Tommy Hilfiger bringing preppy style around the world

By Stefanie Schuette Aug 11, 2011, 3:06 GMT

Hamburg - Does anyone still remember the preppy youth subculture? The teenagers of the early 1980s who wore Lacoste shirts, Gucci slippers and who went to either English or American elite universities? Well, on the German North Sea resort island of Sylt, fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger is giving the preppy style the red carpet treatment in the shape of a Prep Pop-Up store.

The island of Sylt is the ideal place as it's a kind of German New England, the preferred holiday spot for sophisticated American preppies. Hilfiger's store resembles a chic beach house with a garden fence and doghouses. It's one element of Hilfiger's 'World Prep Tour'. The aim is to show today's young fashionistas what the modern version of a preppy is. The store sells typical preppy style clothing along with accessories like tennis rackets.

The term preppy has its origins in the 1970s when American author Erich Segal used it in his book Love Story. Segal has said that it has its roots in the word preposterous but others say it refers to the private university preparatory schools that preppy kids attended.

Sylt has also been home to a specifically German youth subculture called the poppers, a type of preppy, who had their roots in the upper and middle classes of Hamburg's wealthy districts. Every summer the island experienced an influx of poppers who were just as brand conscious as the preppies but even more snobbish. At the end of the 1970s two Hamburg school kids wrote the Popper Handbook, a guide to the subculture that painted a picture of quiff-haired teens in drainpipe jeans who loved their mopeds.

Compared to the popper handbook, Lisa Birnbach's The Official Preppy Handbook illustrates a slightly more sympathetic subculture. In the book, which Birnbach co-authored in 1980, she describes the schools preppies went to, the clothes they wore, the countries they visited and the restaurants and bars they frequented. Being a preppy was not just about having fun; you had to follow a code of etiquette that vacillated between formality, laid back and stylish.

Preppy girls did not wear sexy bikinis but they had sporty figures that made them look good. Preppy boys also took care of their bodies and could often be seen wearing cord jackets with elbow patches to get that aged look. Preppy was the opposite of nouveau riche. It was not long before Birnbach's book was regarded as the compendium of the preppy style and today copies are bought and sold online at collectors' prices.

Last year Birnbach co-wrote a new book called True Prep: It's a Whole New Old World where she describes modern day preppies. And that's where Tommy Hilfiger comes in; the American designer is the preferred label for the preppy of 2011 but other fashion houses such as Ralph Lauren or Sweden's Gant embody the preppy style too.

'We were celebrating our 25th anniversary,' said Hilfiger in a recent interview with the German Press Agency dpa, 'and we asked ourselves what our label stands for. We decided that we are a kind of 'Prep-Old America' label. We have to celebrate our preppy element.' And that idea spawned Hilfiger's decision to work together with Birnbach. Hilfiger designed a new 60 piece collection and is on a world tour with Birnbach. 'Preppy,' says Hilfiger, has become more democratic. 'It's no fun for anyone if it's snobbish'.

If you are still wondering what a new preppy is then look no further than the second in line to the British throne and his wife. Prince William and Kate are frequently mentioned in blogs as modern day preppies thanks in part to their sporty-natural look. They also have more to offer than the old popper adage 'To see and be seen is the most important thing for a popper'.