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Pink is the color of power
She synopsizes preppy, WASP culture as something related to but distinct from "preppiness." "Preppy has to do more with a head-totoe kind of fashion, and WASP is more inclusive. …There are a lot of WASPS who don't dress preppily," Salk said. "It doesn't have to mean 'White Anglo-Saxon Protestant,' per se, but people know it when they see it. It's a dusty spice rack in a kitchen in Maine, or horse hair on the back of an old Subaru. ... It's Cracker Barrel cheese and white wine in plastic tumblers on the back of an old sailboat." Salk divided the book into pictorial chapters exploring distinct elements of the WASP experience, including Food, Home, Décor and Ivy League. As a self-described "insider" to the WASP tribe, Salk drew a good deal from her own experiences, and often illuminated the less-obvious archetypes (i.e. Bill Blass and his yellow lab as opposed to Ralph Lauren and his polo horse). On the culturally pejorative quality of the word, Salk said, "It's a little bit of a pebble in people's shoes but it's constantly being used. It is what it is. ...I wanted to use this word because I wanted to see what it brought up in people." Like any lasting style, WASPiness has spread, and Salk makes a subtle point of showing its pervasiveness; the person she asked to write the book's foreword, for example, is a Jewish man. At its worst, WASPishness is stubborn and exclusive, but at its best, Salk said, it is optimistic, educated and also comforting. "I remember when I was just starting out in New York, getting my first job and apartment. I would go home and visit my parents, and feel this comfort in seeing my parents do same things they'd always done. WASP culture is protected a lot from change, she said. "I'm not saying it's not myopic, or that it's perfect, but there's something comforting about this lifestyle. Sometimes, you want to be in a world where all people worry about is getting their old L.L. Bean tote bag and going on a sail. ...The older generation of people, when you see them walking down Main Street on Nantucket at cocktail hour, there's an optimism in their jauntily, colorful
pants and blue blazers." I HELP FROM SUSANNA SALK ON WASP STYLE: Must-haves: • LL Bean tote bag from 1980s (If handles tear, simply secure with duct tape) • Any children's book by Robert McClowsky • Cracker Barrel cheese and Triscuits for cocktail hour • Scattering of dog hair on back of car seat • No wind chimes or air freshners anywhere Must-bes: • At the Casino for family movie night • A summer weekend guest at Marina Rust's home on Penobscot Bay • Able to whip up a batch of deviled eggs for tailgating parties • Able to dance enthusiastically but not passionately Must-dos • Study Thurston J. Howell 111 from Gilligan's Island (Except for the suit cases of cash) • Wear Belgian loafers with no socks • Attend "The Game" in Cambridge one time in your life (and it's not for the football) |
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