Release your inner preppie with a special tour of the Mattatuck Museum exhibit “The Origins of Preppy: John Meyer of Norwich,” led by Elise Meyer, the designer’s daughter, and Lisa Birnbach, co-author of “The Official Preppy Handbook” and “True Prep.”
Join the Westport Library on a bus trip to see the exhibit in Waterbury on Tuesday, Aug. 27. The bus departs from the upper parking lot at 12:30 p.m. and will return by 5 p.m. Tickets are $50 and include transportation, museum admission, tour, and refreshments. Register online at westportlibrary.org.
According to “The Official Preppy Handbook,” Birnbach’s bestseller from the 1980s, “In a true democracy everyone can be upper class and live in Connecticut. It's only fair.” Though the preppy style was born on the campuses of America’s Ivy League colleges, it was manufactured using the resources of eastern Connecticut. “The Origins of Preppy” exhibit explores the style’s transformation from campus fad to innovative fashion by pioneering purveyor John Meyer of Norwich.
From the creation of the multi-million dollar Norwich Industrial Park to the revolutionary computerized cutting machine, John Meyer was a true innovator, bringing trendsetting style to the Northeast. The John Meyer of Norwich label provided a certain status and confidence to stylish women from the 1950s through the 1970s. Meyer’s daughter, Elise, has compiled an archive of the groundbreaking businessman, including photographs, stories, and vintage clothing. The exhibition is a stunning tribute to this lasting American phenomenon.
Elise Meyer will lead the tour along with Birnbach, whose books became tongue-and-cheek cultural guides for a generation. Her sequel, “True Prep,” “looks at how the old guard of natural-fiber-loving, dog-worshipping, G&T-soaked preppies adapts to the new order of the Internet, cell phones, rehab, political correctness, reality TV, and . . . polar fleece,” says Publisher’s Weekly.
For more information, phone (203) 291-4800, or visit the Library online at westportlibrary.org.