Education/ownage time.
Preppy - Slang usage
In recent years, young people have begun to use the term "preppy" as slang to describe those who appear clean-cut or seem slightly better off financially than others in a given middle class environment. Used in this manner, "preppy" is applied entirely contrary to the term's mainstream meaning stated above, as the slang version most often describes 'nouveau', publically-educated people absorbed in the middle class hypermaterialism of modern pop culture for cheap goods sold at disproportionately high prices. As such, teenagers often apply this slang label to popular clothing brands not characteristic of "prepdom" as indicated above, including American Eagle Outfitters, Abercrombie and Fitch, Hollister Co., and Aeropostale. Polo Ralph Lauren, to which young people often apply the "preppy" moniker, also belongs to this group; begun relatively recently in 1967 by Ralph Lauren, who had not yet changed his name from Ralph Lifschitz, the company capitalizes on the materialism of modern middle-class pop culture for cheap goods sold at disproprotionately high prices, seeking through nontraditional production methods, often based in the third-world, to imitate clothiers that traditionally catered to "preppies," such as Brooks Brothers and J. Press.
"Preppy" was also the nickname by which A.C. Slater called Zach Morris in the teen sitcom Saved by the Bell (1989-1993).
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Skaters and Social Groups
Since the 1990s a significant amount of skateboarders, commonly known as "skaters," have been catagorized into their own social group. Though they have always existed, it wasn't until relatively recently that skaters broke free of the common "metal-head" or "stoner" stereotypes and came to be seen as their own subculture, with their own fashion, slang, and music. The popularity of skate shoes and clothing has led to a corresponding increase of so-called "poseurs," people who adopt the look of skateboarding culture without a dedication to skateboarding itself.
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Poser
Poseur (Americanized as poser) is a derogatory label for an individual who seeks to identify with a particular subculture, not because they have taken on its shared values but because they seek to gain social status within the culture, or to gain the status associated with it. Posers are often seen as preppies (preps) or jocks that want all groups to accept them, so they "strike poses". Another result of "poserism" is absorbtion into the mainstream pop culture (example: hearing Green Day once and labeling oneself punk); a poser would come to believe that punk, goth or emo are all types of fashion or music, but they all have their own sets of idealism and rules, similar to that of a religion. Another type of poser are "skaters": teens that wears clothes from skateboard and/or surf companies to "fit in", some even say that they skateboard, snowboard, and/or surf. Even though subcultures are not just based on music, some of their roots are developed from musical genres. Not all mainstream music is accepted by subcultures due to not realizing the culture idealism, thus why MTV is highly controversial amongst subcultures. Posers may be identified by frequent changes in style of clothing and interests, often within the span of a few months.
The term "Poser" is rarely used outside the context of musical and high school based subcultures, and many people consider the term and the obsession with authenticity as it pertains to a particular group to be highly juvenile. Despite this, it has some instances outside of this area, such as the band Simple Plan who are seen by most who do not like them, as posers. This is said because of their apparent lack of "creativity, talent, musicianship, or depth" (quoted from Simple Plan article).
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See also: Goth and Punk
