The Ralph Lauren brand Rugby was launched in 2004 to attract younger buyers into the preppy style. It did so in an almost comical fashion, with patches on everything that were the size of an actual rugby ball. The line also had a fascination with the skull and crossbones motif, which appeared on a large majority of the clothes and accessories. In 2004, an ultra-preppy yet albeit costume-ish store was a good bet, as the popular stores of the time, Abercrombie & Fitch (an original preppy brand) and Hollister Co. were working hard to bring faux-prep into mainstream. Yes, this was the era of the ironic popped collar. Ralph Lauren saw the sales opportunity and ran with it.
Although the brand was aimed at college students those not of that age really got into the brand which I believe helped keep the brand afloat. It was strange to see people dressed in same clothes they would have worn as a "dead preppy" for Halloween in the 1980's. Alas, the the line hasn't been profitable and will close up shop on February 2, 2013. Until then the handful of stores and the website will remain up and running.
While doing some research for this post, I had the thought that pieces from the Rugby store may soon become "hipster" items for preps. That is, it will become fashionable to flout the pieces because they are no longer accessible to others. Exclusivity, a trademark prep attribute.
That's too bad. I always kind of liked Rugby, even though it was aimed at a much younger audience. Clearly it gave the classics a bit of a "twist," but I never viewed it in the same light as the high-school oriented "mall prep" of Abercrombie, et al. If sales are down, that also indicates that the interest young people had in preppy style in 2004, as I suspected, has long since waned. The teachable "1980" moment, it seems, is over.
ReplyDeleteI did like a few pieces from Rugby, but as I mentioned, most of the designs were garish and only vaguely preppy at best. But the line was aimed at those born after the Fall of the Berlin Wall and don't have those memories of the original preppy style. I think for people late-20s and under the preppy style has split off into for lack of a much better term, "fratty."
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