Trad shops catering to the women’s market—dressing couples in matching madras blazers and yellow button-down oxfords—were the beginning of the end for the Preppy look. Womenswear cycled through trends at a much faster rate than menswear, so when the women’s fashion media started to tell the Ivy girls to ditch the stodgy prep look and try something more radical, girlfriends pulled their boyfriends along.
