The Challenge for Women of Bringing a Preppy Aesthetic into the Workplace

Most of the Preppy Wardrobe Essentials, such as khakis, oxford shirts, rugby shirts, polo shirts, cotton cable sweaters, and chamois shirts, are intrinsically casual. That is part of their charm. But how do you bring this Preppy aesthetic into the workplace?

It is easy for men. Women, on the other hand, face a much trickier challenge. While it is obvious what the female urban lawyer should wear, and obvious what a storekeeper should wear, the middle ground proves to be more elusive. One false move and you can find yourself looking like a walking billboard for the local mall, or conversely, age yourself by twenty years.

Here are a couple paths to the sea.

1. Take your preppy basics and replace them with finer weave versions. For example; Instead of a pair of twill khakis, look for the more finely woven poplin khaki pants, perhaps with cuffs, or a pair of side zip slim leg pants. Instead of an oxford shirt, again, look to the poplin or pinpoint weave. Replace your cotton cable crewneck with a cashmere crewneck or cardigan. Windbreakers or anoraks can be replaced with a Burberry Trench Coat or a Women's Barbour Quilted Jacket. And instead of Topsiders, reach for the Eliza B. Allez! Ballet Flats, Cole-Haan Driving Mocs or Snaffle Bit loafers (Cole-Haan or Gucci). Replace your Vera Bradley or canvas bags from L.L. Bean or Vineyard Vines with a Barbour Cotton Canvas Tarras or Waxed Cotton Bag, a CK Bradley Tote, or a Brooks Brothers Leather Shopper Tote in Navy. See A Great Ralph Lauren Coat.
   
   
2. Take the more subdued colors from the preppy pallette: navy, gray, khaki, and white for example.
   
   
3. Stick with the solids. Stay away from patterns, with the exception of great striped shirts or the occasional scarf.
   

There really is no "one-stop shopping" destination. One must pick and choose carefully from a handful of stores.

• The first stop should be Ralph Lauren.
  
  
• There are many business women, while they would never turn to Lands' End for anything else, swear by their white No Iron Pinpoint Cotton Shirts for work and buy stacks of them. Lands' End also has a good stable of serviceable Cashmere basics, Fine Gauge Sweaters, Side Zip Slim Leg Pants, as well as plain white tees.

• The best trousers might be found at Brooks Brothers. While this is an obvious store for traditional business wear, they have Dress Trousers in Gaberdine that would look good in Dune or Latte. These are offered in four fits, as well as wool options for cooler weather. The Plain Front Non-Iron Chinos in Khaki or Stone might just be dressy enough for some as well. Their shirts are also worth a look, but the sweaters are not.

• Cole-Haan can be a great source for classic flats, but like with so many companies today, women must wade through a great number of very trendy, and sometimes hideous, options.

• If one is looking for a great tweed Hacking Jacket for Fall, this is one area where Orvis does a good job for women.

Stay away from three quarter sleeves and their counterpart, cropped pants. Long sleeves pushed up always look better than any garment with three quarter sleeves.
Jewelry, as always, should be minimal. And so should make-up - lipstick and spot concealer and you are done.

Granite Hall Store: Authenticity in Practice

We live in a time of box stores, whose locations are based on proximity to highway exits, where consumers buy mass produced, context-free goods. To most, there is no perceived irony or dissonance in a person who has not been to the ocean in years buying, underneath a giant poster of a ship, a cheaply made nautically themed shirt that would not survive the shortest of sails, made in China, from a high school student who has never seen salt water.

However, there still remain options for people seeking to include as much authenticity as possible to their life. One such example is the Granite Hall Store.

Overlooking a working Maine harbor, the store is filled with goods that are:

• Locally designed and made, including note cards, jams, pottery, and ice cream.
• Made of the highest quality, including woolens and linens from the British Isles.

While so many stores today change every nine months, Granite Hall stays seemingly unchanged while never feeling "dusty". At a time when stores are putting in giant artificial theme parks and stuffed animals, Granite Hall has weathered Adirondack chairs, in a circle, under a tree, in which one can eat their local ice cream, with the breezes from the harbor.

As retailers grow in size, it becomes increasingly more difficult to maintain even the smallest shred of what they once were. So real products, built locally where possible, of natural materials and suited for the location, sold by people who care, are worth seeking out.

Preppy Store or Mall Store? Choose one.

What happens when a preppy store sets up shop in the mall? This is usually not a good sign for the purist consumer.

