In case you hadn't already seen the results of last week's cage match between The Official Preppy Handbook and Take Ivy, the OPH was declared to be the superior book by the not-so-narrow margin of 61% to 31%.
In the interest of presenting the original cage match as unbiasly as I could, I didn't really give my thoughts on either book. I would agree that the two books are really quite different in both their intended use and the perspectives they are coming from. Additionally, I understand that only a handful of people have actually seen Take Ivy in person, and that it is doubtful that many of those people could read Japanese. As a result, perhaps it was not a completely fair contest.
However, even once Take Ivy is reprinted later this year, it is my prediction that the OPH will still be the better book. I suspect once people can actually read the book for themselves, in English, that the Japanese fetishism of Ivy League clothing will only seem that much weirder, though it may put a lot of the pictures in more of a context than they exist now. Anyways, thanks to all who voted.
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7 comments:
Yay for the OPH! Great to see that a classic piece of Americana still holds up.
"Fetishism" was indeed the word I'd been looking for.
Yes, OPH is the preppy standard. Can't wait for Birnbach's updated version.
I knew it.
You should do the poll again in Aug.
For those youngsters who have never seen the real thing:
http://picasaweb.google.com/branden.brooks/TheOfficialPreppyHandbook?feat=directlink#
I heard a dirty rumor recently that the OPH is being redone. I guess a new version. Not sure how I feel about that..
I actually just purchased this. OPH=Best Book Ever.
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