GQ has dispatched photographer Gordon von Steiner to capture contemporary Princeton style (for an appreciation of vintage Tiger style, see our post “The Princetonians“).
Unabashedly Prep’s Fred Castleberry is one of the subjects. I recently recruited Fred to shoot for The Rake team and he’ll be heading up to Cambridge soon to take photos for my upcoming Andover Shop story.
Fred’s carrying a bag by Lotuff & Clegg, a new leathergoods company based in Massachusetts. Co-founder Joe Lotuff, wearing English bespoke, joined me for lunch last week along with Charlie Davidson, his glamorous ex-showgirl girlfriend (evidently you can be 84 and still have a “girlfriend”), and tennis commentator Bud Collins, known for his fondness for go-to-hell pants, which he got from Charlie decades ago. — CC
They seem to have forgotten their socks.
This is too funny. College kids don’t dress like this! What a bad attempt at trying to make something out of nothing. Have you been to Harvard, Yale, UVA? The majority of students dress like every other student across the country…gym shorts, jeans, t-shirts, flip flops. I have NEVER seen a group of kids walking to class like these guys!!! EVER. It doesn’t happen in our society.
Sexy on campus looks from some true non-homeless.
xxxo H
Do any of these “gentlemen” know how to shave?
Oh the youth of today!
@laughable:
I do not go to an ivy league, yet i dress every day to look good and feel great. I agree, the majority of students do not look like this, but i’ve found that as a part of a prestigious music program, many of my peers do in fact look great the majority of the time.
Just wanted to let you know that it does indeed “happen.”
Indeed, while the shots are obviously staged for a photo shoot (and not random shots of students), laughable could just as easily commend these young men for being more interested in blazers and loafers than jeans and hoodies.
The ties kill the “college” look. I’m considered one of the preppier guys in my fraternity and no one walks around in a tie unless they are going to a formal, rush, or when one is pledging a certain fraternity. (The occasional bow-tie perhaps, but never a real tie)
@Dartmouth:
Not even a club tie?!…Not even a repp tie!!!??
I will not commend these guys. This just isn’t practical. If the photographer wants to represent actual college preppyness then he should be real about it. I love the look of these guys, don’t get me wrong. And I would love it if America dressed like this but it isn’t real and it doesn’t happen. I dress nice, and some people dress nicer than me but nobody looks like this. Sure, people dress preppy but nobody dresses like this, unless like Dartmout said, they are going to formal or a cocktail.
they’d be considered homosexuals on most campuses
There is absolutely no straight Princetonian who would dress like this. Certainly none of the real “preppies” (Andover>Ivy types) would ever venture out looking like these imposters.
@James Brown
“Imposters”
A few of the guys featured in this shoot are actual Princeton students who also happen to run a blog called Prepidemic.
I miss the days when “formal” meant white tie and tails, “semi-formal” meant black tie and dinner jacket, and anything else you could wear to an evening social event was informal.
The gentlemen in the photo above would do well to heed Bunny Mellon’s axiom, “Nothing should be noticed!”
Perhaps we should pass the hat around - these poor boys can’t afford socks!!
I’d love to learn about the relationship between the Andover and Cambridge stores. I’ve never been to either but the Cambridge store sounds like a completely different outfit from the Andover store, even though I only know the later through the catalog and talking to a very pleasant saleslady named Barbara. I’ve assumed that Charlie has a high degree of independence.
L.A.S. -
You missed the point.
These gents are straight out of the “fashion blogger” genre to which F.E.C. belongs. They are certainly the types mercilessly mocked by the brilliant F*&k Yeah Menswear Tumblr. F.E.C. recently did the same with “Black Ivy” where we get to see more fashion models playing students.
I love traditional clothing as much as any followers of this site, but projects like this make my stomach turn. With so many opportunities to picture the truth, they resort to the definition of poseurs simply to feed their sense of vanity.
No wonder UVA, U of Texas, Chapel Hill, Chicago, etc. have such recruiting power - the stuff coming out of the Iy Leagues, nowadays, is pretty laughable.
Haters gonna hate.
Go Tigers!
I love the hair style
on the chap holding the venti latte. What dashing silk tresses.
They’re trying to hard. Sorry.
@Dave, you’re so right. I heard somewhere long ago that perfect style looks effortless. You can tell these guys tried on 8 different outfits that morning…and called each other to make sure they each had on something different.
@Wisco, you’re right too. I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks this picture is ridiculous.
I don’t mean to pile on, but this is just silly. Why would any one do a photo piece on “Princeton style” that didn’t include (all) actual Princeton students/faculty - is there a shortage on campus? Isn’t Mr. Castleberry - one of the “subjects” - from Dallas and in his mid 30s with kids?
This is so plainly contrived it gives me a headache….and, as someone who attended undergrad and grad school at New England and UK universities steeped in tradition and heritage, I can state with some authority that no one dresses like this on contemporary campuses. Fail.