First, to clear your palate:
The J. Crew Non-Effect:
1. J Crew is not responsible for our campus' preppyness because our campus is not preppy.
2. J Crew is not responsible for a constriction of style choice in some way because it is one of the only clothing stores in town.
It is often claimed that Princeton looks like "a page out of a J. Crew catalog." Maybe people who say that should take another look. Contrary to popular belief, our campus is not preppy compared to even a modest Southern high school. There just happen to be a lot of polo shirts, the prototypical male semi-casual item, and relatively few other items of particular note to offset them. This is not a bad thing necessarily. After all, we wouldn't want to see argyle sweaters over double collar-popped polos with pearl earrings and necklaces now, would we? (If you answered yes, please transfer to Colgate or Georgetown.)
So why the association with Princeton and Prep, then? And more importantly, what are the implications? Well, that good old phrase Ivy League might have something to do with the association, and then there's the architecture. But thinking of ourselves as preppy when we really are not is delusional and detrimental to our sense of style identity. It leads to complacency for one ("Princeton's preppy… therefore so am I!") and blame ("There's no style on campus except for prep because we have a J. Crew across the street.") too. It seems, then, that Princeton is left rather niche-less, unable to gravitate to New York or Philadelphia due to other Ivies being there, and not far enough south or north to claim much other regional influence.
But this conclusion is not true- Our niche should be what our school's niche always has been, namely doing things well. Princeton as the well-dressed Ivy, that is to what we should aspire.
And what is being well dressed? Stay tuned.
