Spoiler Alert: Avery Trufelman is Also Preppy...Articles Of Interest: American Ivy Explains Why
The Preppy Handbook, a spoof by Lisa Birnbach from 1980, was the midpoint in preppy style, not the beginning. Trufelman connects the Brooks Brothers from the 1860s, via Japan, to American style now
It likely doesn’t matter how old you are, what style era you were born into, and what part of the world you lived in, you know what is meant by the term “preppy style.”
The style is synonymous with the 1980s, the same decade that brought us seminal John Hughes films like Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club, along with the explosion of the cable television universe that pumped family-friendly sitcoms out to living rooms all across North America; Cheers and Family Ties…and my favourite, Silver Spoons.
Close your eyes and you can see it too. Muted pastel colours, loose-knit Aran sweaters draped around the shoulders with the cuffs turned up; layers of multi-coloured Lacoste cotton weave collared shirts, pleated chinos and penny loafers.
It’s a quick leap to assume that the “preppy style” was born out of the 1980s; but Avery Trufelman is here and ready to relegate this to the stuff of urban legend.
Preppy style, it turns out, wasn’t an accident, it wasn’t Made For TV, and it didn’t actually come from the place that seems to be the obvious genesis of it: the American Ivy League schools and the East Coast elites.
In the back of a noisy bar near Union Square, just after Avery hosted a panel at Tribeca Festival, we huddled close to my microphone to talk about Season 3 of Articles of Interest: American Ivy.
Unlike the previous seasons of Articles of Interest, where each episode would take a curious dive into different fashion subjects (plaid, pockets, punk style, etc), Season 3 does a long and deep dive into one thing: the style called American Ivy.
And this is where I connected with this series for this publication because although I’ve been enjoying this series since it began in 2018, it did not fit the Bingewothy criteria of being serialized, until season 3.
Articles Of Interest began as the first spin-off show from 99% Invisible, where Trufelman was the third full-time staffer, which was part of the founding shows to publish under the banner of Radiotopia.
When 99PI left Radiotopia for PRX, at some point Roman Mars liberated the IP to Trufelman, which she eventually returned to Radiotopia under its own solo banner, as the new owner.
When I asked her about this, how she ended up back there, she explains:
AVERY TRUFELMAN: “They were actually the best option because they let you keep your IP. I own the show. It is mine. I do have to make 16 [episodes] this year, but that's the only requirement.
They don't pay as much as other places. But the control the freedom, the autonomy…no one else will let you do that. And also they're just amazing people. It's really special.
And I also, of course, I like that there are non-profit. It means that they are scrappier and not as fancy as some other places. But it also just means they're mission-driven. They really, really care. They're not in it for just for what will make us rich.”
If you already listen to Articles as a podcast, I would be remiss if I didn’t further point to the Substack
, which is perhaps the best use of the platform for the podcast format.Instead of cobbling together your Wordpress plugins, or your Squarespace code blocks, Trufelman uses this platform to help further distribute the rss feed, provide images and links to what is already a highly visual story. And of course Substack also allows for a place to connect directly with the series (and support it, if you wish) in a whole other way.
Check it out here:
The following is an excerpt from our discussion back in June. It has been edited for length and clarity.
Samantha Hodder: I just listened to season 3: American Ivy…There are a few big things about this series I want to ask you about, but number one is the Official Preppy Handbook.
I'm a little bit older than you,…when I found it [when I was a teenager] I did not think it was a joke. This was, maybe, 1985.
Avery Trufelman And you dress that way?
SH: I tried! I thought it was an instruction book. I'm from Canada... from suburban Toronto, so this prep school American ivy thing was not in my lexicon. I had to learn it. When [your series] started, I wondered if you would talk about [that book specifically].
Tell me how you came across the Preppy Handbook and when you realized that was basically the midpoint in the series, and that everything had to come and go from it?
Avery Trufelman: When I was a kid, at a book sale, I discovered the Valley Girl Handbook at a used bookstore, and I bought it. I found it oddly compelling. It's kind of nice to have someone tell you how to dress and what to say and what to do.
My mom [saw it] was like, Oh, this is a spoof…it’s based on the Preppy Handbook. So I knew about it [back then]. And I knew I had to talk to Lisa Birnbach [the author]. But I don't think I realized what the story of preppy was [yet].
When I started making this series, [I thought] it was going to be a series about trends. I wanted to make one about Uggs, and about raver pants….and one trend was going to be preppy clothes.
Then I did some more research and [realized] this [style] is so much older…
I was thinking about Abercrombie & Fitch of my youth. But right away, I found out that it went back to Brooks Brothers and the 1860s; so I knew it didn't begin with the Preppy Handbook [from the 1980s]. It's seismically important.
SH: One of the theories that I’m developing is that part of what makes a serialized narrative [a narrative podcast] is that the narrator is part of the story.
As I was listening [to season 3] I realized it was different than your other work, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Until the last episode…when you said…”I'm telling you [about preppy clothes and preppy people] because I am this person. I don't think I was this person, but I am this person.”
Suddenly you were in the story a different way. At what point did you realize this? Was it really at the end? Or was it when you were writing the story?
AT: It was actually in that moment of tape when Lisa Birnbach said: “You have to tell people that you went to prep school.”
I didn't think it was important. And then it was after that, I realized: I did go to my prep school.
