Great Preppy Giveaway Week 3, Inaugural Dress Update

We must acknowledge acting somewhat like a Pouty Princess over the seemingly never-ending debacle going on here:

Until we realized we get to give away some preppy goodies! It is time to announce the winner of the Great Preppy Princess Giveaway winner for Week 2…. (drum roll):

verybusymomwith4

Whoo-hoo! Some may recall that our Thankful Thursday topic for last week’s giveaway was ‘one friend you are grateful for,” and Miss Lisa, founder and curator of VBMW4, shared this comment as her entry for the giveaway:

“I am thankful for my friend Julie who knows when to help me, when to advise me and when I need to listen. I am in awe of how she just knows how to act in every situation.”

As the winner Lisa receives a treasure trove of goodies from the Preppy Princess, including a Boatman Geller Carrie & Tuck personal stationery station and a fab Madras Refill Set! (This is so fun!)

Now for Week 3, our comment topic is anything for which you are thankful. How easy is that? Just leave a quick comment on something, someone, someplace you are grateful for… and voilà! You are entered!  Wonder what you can win this week? Read on.

Week 3 Great Giveaway goodies include this Perfect Circle Apron….

PreppyPrincess.com

Accompanied by the matching gloves; clearly one cannot risk a fashion disaster in their own kitchen.

PreppyPrincess.com

Of course, if Cook is handling the duties, and you have no worries about keeping the splish-splash off your cocktail dress, then the Apron/Gloves Set always make the perfect gift for someone else.

Also for the lucky winner, the understated elegance of the Trey’s Stripes notecards. Naturally the Princess will personalize the set of 10 cards, per your wishes.

PreppyPrincess.com

Don’t forget that if you mention the Great Giveaway on your blog or home page a Bonus Gift goes to anyone you choose! Because it wasn’t won this past week, we’ll roll over the Week 2 Bonus Prize Pack.

The Bonus Prize includes the Laguna Beach apron, along with one of our favorite books, Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart.

So don’t forget… scroll down and make a quick comment!  “I am thankful for ______.”

Leave your comments before midnight next Wednesday, the 26th, and you are entered in the Giveaway.  And because sharing is caring, *do* think about mentioning the Giveaway on your blog, or your Facebook or MySpace page, whatever works for you (in a good, clean fun kind of way) so you can share the Bonus Prizes with someone near and dear.

Our first comment comes from Legally Heidi, here is part of what she shared:

“i’m thankful for my pal Liz. Her and i have had a rough friendship but we’ve always come out on top She’s the one friend i know i could call at 2am upset and she’d listen to me.”

Do let TP know if you have any questions…that is why we are here!

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A quick update to our most recent post on the search for an appropriate prep school for Malia and Sasha Obama.  We reported that our intuition pointed to Maret being out of the mix, with the choice down to either Georgetown Day School or Sidwell Friends.  The Post (Washington) seems to confirm this:

“… school search appears to have narrowed… and the much-buzzed-about Maret School is apparently out of the running.”

Also, we promised to let you know what we discovered about Michelle Obama’s attire seen in the CBS 60 Minutes Interview:

Aaron Tomlinson/CBS News Handout/Reuters

As speculated, the pieces were by Maria Pinto, who seems to have achieved ‘Most Favored Nation’ status when it comes to the future First Lady’s fashion choices, IOHO.  According to the Trib:

“… wore the “Eme” top and “Rani” skirt in an iris color, designed by Chicago’s Maria Pinto. The ensemble is from Pinto’s spring collection, but rendered in tweed for Obama, a loyal Pinto client. The sleeveless element was retained from the original design.”

We continue to see sketches of possible inaugural ball gowns from varying designers; here is one from Tracey Reese, as seen in this story from the Detroit Free Press.  We simply love that look, the dress is absolutely beautiful.

Tracey Reese

BTW, today’s Times (NY) had an excellent story about price wars between online retailers and the  tactics they employ to move merchandise.  For example, we had no idea Zappos uses a sister site for its discounted and marked down products…did you? (If interested, it is 6pm.com)  And 6pm does carry most, if not all, of the name brands Zappos stocks.

Also, Steve & Barry’s will be gone permanently.  After being bailed out of an earlier bankruptcy three months back, yesterday the company filed for liquidation in New York. We have no news yet on what will happen with Sarah Jessica Parker’s Bitten line of clothing, currently sold at the retailer.

