WHY PREPPY STYLE ENDURES

We may have dabbled in all possible trends in fashion through the years and kept many pieces, but when it was time to edit, it was most of the preppy ones that remained. If you look at the fashion houses today and how they have been changing creative directors as quick as fast fashion can knock off their wares, many of them are leaning towards preppy staples:

- RICKY TOLEDO & CHITO VIJANDRE

Yale students in the early 1900s

(@denimfocus)

Michael Rider's silk scarves, popped collars and Keds-style deck shoes at his Celine SS2026 debut and Jonathan Anderson's pastel trousers and striped ties at Dior SS2026 are following the lead of Miu Miu and The Row who had a headstart in the last seasons. All of them are probably looking at the performance of Ralph Lauren, the king of preppy himself whose full-year sales grew by eight percent in 2025 to $7.1 billion.

Ralph Lauren has always had a following in the Philippines — so popular in the '80s that Lizzie Zobel and Mia Borromeo established Regatta which was inspired by all things preppy. Bench had its own take on the style with its sporty, timeless classics.

The look of crisp, white linen shirts — with the gusot mayaman requiring starching and pressing, not to mention frequent washing — is a staple paired with jeans, passed on through generations.

In the late 1890s and early 1900s, the preppy style was a status symbol worn by a subculture of preppies or students who went to college-preparatory and Ivy League schools in the Northeastern United States. These preps were distinguished by a particular subcultural speech, vocabulary, dress, mannerisms and etiquette that reflect an upper class and old money upbringing.