Hot Trend: Preppy Chic

Overheard in the halls of my New England high school:

Buffy: Love your Lily Pulitzer dress, Muff. Is my collar popped enough?

Muffy: It’s perfect. Are you free this weekend? I’m having a few people over to my parent’s Nantucket vacation home.

Buffy: I’ll be there! Can we take your sailboat out?

Muffy: It’s in the shop for repairs, but we’ll use the yacht instead.

Yes, this conversation may be slightly exaggerated, but my high school was pretty preppy. I always avoided preppy style because I thought it was all about country clubs and cable knit sweaters tied around your neck. But things have changed over the years, and the new preppy fashion trend is actually much cooler than I gave it credit for. Now, it’s about taking elements of the classic preppy style and updating it, making it on-trend and giving it a bit of an edge.

Click here to see our preppy fashion roundup.

But if you are a still a little wary of the trend, here are a few easy tricks for getting a chic (and updated) preppy style:

1.) Keep it simple. Don’t go preppy overload and wear a cable knit sweater over a blazer and pair it with seersucker shorts and Sperry shoes. Choose one or two classic prepster pieces only.

2.) Pair with edgier pieces like distressed jeans or a leather jacket to keep things from getting too conservative.

3.) Choose a preppy piece in a very un-preppy color like neon pink or green to give it a fun, updated look.

Keep clicking for sheer prepfection (sorry … had to).