Next Target Designer Does Gossip Girl, TP is Upgraded!

Hello-Hello!

We begin with earth-shattering news: The Princess has been upgraded! We are now a Queen, compliments of the witty and wonderful All Things Southern & Preppy, who graced us with the Queen of ALLL Things Awe-Summm Award!!

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As the newly crowned Queen, I am obligated to do the following:

1.  List 7 things that make me Awe-Summm!!!

2.  Pass this onto 7 bloggers.

3.  Let those bloggers know that they have been tagged.

4.  Link to Her Majesty who tagged me.

5.  Copy the picture onto my sidebar to let the world know I am the Queen! (Ummm..this is one we have to cheat on as we are coping with a change to the blog’s format.)

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Seven things that make me Awe-Summm!!! (This is really mortifying, FYI.)

1.  TSU/TPC (The Spousal Unit, aka The Princess Consort)

2. TQM (The Queen Mother)

3. Belief System

4. Kindness

5. Beliefs

6. Compassion

7. Being a perfectionist/control freak (in a good way, of course)

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We are also directed to tag 7 people:

1. Privilege
2. Preppy Pink Crocodile
3. Mrs. News Readin’ Wife
4. The West Family Players
5. The Preppy Player
6. Making Stuff and Doing Things
7. A Crafty Mom

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As Target winds up its current design collaboration with Alexander McQueen (there is still plenty on sale), we have word their next partnership will be with Anna Sui.

Industry trade publication WWD broke the story yesterday; in an intriguing twist, Ms. Sui is using the four main characters from TV’s Gossip Girl to guide her designs.

“I liked the idea of creating a collection reflective of each characters’ style, sensibility and unique approach to fashion.”

A stock analyst who follows the retailing industry likes the Gossip Girl connection:

‘“Gossip Girl’ is very mainstream,” said Dreher. “Not only will it attract Anna Sui clientele, but ‘Gossip Girl’ fans. It’s going to appeal to a wide range of 15- to 34-year-olds. I love the co-branding of it and I love it that it’s names we’ve heard of. It covers a lot of bases.”

TP agrees with the financial analyst: this one will be big.  The Collection hits stores September 13.

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Speaking of G2, a FabSugar story tipped us to the new Fred Flare tees showcasing those four main characters:

Courtesy Fred Flare via FabSugar.com

The fun and fabulous Nautical by Nature may be interested to know that the Team Chuck version is already sold out in at least one size, while Team Serena is down to only 2 left in one size!!

We’re expecting these will go rapidly.

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A few tidbits from the online shopping annals:

• TDF online shoe and handbag site Piperlime will add apparel to the merchandise mix this fall. It will be interesting to see if Lilly Pulitzer is among the clothing brands they carry; the site currently offers Lilly shoes.
• Sak’s has started their “Private Sale” with a substantial amount of merchandise offered across a good range of designers, price points and sizes. Frankly, we are expecting more reductions in prices down the road; the company’s April sales were down by 31%

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TP is looking into Fashion Week Daily’s news brief indicating that Lilly Pulitzer may be doing a jewelry collaboration with Justin Tranter, creator of the Fetty of Brooklyn jewelry line. FWD’s headline read “Which glam rocker loves Lilly Pulitzer?” Here is the one-sentence story:

“Justin Tranter Meeting with the fab people at Lilly Pulitzer about a Fetty/Lilly collab! NO JOKE!”

Mr. Tranter is no stranger to designer collaborations; last year he created a pair of tennis shoes for a very limited edition (24 pairs) partnership with DKNY.

PHOTO: Coolhunting.com

Barney’s carries a fair amount of his Fetty Signature Collection, including the “Shot Through the Heart” necklace (lower left)in 14k gold, and the Dog Tag necklace, also 14K.

Mr. Tranter is also in the band Semi-Precious Weapons.  We’re having a tough time reconciling this…

Courtesy Semi Precious Weapons

With this….

But then, we are not always looked at as a beacon for wild and wacky thought, are we? However, talented bloggy friends like the Fashion Herald and Wendy continue in their tireless efforts to update our look, working to the best of their ability to help us brave new frontiers.

Thank you again Miss Preppy 101! It is also time to thank each and every one of you, our remarkably bright, kind, and considerate readers; you so generously share your comments, your time, your wisdom, and most importantly, you share so much of yourselves, we can never thank you enough.

