West Coast Preppy?

This time of year, our mailbox is overloaded with catalogs, coupon books and notices of the last-minute deals for Christmas. Often times, I end up tossing the lot into the recycling bin, but today, one of the pieces caught my attention. It was from a clothing and accessories company called johnnie-O, touting its line as "West Coast Prep." Of course the word "prep" caught my eye, so I opened the mailer and learned that it's a clothing company, specializing in sports attire, featuring its signature surfer guy and surf board icon.

Hmm. West Coast Prep. Is that possible? The company is based in L.A. and is the brainchild of John O'Donnell, a Chicago native who eventually migrated west. And, he's the brother of actor Chris O'Donnell. So, considering that I had a big crush on Chris O'Donnell in the early 90s, I decided to peruse the johnnie-O website. Hey, whatever it takes to get my attention - they had me at "Chris."

There are clothes for women, men and kids. The polos, ball caps and Susie-fit Ts have a nice look to them. Although, there are some items that are a bit too Hollywood for my taste (I'll pass on the Mac Daddy Hat, thanks).

The mailer featured a collage of photos of real customers wearing the clothes - very Vinyeard Vines. The website also features some photos of folks sporting the caps at the Derby, which is always cool in my book.

The website also includes images of celebrities wearing the clothes, both on screen and on the street, like Giada De Laurentiis, below. Again, hmm.

I think I prefer Vineyard Vines, Southern Proper or Collared Greens, but props to johnnie-O for putting a West Coast twist on the preppy clothing market.
Images courtesy of johnnie-O