Ladies, locate your tennis skirts. Gents, dig up those Nantucket red pants. The New York Times and The Awl have called it: Preppie chic is back. We’ve seen this coming since Vampire Weekend hit the indie big-time back in 2007 and, frankly, have been trying the head it off at the pass ever since. But sometimes, when you can’t beat a trend, you just have to revel in it. So, in celebration of all things square and Country Club-approved, we have created a handy guide to the top 40 (get it?) most culturally relevant preppies. Let us know who your favorite popped collar-wearing Young Republican (or, as it turns out, Democrat) is in the comments.
1. Zack “Preppie” Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), Saved by the Bell
2. Vampire Weekend
3. The Heathers, Heathers
4. Robert Chambers, “The Preppie Killer”
5. Carlton Banks (Alfonso Ribeiro), The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
6. Prince William and Prince Harry
7. Tucker Carlson
8. Angela Bower (Judith Light), Who’s the Boss?
9. Tiger Woods
10. Prep-Unit (Tea Party rap)
11. Dave Matthews
12. The Dead Poets Society kids
13. Ralph Lauren
14. Phineas, A Separate Peace
15. Cecile (Selma Blair), Cruel Intentions
16. Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), Wall Street
17. Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser), Mad Men
18. Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys Myers), Match Point
19. Lilly Pulitzer
20. Tom Ripley (Matt Damon), Marge Sherwood (Gwyneth Paltrow), Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law), The Talented Mr. Ripley
21. Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter), Buffy the Vampire Slayer
22. C.C. Babcock (Lauren Lane), The Nanny
23. Patrick Bateman, American Psycho
24. The Bush twins
25. René Lacoste
26. Martha Stewart
27. Brooke Shields
28. JFK
29. Leslie Hunter (Ally Sheedy), St. Elmo’s Fire
30. Tory Burch
31. Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), Gossip Girl
32. Lisa Birnbach, author of The Preppy Handbook and the forthcoming True Prep
33. Steff (James Spader), Pretty in Pink
34. Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Aykroyd), Trading Places
35. Jennifer (Ali MacGraw) and Oliver (Ryan O’Neal), Love Story
36. Huey Lewis and the News
37. The kids of Metropolitan
38. Omega Theta Pi fraternity, Animal House
39. Alex P. Keaton (Michael J. Fox), Family Ties
40. Barack Obama
