There I was on Monday, innocently reading Scout’s Swag, and she starts talking about being preppy. I went to high school and college in the 80s. I may have been a bit of a prep. Ahem.
These pictures are for you, Scout. The rest of you may want to avert your eyes.
February 1984. Eagle Eye sweater with strawberry grosgrain ribbon button band, oxford shirt, corduroys. You can’t see them but I bet I’m wearing Tretorns.
September 1984. Oxford shirt, knee length navy blue wool shorts, penny loafers without socks.
June 1985. White eyelet dress by Laura Ashley. Blue satin ribbon that matched my blue shoes. I changed the ribbon color to match whatever shoes I happened to be wearing.
September 1986. Champion Wheaton sweatshirt, knee length denim shorts, Tretorns, no socks. Please note the turned up collar from the Izod shirt I’m wearing under the sweatshirt. The kid belonged to a neighbor. She’s 24 now. Yikes.
June 1988. Laura Ashley dress. Please note the black and white striped hair bow. Oy. I had the most fabulous shoes that I wore with this dress. They were white leather and they looked like eyelet. They didn’t fit after I had Hannah and boy was I pissed about that.
I have many more pictures I could show you but I think I’ve made my point. Oxford shirts were a wardrobe staple for me, as were corduroys and knee length shorts and penny loafers. I had a navy blue blazer and a grey one, too. My dresses were usually either Laura Ashley or Eileen West and I had a Papagallo “Bermuda Bag” with covers in every color.
In short, I was a prep. Okay, you all can just stop laughing now.
P.S. We sure spent a lot of time with the curling iron back in those days didn’t we? Sheesh, I rarely touch one now. Thank goodness. ha
You are just the cutest thing ever.
I want to be with Margene. I wish I didn’t remember the 80’s. *L*
You looked adorable and very, very pretty. I wasn’t preppy I don’t think…I did have some Oxford shirts with my initials embroidered on the color or pocket…that’ about as preppy as I got.
You were too cute! These pics remind me of St Elmo’s Fire 😉
Absolutely adorable! I’m impressed you could even find those pictures. I have a bunch, but heaven knows where they are. I graduated from high school in 79, so the ribbon around the neck of the oxford shirt was BIG. Did you have Docksiders, too? (Hee hee).
Tretons? check
Izod shirts with upturned collars? check
Land’s End rugby shirts with upturned collars? check
Madras/grosgrain ribbon/Oxford shirts — nope.
You win for Biggest 1980’s Prep!
Hi! Found your blog via Scout. You are a knitter and a re~enacter. I find this fascinating because you are someone both my husband and I could talk to and have two things in common…I love to knit and he is so very interested in the Civil War. I will bookmark your blog and check back frequently!
What adorable pics Carole! You gave me such deja vu as well – I have a giant box FULL of every color bow known to mankind as that is exactly how I wore my hair all thru college in the 80’s too! I sometimes wish they would come back!
Great photos! You were too cute.
Holy crap. If you don’t win the whole thing you will win something. I just talked with Pippi on the phone because I’ve been dyeing all day and she exclaimed, “DUDE! DID YOU SEE CAROLE’S POST! OMG!” You were so damn cute and I think I have pictures looking exactly like all of these pictures. I think the last one is my favorite.
Thanks for taking the time to do this. Awesome!
Oh wow, what a blast from the past girl. : )
Oooh, I have a bunch of those pics! I think I’m a couple years older than you…Gunne Sax dress? late 1970’s?
Cute Cute Cute! I have to find out if my mom still has my Bermuda bag.
We are the class of eighty-five! Eighty-eighty-eighty-eighty-eighty-FIVE!
I shoulda known! You are looking mighty cute in these photos, preppy or no.
Not only were you preppy, you were a pretty, classy preppy with a fine eye for style. Some of us made do with oxford cloth shirts, cardis, jeans and tennies. You definitely are due the prize!
Hahahahahaha. I love the 80s! You remind me a ton of meself.
Prep was sooooo much better than those horrid high-necked shirts with bows. Blegh!
OMGosh. You forgot the K-Swiss shoes. I might have had a pair. Or two. A year. Thanks for bringing back all of those memories!
LOL. I’m laughing because my wardrobe was very similar 🙂 The old preppy is back now thanks to the current employer!
aw carole; those pix are adorable. you look stunning! i would have been so jealous of you back then if i were in your school. i could never pull off preppy myself, but i wished i could!
Every summer all through college (in the early 80’s) I worked in a women’s clothing store in Princeton, NJ (possibly the preppiest place on the planet). I sold a million of those Bermuda Bags! Everyone needed 5 or 6 (or 30) covers for them, monogrammed of course.
Thanks for the laugh and the memories! I could swear I knew you then from those first two photos!
Heehh… how cute are you!
You took your preppiness seriously! 🙂
I remember that Papagalo bag. They also had some pink and green shoes about that time that were to die for!
Holly
Those were the days! I had a bermuda bag with many covers as well, and wore through many a Tretorn.
Carole, it was the 80’s. Those of us who were of a certain age during the 80’s understand. 🙂
You forgot dresses by “Belle France” If it wasn’t Laura Ashley, it had to be Belle France. You were too cute! Those were the days..
You looked so cute. I wore the exact same clothes…ahh, Laura Ashley dresses. I still have a few at my parents house.
The Wheaton sweatshirt..Wheaton College maybe?
Those pictures are funny, but you really don’t look too bad! I’m pretty sure I had a matching Laura Ashley polka dot jumpsuit in my childhood.
Hi – Love the pics – Mine look just like that too! Um, Susan, where can I get the pattern for the covers? ::laughing:: I want to make some! i sooooooo miss my Bermuda bag! And all my grosgrain ribbon accessories with the animals all over them and everything else! I still have my original Preppy handbook!
i am still mouring the loss of laura ashley…
i am still mourning the loss of laura ashley…