A Privileged Life: Celebrating Wasp Style

by Susanna Salk

At once glamorous and mysterious, the WASP lifestyle has influenced countless trends in the worlds of fashion, home design, and pop culture. Today, one no longer has to be a WASP to embrace its casual-yet-elegant attitude and sense of style. With lively text and over one hundred images from world-renowned photographers, A Privileged Celebrating WASP Style is the first book of its kind to unveil this rarefied way of life, one that many emulate though few truly understand. From the eclectic and well-decorated home of Sister Parish to the popular pink-and-green color combination of preppy chic to iconic photographs of the style makers who embody the WASP spirit like Grace Kelly, Truman Capote, or Jacqueline Kennedy, this book celebrates our timeless fascination with America's leisure class.

Genres: Nonfiction, Photography, Fashion, Design

170 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2006

Reviews

[Lobstergirl · Rating 1 out of 5]

A masturbatory paean to the WASP lifestyle and look (if there is such a defineable thing). One of the most distasteful books I've seen in a long while; I felt like I needed to throw up AND take a shower afterward. There is just a handful of pages of text, the rest is full page photographs - many of them of the author's own family - and some of those could have come from ordinary, non-WASP family albums. (A lot of people with blond hair sat on sandy beach dunes as children in the 70s - even some white trash and Jews.) Most people would be embarrassed by such captions ("My father, dressed in his Harvard crew shirt") but not, apparently, this woman. She unironically observes that Wasps will stop to observe cocktail hour even on a small boat in the midst of a squall. The photos are a mix of Susanna Salk's extended family, Susanna Salk as a child in her field hockey uniform (fullpage), vintage shots of people playing tennis or polo at exclusive country clubs or students throwing a frisbee at Yale, shots of JFK Jr. as a tousle-haired teen, Carolyn Bessette's yearbook photo, Audrey Hepburn studio shots, up-close polo boots, the cast of Dead Poets Society, J. Crew ads (literally), Susan Sontag smoking a fag. (Susan Sontag?? Oh wait, I guess the wall of the Princeton building behind her is the Wasp there.)

Shockingly, we learn that the author married a Jew - but this transgression passes muster, because his parents live in an "imposing Park Avenue apartment," drink scotch, and make stir-fry. And her Jewish husband feels equally at home at her parents, where they down gin and tonics and casseroles. Waspiness truly is large enough to encompass all of us, as long as we either wear preppy grosgrain belts or live on Park Avenue.

The book has what ought to be embarrassing typos: Cleveland Armory for Cleveland Amory; Robert McClowsky for Robert McCloskey, Jane Wrightsman for Jayne Wrightsman. "My own childhood home was the same one in which my mother grew up in," hyperventilates Salk in the section on home decor.

I am slightly fascinated by the bygone era when tastemakers such as Babe Paley and C.Z. Guest ruled a certain proscribed world (and less fascinated by Lilly Pulitzer shifts and whales embroidered on grosgrain belts), but this book in no way investigates that. The author and her publisher should be ashamed for causing this disgusting mess to see the light of day.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty much all pictures of WASPs, with a few short essays. It's not tongue-in-cheek, like the preppy handbook.

I checked this out for decorating ideas (the author has written a few design books). This wasn't what I was hoping for, and I don't think I'd recommend it.

[Julia James Burns · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this in a second hand bookshop and thought it was a comic look at WASP culture. It wasn't! However it was a hoot to paw over and a great find. Despite the title the book is primarily a collection of pop culture photos from the 60s and 70s - fashion, movies, famous icons of the time and, for a WASP child of this era, bought back memories of our sixties kitchen and groovy lounge wallpaper around the 'bar', my mum's floral sun dresses and my long white socks and black patent shoes.











and hair ribbons!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the title indicates, there's no 'poor little rich girl' or false modesty here. Instead, the author spends 160 pages sharing preppy pictures (many of her own family) and talking about how being a WASP is totally awesome. For those who aren't well-heeled and pastel-clad, her celebration probably comes off as completely obnoxious, but the author seems so completely oblivious that I found the whole thing amusing.

Also, I just want to go on record saying that Lilly Pulitzer dresses are hideous.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a bit disappointed. It should have been a coffee table book since it was mostly photos. This book was mentioned in the Grey Gardens documentary, so I expected something more substantial about that lifestyle. There was one page of Little Eddie. Instead this book was some fluff about the WASPY type lifestyle.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fabulous and fascinating. Loved it.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like the book's subjects, I found this volume a bit too thin and vacuous.

[Manny Villa · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating and visually satisfying peek into one of many American cultures. I found the book to be matter of fact enough to allow one to make ones own judgements about the WASP lifestyle. I felt like Nick Calloway or Mr. ripley, both lured and put off, charmed and cynical. A very enjoyable read and I just loved the pictures!

[Maureen Flatley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who doesn't love a book written by a native of Essex, MA......though not a native myself I'm proud to call Essex home. This is a sweet, beautifully written memoir/cultural study that holds up reading after reading!

[Muffy Kroha · Rating 3 out of 5]

It could have been better! I wanted more and better photos- I would have focused more on fashion and less on lifestyle- It is the thought that counts I suppose!

[Kacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Understanding the life style of another subculture of America..
It's history but in the end just another culture and traditions.

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book about the WASP life style. There are a lot of old pictures in the book and that was neat to see.

[Georgia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book should be done at least somewhat ironically… with some recognition of absurdity. It isn't.

[Janet]

Lilly Pulitzer, prep schools and New England comfortable. Haven't we met somewhere before?