80s Preppie Look

One such aspect of their life and succeeding meant looking good. Alex P. Keaton on the show Family Ties is a great example. He was smart, he was college bound, he cared about the world in general and he cared about his appearance. Appearances were important and kept neat.

Clothes worn in the 80’s Preppie period included blazers, button down shirts, polo shirts, a sweater casually drapes around the shoulders, dress pants, and dress shoes (penny loafers). Traditionally, they were nice clothes. Preppies didn’t follow the trends of ripped clothing, punk rockers, neon and exercise gurus. They looked to the future and wanted to be taken seriously, and the first step was looking good.  Again, think Alex P. Keaton only a little less uptight.  LL Bean was a staple of the preppy wardrobe -- turtlenecks, duck boots, and rugbys aplenty.

Many of the preppy styles for women were similar to their male counterparts, but even so the ladies had their own favorite preppy styles, which included Tretorn tennis shoes, knee high socks (early 80s) with long walking shorts, Laura Ashley dresses (later 80s) and good ole reliable Keds.

The great movies of the time illustrate perfectly what people wore in the 80’s. Pretty in Pink-- Top Gun, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, and the Breakfast Club. These movies typically had at least one character with a colored polo shirt (collar flipped up, of course), sweater or blazer, penny loafer shoes and nice pants.

For some interesting and very funny reading to get you up to speed and ready to be a true preppy, you may want to read The Official Preppy Handbook.