Effect

The book's reflections on
young urban professional Yuppie, short for "young urban professional" or "young upwardly-mobile professional", is a term coined in the early 1980s for a young professional person working in a city. The term is first attested in 1980, when it was used as a fairly neu ...
culture inspired Arthur Cinader, the founder of the
J. Crew J.Crew Group, Inc., is an American multi-brand, multi-channel, specialty retailer. The company offers an assortment of women's, men's, and children's apparel and accessories, including swimwear, outerwear, lounge-wear, bags, sweaters, denim, dr ...
clothing line. Cinader hoped to capitalize on the book's success. The book also represented a resurgence of interest in preppy culture that aided the growth of retailer
L.L. Bean L.L.Bean is an American privately-held retail company that was founded in 1912 by Leon Leonwood Bean. The company, headquartered in the place in which it was founded, in Freeport, Maine, specializes in clothing and outdoor recreation equipment. ...
, which the book describes as "nothing less than Prep mecca." 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. The book spawned many other "official" handbooks for other American subcultures. 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. 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. 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”. 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”.


See also

* '' The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook'', a roughly contemporaneous British book on a similar subject


References


External links


Review
of ''The Official Preppy Handbook'' on CollegeConfidential.com
Speaking Profile
Lisa Birnbach's profile and lecture topics on th
Random House Speakers Bureau
* —Op-Ed reflecting on the 25th anniversary of the book's publication. {{DEFAULTSORT:Official Preppy Handbook Comedy books Satirical books 1980 books Workman Publishing Company books Upper class culture in the United States