preppy flashback

 Ralph Lauren jumper | Dion Lee skirt | Willow work shoes | Celine trio pouchette

Let me tell you a secret. In my younger and more carefree days, I embraced preppy* like I was born with a cable knit in one hand and a lacrosse stick in the other. I liked nothing better than to galavant around in an seemingly endless collection of cable knits (there was occasional dipping into my mum's supply), blazers and my beloved pair of knee-high Bally boots. In retrospect, it was highly reflective of both my parent's style; very classic, very Ralph Lauren and very much about investing in classics. Preppy definitely isn't something I would wear now (even this orangutang can evolve and learn to spearfish) but it's something that defined a large portion of my teenage years. 

It was an obsession sparked by my parents and later fuelled by The OC, Charlotte from Sex & the City and later, Gossip Girls.  Looking back, there's so many outfits that make me cringe (pastel argyle patterned knit layered over white shirt on a 14 year old?) but I'm glad for what it's taught me about investing in classics and that's probably why 10 years down that track I can still wear the same jumper that I wore when I was in high school. Except now I can wear it with much cooler shoes. Although, my instincts are still to reach for the nearest pleated skirt. I guess we're just all trained monkeys after all?

 x karen

* that being said, I definitely wasn't 100% preppy (especially since we live in Australia) but it did take up a lot of my wardrobe. And what wasn't taken up by that, was consumed by Juicy Couture (eek!), Sportsgirl and a splattering of Supre. Which just goes to prove that you can never just be one style but I do remember my style crushes back then revolving almost exclusively around Summer Roberts and Lauren Conrad. I was a (fake) Cali girl at heart. 

bloglovin // twitter // instagram