This might be close to biting the hand that feeds me in terms of readership, but I have very significant issues with "prep" blogs.
"But, Kio," you say, "is not YOUR blog a 'prep' blog?" Yes... and no. My style is 'prep,' my schooling until high school was 'prep,' and my choice of athletics is pretty 'prep,' (Tennis, Sailing), my family history is extremely 'prep,' but I defy the category in other ways. I'm of one of the branches of the family that lives in Texas and New Mexico- not on the East Coast. My private schools were not boarding schools. I didn't go to an Ivy League school. I've had a variety of summer and holiday jobs, from movie theaters to retail to private tutor. I've traveled extensively, but in Asia, not Europe. And finally, my career and life is as a public school teacher in the Kyoto area of Japan, and I love what I do. I'm a total geek about Kimagure Orange Road, 1980s Japanese pop idols, and really good taiyaki. Japan is my home, and that ultimately sets me apart from every other blog that has, as part of its foundations, prep style and prep living. This blog documents how I
am, and readers may either take it or not. It is what Muffy Aldrich refers to as authenticity.
The blogs in my blog roll do it right. They document life as it happens. While there are poses and outfits, they are outfits actually worn. Activities are not staged, unless otherwise explained as an intentional photoshoot. Experiences are narrated as close as possible to the way they occurred. Some are more heavily fashion based, some are more heavily experience based.
Unabashedly Prep sets the standard in a sleek, almost magazine feeling overview of prep style, but still one that is believable. If the United States had a
Free & Easy I imagine it would look like FEC's offerings.
As much as I love the work of FEC,
The Daily Prep is probably the best "prep" blog currently regularly updated because what Muffy does right that so few even bother to attempt is to merely document life as it happens, sprinkled with detailed and astute observations about the fashion industry and the labels associated with prep, and a fair bit of history, family, national, or local mixed in. When I first started reading The Daily Prep, it was for the detailed analyses of brands like LL Bean, Brooks Brothers, and Ralph Lauren. When I was in high school, I intentionally drifted away from prep style and when I went digging through my closet and the attic in college when I rediscovered it, I noticed that what was available today was not nearly as good as items that had been purchased for me when I was younger. I am lucky that my size has not changed much in at least 15 years. There are a number of pieces that survive from that period now once again in regular rotation, and I looked to Muffy to help me navigate what brands and labels were most likely to survive as long as my childhood pieces had. Yet, I stayed as close to a daily reader as I could because I was taken in particularly by Muffy's interesting forays into coastal New England living, as well as her penchant for sailing and very tasty pie.
Recently, an anonymous comment was made on Muffy's blog about the extent to which a number of "prep" blogs are anything but, and I responded that I often found many blogs with claims to prepdom to be, well, quite honestly unreadable. Muffy has also fielded questions about the nature of authenticity, especially in that some people believe blogging is in and of itself a violation of prep aesthetic. I don't believe this is the case, however I do find certain tropes present in prep blogs to be over the top, and I felt the need to single out the worst of the worst offenses:
1) Pink and Green - A prep staple, the prep blogosphere is seriously abusing the privilege of placing these two colors together. It is one thing to have pink and green as accents. Even I do, in an understated way. However, there is a trend in "This Preppy Blog" which has green text on a pink background or a pink text on a green background. This is unreadable. I don't mean the writing is bad, I mean I literally cannot look at it without hurting my eyes after a few minutes. There is nothing wrong with an interesting choice of background, but if it is so overpowering as to make the site painful to view, then it will not lead to my patronage.
2) Monograms - Preps love monograms. We do. Absolutely no denying that we do, but as Lisa Birnbach once said, the more obscure the monogram, the more prep it is. Think monogram on the right elbow or left side of the stomach on your oxford cloth button down. No one will see it. Too many prep blogs are exploding with monograms. Featuring your newly monogrammed item? Sure. Having monograms running up and down the sides of your blog, as part of your title, and the way you sign off each and every post? Possibly a bit ostentatious. Pick one. Maybe.
3) Politics - This is especially troublesome when I see pink and green versions of political symbols. I have places to discuss politics, this blog isn't it. I won't frequent (although I may visit from time to time) any prep blog which goes overboard on political speech. Some of the worst offenders actually veer away from uncouth into the bigoted. I never visit those blogs once I discover them. Freedom of speech is a beautiful thing, and it is most important for the protection of speech we hate, but politics and religion are often not discussed in mixed company. There are exceptions, but they are few and far between.
4) Faux-Prep - While I have argued in a previous behavior post that anyone can own prep, there are values to consider, and those values are related to quality, longevity, service, as well as style. There has been a number of blogs that have come and gone based on the author's preoccupation with style over substance. This includes a significant amount of products by brands that either were never prep (American Eagle Outfitters, Aeropostle) or those that have fallen too far (Abercrombie & Fitch/Hollister, Eddie Bauer, Talbots) or items that that have the look and feel of prep, without the quality or longevity (J.CREW comes to mind). "But, Kio," you protest again, "You have items from American Eagle and J.CREW." I have three nato straps and a belt. All were heavily discounted. You get what you pay for at times, and I was only willing to pay the few dollars required for those items. I would never have purchased them at full price, or even half price. I also do not expect them to last.
5) Original Content - Or, rather, the lack thereof. This is one of the reasons I am glad tumblr came along. Many blogs either started out as or turned into basically just digital inspiration boards, but lacked either original pictures or original articles or both. This is especially true of prep blogs where many people simply posted stock photos of items they deemed preppy. If you're going to do a post on the polo shirt or the boat shoe, that's great, but given how much has already been written, it is very important to have something new or unique to say. It seems that new bloggers aren't really logging anymore (that is to say, actually writing down thoughts and experiences), and as such just reposting pictures they see. That is a fine use of a tumblr, but not suitable for a blog that takes comments and foments discourse.
6) Titles - This one may land me in some hot water, especially since both FEC and Muffy use "Prep" in their titles, but I think we are now thoroughly saturated with "prep" this or "preppy" that being included in the title. I would ask that those thinking of blogging with a focus on prep style be a little more creative in the future. I have found our colleagues in the Ivy and Trad circles to have excellent taste in simple, to the point, yet refined blog titles. Heavy Tweed Jacket, as an example, is amusing and relevant. There are plenty of prep staples to be considered. I may have put more emphasis on my Japanese focus with Kyoto Maiko, but it certainly sets me apart.
When it comes to running any blog that you want to see be read and that you wish to continue updating, it is important to make it a reflection of yourself in a way that is natural and, there's that word again, authentic. Don't try to be your focus, because your focus should already be on what you are. That is very, very prep.
