In the recent New Year, the preppy style is continuing to expand, but not without a polar opposite influence. Aesthetics have an influence over many people, whether it’s trying to become, “That Girl” or a, “Who is She” people are starting to make massive changes in their lives. Creating new goals, romanticizing school, or finding new music are things attributed to a person’s look or aesthetic. With major applications like Tik Tok, Pinterest, and Instagram to help advertise different aesthetics, it became a necessity for the average person, even without his or her knowledge, to have one.

With widespread knowledge comes different variations and new popularities, and with older styles coming back so did its music. Even with the average teenager not knowing what’s on his or her t-shirt, the products sell purely from their aesthetic. The shirts at times are relatively similar to their band, but more often than not that’s not the case. Dark, black, grungy, t-shirts for metalheads have changed to pink, sunny, and bright shirts drifting into the preppy aesthetic. As a result, the shirts are becoming completely unrecognizable.

Google defines the word Preppy as, “Of or typical of a student or graduate of an expensive prep school, especially with reference to their style of dress.” The word preppy has been around for decades, used to describe prep school kids, hence, the word “Preppy.” This isn’t a new look for people, but it is just becoming more present in people’s lives. Though the word’s meaning has somewhat changed throughout its time, it still generally refers to someone’s style. When it comes to wearing pastels or skirts, they still check every box in meeting the preppy aesthetic expectations. To reinforce the preppy ideology the style had its preferred music as well. Preppy kids were generally known to listen to new music. The genre includes bands like Sublime, Wham, Talking Heads, Duran Duran, and more. The irony of that is none of those bands are the most popular t-shirts.