Blog Love: Unabashedly Prep

By Rhonda Gail, on 04.23.10

I first discovered Fred Egan Castleberry in the world of wedding photography. As a writer of a wedding planning blog, I spent hours poring over photography blogs. When I first saw the blog of Fred Egan, I was completely taken with his work. Through Twitter, I discovered his amazing personality and following the Mammoth Men led me to discover his style. What. A. Style. Fred is confident, cool, and sexy. And Fred’s style is prep. Prep?! I have always proclaimed (since about 8 years old) that prep is so not my style. I would never dress prep or date anyone who did. Wrong. So very wrong. I dated a guy who wore bowties, mixed patterns, and wore his shorts and pants “too short.” He went without socks sometimes while wearing sneakers and oxfords. While others scoffed at his “go to hell” attitude toward fashion, I swooned. Little did I know I was swooning over his prep style. I (along with everyone else I knew) had always thought prep was polos (popped collars), khakis, and boat shoes. In my world, all preps looked the same, and I never wanted to fit into a mold. Enter Unabashedly Prep. Launched last fall, it is everything I never knew prep could be. Check out these looks from the blog and be sure to read excerpts from Fred’s bio between the images.

The philosophy: “I have a love affair with Northeastern culture and the WASP lifestyle. They have the most fun with clothes since they experience all four seasons. The history behind the Ivy leagues, the gentlemanliness of it all…I want my style to subtly hint at that.”

The early days: ”As a teen, I would cut up selvedge denim into swatches in order to make my own patchwork denim jeans…sew patches onto my chinos, my sweaters and rip off the logos on all my name brand clothes. During college, I fantasized about designing my own line while trying to act like an adult in business school. At some point I became a kid again.”

The influence: “Nineteen-seventies New England preppy-when preppy meant elegant, hardworking clothes that lasted decades, not a season. The American look is very unstudied, that’s the key. It’s as if you’ve spent no time at all getting yourself together, even if you have.”

The on-screen inspiration: “I would love to be the costume designer for a romantic comedy like Wedding Crashers. Bow-ties should often be knotted with tomfoolery closely in tow. It’s the Preppies’ body piercing. It says, “I don‘t care what you think” with your tongue firmly planted in your cheek. The “prep” look itself is quintessentially light and whimsical. I believe it’s important to laugh in your clothes.”

The soundtrack: “Hands down the indie-alternative acts, Ra Ra Riot and Vampire Weekend. They really understand the symbiotic relationship between music and style and pull it off in top drawer fashion.”

Note: Fred is also responsible for introducing me to Vampire Weekend via his playlists.

Every man should have: “A Ralph Lauren repp neck tie.”

Every (brave) man should have: “A collegiate crest emblazoned seersucker blazer. They come in all shades of pastels these days but stick with blue.”

You definitely want to check out Unabashedly Prep (also Fred Egan Photography) if you’re in the need for some inspiration or just wanted to click away a rainy afternoon.