Anonymous wrote:DC is more new money. Old money doesn't dress up as much.

True, but there isn't that much old money any more. It's all been wasted on those lazy trust fund kids, and lost to poor investing and bad money management. Old money is now poor in many cases, and has to acquire new money. So confusing, but that slacker old money look is now rare. The trust fund babies of new money will look like that unless their parents are smart and give away their excess wealth and leave only a small amount to their kids, a la Bill Gates.

OP,

We are middle class, and I don't dress well, but my child goes to private school where most of the parents are wealthy and dress very well.

My child does not like the lack of diversity at the private school. We visited several colleges where the kids and the parents on the tours, seemed much more low-key, not preppy or wealthy, most of the kids we met had come from public high schools.

My child was attracted to the colleges with a more diverse mix of kids. DC said she wanted to go to school with "normal" kids. I was surprised by this, because I expected she'd want to go to college with kids more like the kids at her private school.

Anyway, I don't think we'll be seeing a lot of well-dressed parents at the school our child picks for college, and that's fine with me. Privates are skewed so much toward the upper and upper middle class. It's a very distorted view of the world.

Anonymous wrote:Our DC went to a DC private with financial aid. For the most part the parents are all very attractive, well dressed/groomed and appear rich/upper middle class. For college our DC is going to a state school (OOS) and I noticed during "admitted student day" that there is clearly a lot of economic diversity, which is fine. I was just curious if the parents at Ivy's and other expensive colleges are mostly really well dressed and look wealthy. I assume they do. If you are one of them do you feel like you have to look your best and dress nicely when you go to your DC's school?

No. Nor did my parents when I went to a fancy college (and grad school). If you have spent more than 5 minutes thinking about this issue . . . Eell, there are no words.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is more new money. Old money doesn't dress up as much.

Actually DC is more 2 working parents in white collar jobs in a town that expects suits/dresses. The well dressed parents at private schools are probably in their work clothes.

So what? What's wrong with nice work clothes?

Anonymous wrote:DC is more new money. Old money doesn't dress up as much.

Actually DC is more 2 working parents in white collar jobs in a town that expects suits/dresses. The well dressed parents at private schools are probably in their work clothes.

A few sartorial observations from DS, who recently worked at his school's commencement:

moms all look the same (n.b.: remember, this is in the eyes of a 20 y.o. male);

dads all pretty much look the same -- suits or khaki pants and blue blazers, except . . .

Euro-Dads wore beautiful suits;

1 Dad wore a Tweety Bird tie -- his DS was a math major (n.b.: no offense meant; my DS is also a STEM major);

1 Dad wore a polo shirt and boat shoes; no blazer -- did his luggage get lost?

All parents became extremely anxious as their child's moment-in-the-spotlight approached and all exhibited intensely competitive behavior in jockeying for a good camera angle.

DC is more new money. Old money doesn't dress up as much.