We send you all miles of smiles and hopes your Friday is fab.

Preppy Sales Pt. 2: Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, Neiman Marcus, Barneys

What were we thinking yesterday? Doing an entire post entitled “Preppy Sales Update…blah-blah-blah” and ignoring some of these retailers? Honestly. On to the business at hand.

Above you see the notice for the Banana Republic sale, worthy of a drive-by as we are wont to say, not to mention the Piperlime sale which merits a full-blown screeching halt, complete with skid marks so that you may stroll into the store and wander at your leisure. A quick reminder – at PiperLime shipping is always free. Thank the shopping goddesses for that, as the Gola Ignite flats seen below are an absolute must-have for the season. Absolute. And the Lilly Color in Bloom flats with the little Pink Ornament…? What do you think?

Now when you get over to Ann Taylor, there are kind of two different sale events. There is the Items at $19.99 and Up Great Summer Sale and then there is the 25% Off Everything Online (at least it appears that way from what little fine print we had time to scan). The Princess can’t tell if this applies to the $19.99 items or not. After you’ve made your stop at Annie T, blast into Neiman‘s for Last Call. Missing Last Call is really TBAAAC (To Be Avoided At Any Cost); there’s just too many opportunities to find goodies for yourself, the help, Junior’s tennis coach and Buffy’s camp counselors.

And whatever you do, *don’t forget* the Men’s Store Event with decent savings on things like the Ferragamo ties and Robert Graham shirts we’re showing here.

While Barneys would not be considered ‘preppy’ in the strictest definitions of the term, TP feels we would all agree that some more-than-preppy items have come out of that fine establishment over the years! It is in that spirit we suggest stopping by the Barneys Memorial Day Sale as well to glance at their offerings.

Spring is Sprung

At last…..bright bouncy days alive with green shoots from optimism. Oh puh-leeze; that is so not happening at the moment. At least not in the great Midwest, most of the south and a good portion of the rest of the country. So here comes Peter Cottontail? I think not. In reality, Mother Nature is in utter hysterics like a girl at her first frat house party who has just experienced the joys of grain alcohol served straight out of what would normally be considered a trash can. “Easter egg hunt? Now? In the snow? Oh yeahhhhhhh.” Are you nuts?”

However, all is not lost: we can still enjoy a few fresh thoughts in recognition of the change of season. Instead of staring at the snow piling up (or whatever your particular misery may be), let’s start at Charles Tyrwhitt, fab friends from the UK with a shop or two in midtown (I think – do send us a note if we’re wrong on the location):

The striped beauty on the far left is marked down from $120 to a mere $75. Who can resist that price? This black jacket is simply a must have, in a to-die-for linen and cotton blend, and quite the bargain at only $295, marked down from $450. Coming in at third place is the sky blue stripe shirt on the far right at $65.  Here is a link to the US Home page for CT; you know we *live* to make your life easier. Of course, if you can repeatedly spell the name without any trouble, then by all means, put yourselves on the Headmaster’s List for the semester.

Moving on, we are pleasantly surprised to find ourselves favorably impressed by this delightful find suggested by FirstBlush.com, billing itself as “The Shopping Site for Women.” Hhhmmm…we are not convinced of that, but do stop by and take a peek if so inclined. (Do disregard their little typing error indicating the bag is from ‘piperline’, when they in fact mean to say “Piperlime.”) Better yet, pop on over to Piperlime and see the bag from every possible angle. BTW, any guidance you can give the Princess on the derivation of the name would be ever-so-appreciated. More importantly, is it a preppy purse in your opinion? Do tell.

We can’t toddle off without showing these divine, dreamy looks for your little one from Best and Company. And before you ask, yes, it’s the ‘new’ Best, the one Susie Hilfiger bought a few years back. What a fabulous job she has done with the company – we are so thrilled to see things going well. If you can’t get to Greenwich or Bergdorf’s (it’s on 7) then give them a call; I think they are still doing trunk shows. Makes us wish they did grown-up girls, or that we were petite and sweet once again. Sigh.

Well, it’s been divine dolls, but we simply must fly. Time to haul out the snowblower in an effort to unearth the eggs we hid on the lawn. Silly us. Can you say Judy Garland in Easter Parade? (Too young to have a clue? Rent it, buy it, or look it up at IMDB.com.)