Another closet!?

[elfs]

As some people may know (and as may be painfully obvious from a few episodes in the Travellogue series) I went to a prep school, one of the top five in the country. It was an all-male school where homophobia was rampant, where the professors were all tenured neurotics of one flavor or another, where there was unheralded sexual tension between the aging, portly, respectable British ex-pat head librarian with his collection of Chaucer printers (The Canterbury Tales, first, second, third, and fifth editions) and the new ultra-hot-in-a-librarian-way assistant librarian (the sex scene in Mice and Malice? Totally in his office), where some teachers were so mindlessly brilliant and others were merely mindless.

My parents couldn't really afford to send me there, nor did I fit in. But as I have gotten older and developed a taste for the finer things in life, I have realized that not all of the shallow, grasping people around me were complete idiots. It is peculiar how so many of my peers at the time wore such fine clothes and seemed to respect it less for being excellent, how much time and energy they spent just staying in the game rather than trying to get ahead, how little they saw their careers ahead as difficult or complex or contributory. Politics or Wall Street was the ideal; so few were interested in the mathematics or sciences.

But still, the clothes were nice. I actually miss my Brooks Brothers suit, the one thing I was required to own that I didn't really want at the time.

I have a bookbag. Most of my acquaintances have seen it, although few recall it because it's just so unremarkable, an ordinary black bag. It was swag from my stint at F5 Corporation and what's remarkable about it that it was made by Land's End. It's relatively cheap for Land's End, made of a rugged nylon, and one of the straps is about to break off. It's seven years' old and I beat the hell out of my stuff (which is why I have a Palm m500 and a Thinkpad: both have a reputation for being far more rugged than their contemporaries and counterparts), so I'm not surprised that the strap eyelet is torn and about to give way.

I've been looking at Land's End (and, gods help me, L.L. Bean) for the replacement, and I think I've found what I want, but as I'm looking through the catalogs I'm realizing something.

I might be a late-blooming preppie.

Grief.

Comments

[sierra-nevada.livejournal.com]

Look on it as exercising an engineering/scientific realization: that paying for quality goods up front is usually a better economic trade-off than buying cheap, trendy stuff more often. The other quality this sort of stuff tends to come with is relatively timeless design, i.e. they got it mostly right the first time, and only make incremental improvements over time.

The main problem with some clothing is getting replacements for something you like: things go out of fashion so fast, it often pays to buy two or three, and sock the extras away.

[trinsf.livejournal.com]

The main problem with some clothing is getting replacements for something you like: things go out of fashion so fast, it often pays to buy two or three, and sock the extras away.

But that's the thing about buying prep -- you can buy the same clothes at LL Bean that you could buy 25 years ago. *dreamy sigh* It's the stability my world is built on.

[sierra-nevada.livejournal.com]

Mmmm, even LL Bean has their flirtations with fashion, "that form of ugliness so intolerable, we are compelled to change it every six months." (Wilde)

[trinsf.livejournal.com]

*squeal* I'm so happy for you! It's never too late! I've been an out preppie for years, though my children are mildly ashamed of me for it. *sniffle*

Oh, c'mon. Spit it out.

[solarbird]

Which?

Re: Oh, c'mon. Spit it out.

[sierra-nevada.livejournal.com]

Heh, I'm amused at your icon; I spent a post-graduate year at NMH.

Now, what was it we used to call that down-the-river school ... ?

Re: Oh, c'mon. Spit it out.

[solarbird]

Had we ever cared enough to pay attention to you, I might know!

Re: Oh, c'mon. Spit it out.

[sierra-nevada.livejournal.com]

I wasn't much into that "school rivalry" thing myself, and besides, I was at NMH for just one year to round out my high school education; the bulk of my preppie existence was spent at a more arriviste private high school in California, so I had no reason to invest heavily in NMH culture. I've really only kept touch with one person from those days, though I do hear from classmates who seem to remember me about annually when the school is begging for money.

Re: Oh, c'mon. Spit it out.

[solarbird]

( ^_-, of course. I toured NMH, it was fine. Unlike, say, ANDover or Choate. Speaking of which, do you watch Harvey Birdman? )

Re: Oh, c'mon. Spit it out.

[sierra-nevada.livejournal.com]

Ha, ha! Indeed I do! Good fun. I look forward to this weekend's finale.

Re: Oh, c'mon. Spit it out.

[elfs.livejournal.com]

The Hill.

Re: Oh, c'mon. Spit it out.

[solarbird]

Really. My.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[ewhac.livejournal.com]

Seconded. I've seen one in person, and it's very well designed. They're made by and for smart people. If my Victorinox bag should ever meet a sad end, Tom Bihn is probably what will replace it.

[laplor.livejournal.com]

While you're looking, consider http://tilley.com/. I have one of their hats that I bought in June 2000. It's been fishing, camping, gardening, and hiking and still looks brand new. My spouse bought a pair of shorts there about a year later and, other than sewing one button back on, they have needed no repairs and still look new.

The best feature? Both products are still available in the same colours!

[bldrnrpdx.livejournal.com]

The backpack links are really handy, thank you. I've been needing to replace my backpack for almost a year now. I'm pretty hard on them too (being a commuter busser will do that), so I need to get a good one. I've been tempted to lay out the $$ for a Timbuk2 because what I've seen so far at the department and sports stores sucks, but I'm glad to see some other good options.