WELCOME

A BEAUTIFUL WAY OF LIFE.

Perhaps the biggest difference between the East Coast and the West Coast is that out here, to the general population, "preppy" is a borderline insult. It signals archaic conformity, stuffiness, snobbiness, the list goes on and on of negative connotations associated with the word. But West Coast prep, although having the same fundamental elements of East Coast prep, is modern and updated, a fresh take on a classic.

On the East Coast, there is "an aspirational nature to that very preppy East Coast lifestyle that people were trying to live up to and emulate," as Sean Hotchkiss, author of True Prep for RL Mag, puts it. On the East Coast, preppy is idyllic –– that All-American feeling of hydrangeas and golden retrievers is romanticized. But that same fascination surrounding preppy doesn’t exist on the West Coast. It’s more of an "if you know, you know," kind of thing.

"Preppy" may signal superficiality in the west. But to those who "know," preppy is not superficial and it is not about giving off the appearance of a nice life, it’s about actually living beautifully and tastefully in everyday life. That can be done anywhere in the world.

There’s no way to truly put all of this into words. That’s part of what makes it so special and elusive. Let’s try anyway. Just for fun...

WESTIES

THE INNER WORKINGS OF PACIFIC PREP.

California, to the East Coast, is the younger brother who grows up to be taller than his older brother.

It is Prince Harry, who, without the responsibilities of Prince William’s future kinghood, has a lot less to lose. It’s Serena van der Woodsen getting into Yale despite being a hot mess, while uptight frenemy and legacy Blair Waldorf is rejected.

There is a common adage among East Coast transplants on the West Coast that “the East Coast is good for the soul.” It’s true. We get homesick out here for the traditions, legacy, and feeling of home. To put it in California speak, the vibes.

All along the Eastern Seaboard there is a puritanical attitude of it being the only place that matters. It’s that “New York or Nowhere” mentality. It’s so strong, in fact, that it can be hard to not compare everything out here to the East Coast, like Stanford being “The Ivy of the West,” and instead just let the beautiful West Coast world belong to itself.

So, let’s give West Coast Preppies their own identity. Let’s call them Westies, shall we?

When people think of California, namely Hollywood, they think flashy, but the basis of prep is not trying too hard. So how does that make sense? While the West Coast is not inherently preppy, like, say, New England, there are pockets of that lifestyle. Westies are not well known, and that’s exactly the point.

While on paper, preps from either coast may appear the same with different but similar tastes in fashion and leisure activities, there are some subtle, yet key differences. Just as Southern Prep is different from Mid-Atlantic and New England Prep, West Coast Prep is a different ball game. And… hardly anybody is talking about it.

To start, people in the west tend to think about the wider world. Perhaps it’s that East Coast bias. While 48% of the U.S. population lives in the Eastern Standard time zone, only 16% live in the Pacific time zone.

"People who grow up in preppy sort of enclaves or communities on the East Coast don’t usually even see beyond their little world," Hotchkiss said. "But there’s something about being from the West Coast and being from somewhere else that gives you something more. People who end up settling in California or the American West in general have a much more frontiering spirit. There’s an open mindedness."

It’s true. Look at Harry and Meghan, who moved to Santa Barbara to pioneer a new form of royal life, breaking away from thousands of years of tradition. California is where people go when they want to give a big middle finger to the world. Sometimes, Oprah Winfrey helps.

Preppies are college kids taking a weekend off from the usual antics at their NESCAC school to drive a few hours home to Connecticut to celebrate Easter weekend with their families. Westies are Pac-12 students spending Easter, uh, “hanging out” at Coachella Weekend 1. Preppies play lacrosse. Westies play water polo.

Preppies sail in iconic Newport, Rhode Island in the summers. Westies sail in Newport Beach, California all year round. Preppies summer in Nantucket. Westies winter in Lake Tahoe. Preppy moms play in paddle leagues at country clubs. Westie moms play beach volleyball at the Jonathan Club. Preppies are debutantes. Westies are sorority girls. Preppies ride equestrian in Greenwich. Westies ride western in Malibu.

Westies are frat boys in suits on long boards heading to an on-campus networking event at USC. They are Newport Beach businessmen and women getting to the office at 6am to catch the New York market opening but leaving in the early afternoon to go surf.

OUT-LOCALING

A NOT-SO-SUBTLE WAY OF PROVING YOU'RE NOT NEW TO TOWN.

Preppy is insular. Maybe that’s a good thing, maybe that’s a bad thing. One thing it is for sure, is a sense of pride. Emma Kelly, a longtime Marin County resident, notes how her family and friends refer to certain people as “Marin Famous”. Usually, they belong to families who have lived in the area for generations.

Plenty of towns in America can say, legitimately, that they have some version of this. All the same, in these preppy enclaves, it’s just –– different.