Because again, I thought: that's not me. I don't do that. I hate that. I didn't understand that [preppy]. And it wasn't until she said it that I realized: Oh! It's irresponsible of me not to say.
I really struggled with that part. I rewrote the ending so many times. Because, actually, the full thing that Lisa Birnbach said to me was: '“I can understand why someone wouldn't want to admit they went to prep school…wouldn't want to admit that their parents own two homes.”
And I said: No! Listen, my parents don't own two homes! It's so easy [to think that I’m] a wealthy person, or someone who didn't have student debt.
Everyone's so eager to differentiate themselves; I'm not that I'm not that kind of person….and so it took me a lot of soul searching to lean into it.
You know what? I'm preppy. I am preppy.
If you went to a prep school, and you graduated without student debt, you're preppy. It doesn't matter that you didn't have a horse, or you didn't sail, or you didn't summer somewhere.
So it took a lot of a lot of soul searching to just say: Don't hedge it.
SH: So when you realized that this was part of your own story, how did it change the writing script?
AT: Well, it's funny, actually. I knew I didn't want to have it in the beginning. Because I think so many podcasts begin with: “I bet you're wondering about me…” And my answer, usually, is: “No, I'm not! I don't really want to know about you yet.”
And so I thought it'd be more potent to save the autobiography until the end. By then, maybe you're curious about where I'm coming from.
So I definitely didn't want to be like, ‘Yep, that's right. That's me! I went to a prep school!’
I never identified with it. People would be like shut up….we don't know you. So I definitely wanted to have it at the end.
I don't think it changed like the beginning of the story for me. But I rewrote that ending so many times; like so many times. And there was actually a whole moment where it was going to be totally different. I interviewed the author of this book called Poison Ivy, about how Ivy League schools are the worst thing that has ever happened to American democracy.
I thought: maybe this will be the ending. I tried so many different endings.
And then my editor, Kelly Prime, bless her soul, was one of the people who helped me…[she said] "‘I think you have to come clean. I think you have to talk about being preppy.’
SH: It felt like a reveal; it wasn't obvious.
AT: Well, I was hoping for this, thank you! I didn't want it to be too much like…I'm preppy, and everything is fine! It's not like that's not okay.
You know, it felt almost a little too heavy-handed to be like, and...this world of rich people is ultimately so fucked and bad, and that's why every 80s villain dresses preppy.
We also hate that style. So it didn't feel like it was a hard needle to thread. That's a great question. Thank you so much for asking that…I really stressed about it.
SH: What I noticed was that it was a turning point [in the series]. I was like: Where is she going with this? I kept thinking; there's a tie back here somewhere…it's coming... I was waiting for it. And it kind of made sense to me.
I appreciated that it was a bearing-of-the-soul in some ways.
AT: Lol, Oh, poor me!
Oh, no, yeah, it's no skin off my teeth. It's it was Fun. People reveal much worse on tape all the time.
SH: I'm nerdy about nomenclature...in your series, you say: Written, Cut and Performed by you.
Is it performed? Or is it narrated?
AT: But it is performed. Because I do feel like when I go into my closet to do narration, it's like…Gotta go give'em a show!
I mean, that's the thing. It's funny. Before I made podcasts, I imagined the most fun part would be going on mic and talking. But it's actually my least favorite part.
Because it's months and months of [work]. I read all these books, I find all these people, I interviewed [them]. I pieced them all together, I write this thing, I edit this thing….
And now it all comes down to you in a studio, selling it. It's the cherry on top of all that work.
And it has to do it justice. And it really stresses me out!
So I do think about it as a performance.
SH: Well, it is performative. When people talk about narration, it's not just something they get up and during the day. It's [got to be on] a roll, it's a performance, and you plan for it.
AT: I procrastinate on it so much. I'm always just like…I don't feel like going in my closet right now. The things I will do instead; clean my house and I gotta make dinner—I can't do this on an empty stomach.
Therefore I'm usually doing my recordings at some ungodly hour in the middle of the night. And usually, I've had all day set aside to do it. And I just don't. I hate it. I hate it.
I don't know how actors do it, how they like summon the enthusiasm and the excitement to sell themselves every night.
SH: You basically wrote a book doing this [season]. This is like a five-hour essay documentary.
AT: I'm trying to write a book next year. Most of my interviews were with people who had already written books.
A lot of people I talked to were experts and historians. And I think the difference with writing a book is really going to the source going to the people. And that feels really different to me, it feels like a different challenge. When it was over. I was like, Damn, that was a lot of work. That was more than I thought I was doing.
People have asked me to write an Articles of Interest book. But I'm really not interested. I'm really not interested in repeating stories. So [the book is] new territory for me. And I'm excited about it.
And then I want to do another long series again, because that was fascinating. I enjoy making short things, but I want to keep alternating. I don't want to get stuck in a grind. I want to keep varying it up.
I think the most exciting, privileged thing in a life is variety. And so I want to milk it for as long as I can. And whenever a routine makes me have a routine, then I will gladly accept that routine.
SH: How are you going to write a book without doing audio? How will you not do audio?
AT: Oh, my God, it's so amazing! I don't I’ve been talking to people on the phone and writing down notes…that you don’t need to record. It's so cool. I love it. I love it so much….my nice easy time off writing a book. But it does feel so much easier, already, in certain ways.
But I haven't put pen to paper yet. So, talk to me in six months, I'll be like, I'm miserable.
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