Once a store with a preppy base goes down the mall path, they increasingly find themselves producing items instead for the capricious mall shopper.

• Rather than for product development - which includes the subtle and almost invisible improvement of core products over a span of years that keeps the loyal customers coming back - money is diverted into splashy marketing and advertising.

• Companies often bow to the pressure to produce many "new" items several times a year. They build garments that are often bold and garish, designed for a season, not a lifetime, that will compete for the eye of the passing potential consumer. Items are often made more cheaply, to generate higher initial profits (and then to remain slightly profitable during the inevitable price slashing).
  

Different companies handle the lure of the mall differently. Here are some.

Traditional preppy companies that are on the bubble:

• Brooks Brothers (on the slick side - best for business)
• Vera Bradley (have abandoned their classic patterns)
• L.L. Bean (for whom Eddie Bauer should be a cautionary tale)
• Lands' End (in the shadow of Sears)
  

Companies that have maintained their integrity:

• J. Press
• Orvis (Although a new approach to their Women's offerings may be decades overdue, and their Spring Men's selections could use a little attention as well.)
• Barbour
• Filson
• Patagonia
  

Ralph Lauren, despite offering a slew of trendier items, still offers year after year, a venue for women to procure their perfectly classic Polo Shirts, Oxford Shirts, Rugby Shirts, and Cable Sweaters. The Men's offering are almost always on target.

Given this, here is a question. Where do Vineyard Vines, Lilly Pulitzer and Sperry Top-Sider fit in?

It is more useful and less wasteful for purists to seek out the niche companies, preferably with a hands-on owner firmly in place at the helm. This is where one will find an extremely high percentage of products that fit their lifestyle. Excellent examples include:

• Eliza B./Leather Man Ltd.
• Nantucket Knotworks
• Cape Madras
• Bills Khakis
  

Customers, especially women, must work harder and harder to cobble together a classic and functional wardrobe. Ferreting out the staples consumes more time that could otherwise be more productively and satisfyingly spent. Companies that shift or undermine their base-beloved items don't help.

But the best dressed will seek out the best items, and remain loyal not just for years, but generations. The rest of the people will shop at whatever store happens to be next to the food court this week.

L.L. Bean Women's Clothing: Five Items that Should Be Brought Back

Here are five great L.L. Bean Women's clothing items that should be brought back, instead of more from the new L.L. Bean Signature Line. All of these classic L.L. Bean items have either been discontinued or significantly changed.

French Sailor Shirt

Bean's Classic Chinos - Original Design

Adirondack Barn Coat - Original Design

Double L Cotton Sweater, V-Neck

Norwegian Sweater

Ten Classic New England Perennials

Here are ten classic New England perennials from our gardens.

1. Campanula

2. Rudbeckia

3. Mallow

4. Common Sundrop

5. Japanese Iris

6. Lily

7. Oxeye Daisy

8. Rose Campion

9. Catmint

10. Purple Coneflower

Bonus Perennial. Phlox

The Local Egg

Eggs from our Hens

More people are looking for an increasingly authentic life. One step to consider is replacing store bought eggs with fresh, free-range eggs.

Whether you have your own or buy them from Farmers' Markets or road-side stands, the difference will be immediately noticeable from the intense orange color of the yolk, to the different sized and colored eggs, and the occasional feather.

Best. Key Ring. Ever

20 year old key ring still in use

Leather Man Ltd.'s Classic Nylon Key Ring.

Essex, Connecticut's Leather Man Ltd., for over twenty years, has been producing the best key ring ever. Not only is it the best looking, but the longest lasting, and most functional as well.

Along with its "heavy-duty shackle", the nylon webbing wears incredibly well, while maintaining its vibrant color literally for decades. And it feels good to the touch.

The subtle brilliance of the company is giving the customer the ability to custom order this item and either make it quite feminine (Hot Pink nylon with the Kelly Green Palm Trees) or equally appealing to male sailors (Navy nylon with the White Schooners). With over 200 motifs available and seventeen nylon color choices, it is hard not to find the perfect permutation.

The highest quality hardware assures that once clipped onto a belt loop, and allowing keys to slip into one's pocket, one will never fear losing one's keys. Whether on a sailboat, walking in the woods, or down Sixth Avenue, it is reassuring to have the epitome of form and function.

Company link here.
For more examples, see here,
See also: Best. Belt. Ever.

  Key ring in the field