This familiarity fosters a sense of casual-ness, a comfortability. Preppy people are not afraid of authority. Not in an arrogant way, in a confident way. Westies, even more so than Preppies. Kelly, who is the merchandise coordinator at Restoration Hardware, recalls once accidentally rolling her eyes at the company’s CFO, a mortal sin in many companies. It was laughed off. Of course it was. A Westie interacts with most everyone the same way they would a close friend. A Westie rolls with the punches.

By nature, preppy, everywhere, is casual. Preppy does not have to mean affluence or old money. Those things can certainly be part of preppy, but preppy can exist without them.

Hockey is without question one of the most preppy team sports in existence, second only to lacrosse. Yet, the LA Kings’ celebrated their Stanley Cup win in 2014 at North End, a dingy, greasy dive bar in Hermosa Beach, California, a place that had formerly been known as critters –– the type of place that when you’re inside, you’d forget you’re anywhere near the beach, especially not one block away, if it weren’t for the clientele with sun-damaged skin wearing beat up leather flip flops.

Casual but old is better than fancy but new, in most aspects of the preppy world. So much so, that in any given vacation spot, it’s more desirable to have a well curated shack that’s been in your family for generations than to *whispers* rent. It’s all about whose family has been here the longest, wherever “here” may be.

Anyone can tell you’re a tourist if you try to pay for your ice cream using a credit card at the Juice Bar in Nantucket (it’s cash only). In California, it’s the same story. People here try to one-up each other by out-localing. Ercole’s is a Manhattan Beach bar two blocks up from the beach, about a mile north of the North End –– er, Critters. Ercole’s is where locals go for beers and burgers. You know someone is not a local if they say the full name of the establishment, which has been there since 1922. It’s Erk’s, dude. Say hi to Mike working the day shift behind the bar.

A COMMITMENT TO LEISURE

ORGANIZED FUN.

Preppy is athletic. It’s rough and tumble. Preppy weekends are busy. They require effort and planning. Often, a preppy person may spend their work week recovering from the weekend, not the other way around.

It would be easy to laze around watching reality TV and ordering takeout all weekend. That’s why preppy is a commitment to leisure. Preppy is organized fun. It is prioritizing travel, socializing, and maintaining strong friendships.

Like most adult social gatherings, there is alcohol involved, but preppy gatherings are often centered around an activity. Be it skiing, tennis, golf, volleyball or hiking, activities are seamlessly integrated into this social lifestyle. Preppy is not doing things just for the sake of doing them to check them off the list, it’s making a day out of it.

Hotchkiss said it best: "It’s just a completely different life."

One major difference between East and West Coast Prep is that on the east coast there are hot spots where everyone goes, like the Hamptons, the Jersey Shore or Cape Cod and the islands, to name a few. The New York City prep circle simply transplants itself via the LIRR to Montauk every weekend. It’s not an escape, it’s a place to see and be seen. You’re guaranteed to bump into at least 10 people you know at Ruschmeyer’s on Saturday night before taking a $130, 12-minute Uber back to your share house.

In the west, though, weekend culture is quite different. Going away for the weekend is an escape with a group of friends. It’s more understated and therefore mysterious than an East Coast weekend away. There’s more of an independence out here. A sense of appreciating a true getaway and not having to do what everyone else is doing.

Just about everyone in L.A. has been to Joshua Tree for a micro Burning Man-esque desert weekend with friends. Most Westies have spent President’s Day at their roommate’s family’s place in Mammoth once or twice. While making the two-hour drive to Palm Springs for a desert weekend outside of festival season may technically be east of the city, it will never be "Out East."

Regardless, there will forever be similarities between the two.

Maybe you’ve heard the saying that the first step to being beautiful is to be unafraid to be ugly. Well, the first step to being preppy is to be unafraid to not be preppy. That’s universal. Glamorously preppy girls have no qualms about pulling a hideous yellow helmet over their blown out hair while on a rock climbing trip. It’s no challenge to their manhood when preppy guys have to don dorky water shoes on a rafting excursion. Preppy is not taking yourself too seriously. Preppy people prioritize adventure and an ever-expanding personal repertoire.

SPORT

SAY GOODBYE TO MEMBERS ONLY.

People on the West Coast are active in a much more organic way than elsewhere in the country. While Westies certainly love a pilates class and always will, the social scene is centered around physical activity. No gym membership necessary. Sunday afternoons all year round can be spent surfing, paddle boarding, on the beach playing volleyball or challenging another couple to a doubles match on the tennis court.

People on the East Coast who grew up playing tennis or golf, likely were playing at a club. Take your pick. Racquets club, tennis club, country club, golf club… there’s no shortage.

