argyle rises from the ashes
preppy style is a pheonix
As brands have been rolling out their Fall collections, one pattern is jumping out to me. A pattern that feels classic, nostalgic, and is sometimes included in Spirit Halloween “old man” costumes…
argyle.
Argyle has been skirting the edges of the mainstream for the past couple of years, having appeared in runway shows such as Dior Resort 2025, and most recently having been the feature of an article by Who What Wear, and it seems this Fall it’s really stepping into the limelight.
Personally, I’m loving it. I really have my eye on Alex Mill’s black argyle sweater. It’s such a great piece. Here’s a couple ways I’d wear it:
Argyle is nice dressed up too and I’m already thinking about holiday party outfits. I love it paired with this taffeta J.Crew dress. Imagine it tied or draped around your shoulders when you’re inside and it’s warm, and buttoned all the way to the top when it’s cold and you’re headed to your car. So cute.
It’s also cute dressed down for errand-running. I love the vibe of a chill errand look with stiff cotton Pajama pants paired with nice accessories.
Or just for an everyday outfit with good denim.
But why argyle? I have a theory…
It all started in 2022(ish)
Following the pandemic in 2020 and the manic years of incessant micro-trends, an influencer with perfectly blown out hair rises from the ashes, popularizing a style that… never really goes out of style…
She’s Matilda Djerf.. and yes, it’s preppy/ivy style.
Preppy/ivy style is interesting, because there are always people wearing button-downs, cardigans, pleated trousers, etc. And I’m certainly not saying that Matilda was the sole person who “brought it back”, there were several brands and influencers (The Row, Gabriella Gofis, The Millennial Decorator, etc.) who were also moving to a more preppy style, but I think Matilda and her brand Djerf Avenue really helped bring it into the foreground of mainstream style again.
My theory is that ever since then, preppy has been trending in the mainstream and every year we are just fleshing out more tenets of preppy style.
Of course, it’s impossible to track trends perfectly for many reasons, many people subscribe to different styles, different regions dress differently, but I guess what I’m trying to do is nail down the overall mainstream, the type of style you might call “trendy” or “basic”.
In 2023, blazers (albeit oversized), trousers, loafers, and cardigans were really trendy. There was a lot of buzz around The Row and the term “quiet luxury”.
The next year (2024) it’s trench coats, scarves, L.L. Bean totes, ballet flats, sailing aesthetics, and insane buzz around Carolyn Besette Kennedy. An obsession with monogramming (Abbode). The revival of the Jcrew Catalog!!!
This past summer we saw it in the great boat shoe comeback of 2025. Tom Browne dressed Doechii for the Grammy’s and dressed other celebrities in the most to die for seersucker sets. And this Fall I’ve seen a lot of plaid, argyle, cable knit sweaters, ties, pleats and collars.
And what is preppy style? Who defines it? Well, there just happens to be a particularly famous handbook on it: The Official Preppy Handbook. Unfortunately it is out of print today and retails for $70+ dollars on secondhand sites. I learned about The Official Preppy handbook from the most interesting and in depth guide to preppy, a seven part podcast series called “American Ivy” on Articles Of Interest. (side note: I really wish magazines like Vogue, Marie Claire, Elle, etc. would pursue the type of journalistic depth that Avery Trufelman achieves in her work.)
Ok let’s say that my theory is correct, I think we’re just going to keep going deeper then.. how much deeper into preppy can we go.. and will we actually go there?
Harry Styles was seen wearing a polo shirt with a popped collar in March of this year… was it a premonition? Speaking of Polo shirts and popped collars, a big preppy trend was to wear more than one polo at once. I can see this layering effect happening again, maybe the layering trend we’re already seeing is a precursor to that? Also the brightness of the polos… will color, and colors that bright be big again? Kelly green? Cadmium yellow?
As far as materials/patterns: maybe more seersucker, (even) more plaid, stripes, houndstooth, gingham and tweed. I think khakis have a shot at making a big comeback. Imagine if the family photos where everyone is wearing the same colored top and khaki’s became a thing again?
I’m already feeling a shift in trading in baggy styles for a more tailor and fitted look which feels very preppy.
It occurred to me that I could somewhat fact check my predictions with Google’s search trend analysis.
This graph both proves and disproves my theory. It proves that preppy started trending before this year, and that it has only been growing since then. But, it disproves my idea that this trend is continuing forward. It shows the peak of popularity being November of 2024. Maybe argyle is one of the last dying breaths of preppy style in the mainstream?
I feel fairly certain prep is here to stay. Preppy style is a phoenix, constantly reinventing itself and appearing in new forms.
xx,
Addi
I just went on a deep dive of articles of interest so that was an amazing rec
I’ve been needing an article on the depth of prep and this is exactly that. Love!