Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!
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once ran Stubbs & Wootton, the purveyor of posh velvet slip- pers—dresses similarly. "Classic attire," he says of his look. "Never stylish, but also never out of style," favoring items that are "tailored, handmade, monogrammed." Hipster stores like Haberdash for men have opened up a wide array of options to fill the closets of Chicago's preppiest preps. So have Tiffany, Gucci, Prada, Burberry, and other purveyors of deluxe dress- ing. J. Crew and Lillie Alexander, the Lake Forest boutique that continues to be Lilly Pulitzer central, round out the mix for Chicagoans' options for weekend wear. Julie Christopher, a regular fixture on the preppy social scene, endorses Hermès as the quintessential accessory brand of her set, citing "a double wrap watch and a haphazard stack of colorful enamel bracelets" as the encoded essentials. I ronically, the preppy lifestyle has been depicted most accurately through several films set in Chicago. My Bodyguard and Risky Business both featured characters who would undoubtedly grow up into denizens of Chicago's Casino Club. But it was the extraordi- nary Ordinary People, director Robert Redford's tale of angst set in Lake Forest, that showcased the Midwestern preppy to a T. Donald Sutherland's golfy, LaSalle Street lawyer was spot on (one could easily envision him on one of the Racquet Club's squash courts); Mary Tyler Moore was sublime in her tailored sportswear and subtle jewelry; and Timothy Hutton and Elizabeth McGovern—today Downton Abbey's Cora Crawley—were the epitome of the preppy kids that would ultimately become residents of Willard, Northwestern University's deluxe dorm. Granted, Chicago prep style is most certainly not the same as its East Coast counterpart ( see sidebar). Says Chris Berre of new lifestyle brand Artfully Disheveled, known for its spirited neck- ties and pocket squares, "In Chicago, prep style has a Midwestern touch: a little more casual and often mixed and matched with hipster pieces." Adds Lisa Birnbach (author of the groundbreak- ing Official Preppy Handbook, which nailed every aspect of preppydom so perfectly that only she was qualified to write its 2010 sequel True Prep: It's a Whole New Old World), "In the winter, the Chicago preppy can layer with impunity," citing "an atti- tude of pleasurable expectation that is less jaded than [his or her] East Coast cousins." The modern-day Chicago preppy is certainly less formulaic than that of the past. Apparel ("the rig") is far more relaxed and eclectic, with a very decided nonchalance that is, at once, more authentic than the strict sartorial guidelines of the 1970s, '80s, and even '90s. The appearance of global luxury brands in and around the Magnificent Mile, along with the access of the Internet, has opened up the ability for Windy City preps to dress as chicly as their counterparts in New York, DC, or London, for that matter. And then there's Ralph, whose largest store in the world has occupied the corner of Michigan and Chicago Avenues since 1999. Preppy is also no longer just a look for the country-club set. Designer, author, and expert on preppy style Jeffrey Banks explains, "The difference with today's prep scene is that it is much more inclusive than the 'old boys' culture of previous years. You don't have to have belonged to a fraternity or have gone to Amherst to wear traditional Iv y League clothing. For many young men today, preppy is just one more clothing option to wear and enjoy without necessarily having the legacy family tie- ins that used to be associated with preppy dressing." Adds Simon Doonan, creative ambas- sador for Barneys New York, "Today's preppy guy has reinvented the old-school Iv y-League for- mula. He has a dash of hedonism. The clothes are more tailored. The look is definitely sexier. Think Alain Delon, or Michael Caine." For prepsters this fall, a plethora of styles run the gamut from nonchalant to self-consciously stylish. Ralph Lauren's men's Purple Label collection mixes a fitted Royal Stewart tartan jacket with faded jeans rolled just so to reveal exactly the right amount of yel- low cashmere sock jammed into priceless loafers. In other words, it's all about high-low and dressy-casual— the kind of fashion juxtapositions made famous by prep icon C.Z. Guest, who paired couture taffeta ball skirts with a T-shirt while Sharon Stone was still in dia- pers. Arthur Wayne, the voice of ground-zero prep retailer Brooks Brothers, singles out the ultra-sophisti- cated Black Fleece collection designed by Thom Browne, who plumbs the firm's 200-year-old archives and then applies a modern spin. "This season, expect to see a mix of pale pink and gray plaids for men and women, plus Browne's signature gray flannel." If any trend has emerged as a preppy front-runner this time around, it's a studied eclecticism that's always in style. REGIONAL ACCENTS The East Coast may have birthed the preppy lifestyle, but Chicago's scene has its own distinctive flair. Below, a side-by-side comparison. EPICENTER East: Bryn Mawr, Greenwich, Locust Valley Chicago: East Lake Shore Drive, Lake Forest, Kenilworth GETAWAY East: Kennebunkport, Martha's Vineyard, Newport Chicago: Lake Geneva, Boca Grande, Palm Springs FASHION East: Alden, L.L. Bean Chicago: Allen Edmonds, Hermès NAMES East: Bowen, Bradford, Missy Chicago: Trey, Schuyler, Lindsay BEVERAGE East: Domaines Ott, Veuve Clicquot Chicago: Canadian Club, Patrón Silver clockwise from top left: William Spencer Jennings sports a vintage summer look; Chicago designer Brion Judge; a look from Michael Bastian; New England favorite Vineyard Vines has recently arrived in Chicago; Barneys creative ambassador Simon Doonan is a fan of today's tailored preppy look; a graphic tie from Artfully Disheveled; check shirts at Vineyard Vines. 118 michiganavemag.com