On the West Coast, clubs exist but they are much less common and not for "regular" people, only for truly high rollers. Is your last name Caruso? The West Coast is more democratic in it’s facilities, Hotchkiss said. Public tennis courts in California are beautiful, and there are plenty of public golf courses where people can play a round for $30, making traditionally exclusive sports more accessible. You might even spot Timothy Olyphant on the court next to you while playing on the public blue courts at UCLA.

PACIFIC PREP STYLE

THERE IS SOMETHING INHERENTLY COOL ABOUT CALIFORNIA GIRLS. ASK THE BEACH BOYS. THEY KNEW, AS FAR BACK AS THE 1960s.

Much of the West Coast is not preppy. Take West Hollywood, for example, which is very Kardashian-esque: athleisure, mixing designer logos and visible (key word: visible) cosmetic surgery. Being a prep in Los Angeles requires a great deal of restraint from the societal pressure to indulge in full-coverage makeup, injectables and other cosmetic procedures.

For example, preppy is not a brand new Range Rover with tinted windows. Rather, it’s taking a page out of Hotchkiss’s RL Mag article and finally pulling the trigger on a well-maintained, vintage Mercedes Benz SL. It’s not having brand new everything, it’s tradition. It’s not trying too hard, it’s effortless.

Preppy is evolving in connotation from buttoned-up to beachy. This is happening across the country, just look at Tik Tok. Spreading this message are the teenage fashion influencers who attend prestigious East Coast boarding schools. You know, the type of school where you’d half expect to see Robin Williams reciting Yeats from atop a desk.

These girls are inspiration to a lot of people because their lives seem so put together, so expensive, so aspirational. Wearing frilly LoveShackFancy dresses and vibrant colors and patterns, preppies and Westies alike are not afraid to be bold. Gone are the days when preppy meant navy blue cardigans and pearls. In are the days that preppy can actually mean stylish.

Remember when, on a meeting with the Great Britain national field hockey team before the London 2012 Olympic Games, Kate Middleton made a few simple tweaks to an elegant outfit and was ready to take to the field and play a game with the GB field hockey team? This is the appearance –– and presence –– to strive for. The ultimate work to play transition.

That’s what it’s all about. Don’t be self conscious, be up for anything. Wear the damn sneakers.

You need clothes you can move in. On the West Coast, that means you should be able to hop on a beach cruiser at any given moment. Not that it’s realistic to need to bike at the drop of a hat, but the look to go for is effortless, something you’re not fidgeting in or constantly adjusting.

THE UNIFORM

NO, NOT LIKE AT PREP SCHOOL.

Hate to break it to you, but the very LA guilty pleasure of staying in your $200 workout or sweat set all day is not preppy. When you think about it, it is just as easy to put on jeans in the morning as it is to put on sweatpants. That is, as long as you have some staple pieces to pull a look together effortlessly.

The secret of all the most stylish people is to have a uniform. No, that does not mean wearing the same tailored khaki pants and button-down every day. Rather, it means finding a few staples that look best on you and rotating them throughout the week.

Preppy style is classics mixed in with a few trendier pieces here and there. It’s having a few pieces you wear all the time that create the base for your look. It’s juxtaposition. It’s wearing Ralph Lauren corduroys on the bottom and street wear on top. It’s wearing clothes that not everyone has, mixing vintage with new, lesser known labels with popular designers.

The first step: get yourself a decent pair of denim. Whether that means shorts or pants, quality denim never goes out of style and can last you a lifetime. Picture Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s iconic jeans that still serve as style inspiration today. She made walking her dog look chic.

Some signature jewelry is also helpful, pieces that you never even think to take off. Wearing rings, a bracelet, and a necklace while out for a run or at the grocery store makes you appear put together, even when you’re feeling like a mess. Your hair may look like squirrel got into it or you may have spilled your latte on your blouse, but wearing a ring makes everything a little bit better.

Some brands can be preppy. Other brands are inherently not preppy. But still, preppy is not brands and brands will not make you preppy. Can you say that five times fast?

NOT YOUR MOTHER'S PREPPY

There is so much more to the world of prep than the “daddy’s money” stereotype it so often gets boxed into. There is tradition, culture and geography all contributing to this very special way of life. It may seem vain, but acknowledging these little nuances is part of what makes life beautiful. Not black and white, but shades of gray (and pastels).

True West Coast Prep is about expanding your worldview, questioning ideas of stereotypes, and accepting that just as people are always evolving, so is prep. You can change the world that you live in. You can uproot yourself and move from East Coast to West Coast and back again, while still feeling at home. Some people flirt effortlessly with both coasts and there is no shame in that.

A true Westie does not look down their nose at anybody or make others feel lesser than. Real Westies make others feel comfortable. They are authentic. They are sincere. They are kind. They are warm. That’s what living beautifully really is.

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