Happy-Happy!

PB Teen News, Ralph Lauren, Sarah Jessica Parker & Brooks Brothers Sneak Peeks

Everyone fond of Pottery Barn Teen rejoice – the company is opening its first PBTeen store in Atlanta.

Even The Princess, with no teenagers to cope with or decorate for, loves PB Teen.  The vivid, vibrant colors and designs are good for the spirit, and the quality generally very good.  Simply another reason to toddle on over to Lenox Hill and make another contribution to America’s economic recovery…yes?!

It has been an up and down year for Williams-Sonoma, owner of this line and several others. According to  the San Francisco Business Journal, West Elm, Williams-Sonoma Home and PB Teen have all performed very well this year. Unfortunately, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids and Williams-Sonoma itself are not doing as well.

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And now, a sneak peek at a few upscale perfume and cologne lines, the first from Ralph Lauren.

The perfect size for a stocking stuffer, the flask is sterling silver with a vintage-inspired enamel jockey on the front, ideal for the Lauren equestrian look.

Also on the way, three scents from Sarah Jessica Parker from her new Lovely Collection, available in February 2009.  There will be three different fragrances: Dawn, Endless and Twilight.

Courtesy Photo

According to the story in WWD, the Collection will have an intensive TV and internet campaign.

Courtesy Photo

These will be available as eau de parfum at $38 and $58; there will also be a scented body lotion retailing at $28.

Courtesy Photo

And a reminder on the new Brooks Brothers scents, Brooks Brothers New York for Men and Women in cut crystal bottles that are actually quite attractive.

Courtesy Brooks Brothers

As mentioned in an earlier post, this is the first perfume introduced at B2 in fifty years. Brooks Brothers New York scents Men (scroll down to see new scent) and Brooks Brothers New York Women are to officially launch tomorrow in stores and online.  However, as is becoming a more common practice, the items are already available online.

The Moment, the Times’ fashion blog, has an interesting review of the new fragrances.

“Given that feminines are almost always superior to their masculine counterparts (see Light Blue, Rive Gauche, Carolina Herrera, et al), it is always a surprise when the masculine smells better. But perhaps when it’s Brooks Brothers, this should have been expected.”

Hhhhmmm. Apparently this will require personal investigation before we can render a personal opinion. If any of you have remarks on the new scents, you simply must share with the rest of the class.

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As we are always on the hunt for new and exciting web sites, today we suggest readers may enjoy a visit to Ivy Style, a relatively new blog.  One of the recent posts is on the “Return of the Young Fogey” and it is really quite entertaining.

Courtesy Ivy-Style.com

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We hoped to leave you with some witty thoughts on enjoying a preppy Halloween, but are not doing well on this mission.  There is online advice on How to Dress Like an 80s Prep (rather lacking IOHO), and Diva Village shares their tips for dressing like Nancy Drew, with a cute collage.

Courtesy Diva Village

So we’ll merely say Happy, Happy Halloween to everyone – we hope it is warm and wonderful wherever you may be!

Preppy GOOP, & Brooks Brothers Bonanza

Greetings and salutations from the sometimes strange land of the Preppy Princess, where today we start with GOOP.  Surprisingly, this is not a Princess cooking tragedy resulting from an experiment in the kitchen on Cook’s night off.  Rather, it is a website from über-preppy Gwenyth Paltrow. (Spence, three years.)

The GOOP site is being launched the same week as Ms. Paltrow’s cooking show on PBS with CelebeChef Mario Batali, “Spain… on the Road Again“.

Photo Frappe Inc./Courtesy of Public Television Series "Spain... on the Road Again"

GOOP still appears to be under construction, but in copy on the site Ms. Paltrow explains that while she has made mistakes over the years, she has also learned things and would like to share some of them with readers.

“I want to nourish what is real, and I want to do it without wasting time. I love to travel, to cook, to eat, to take care of my body and mind, to work hard,” she notes on the site. “I love being a mother who has to overcome my bad qualities to be a good mother. I love being in spaces that are clean and nice.”

Not shared is any info on the heels worn by Ms. Paltrow to the PBS show’s premiere Sunday night in New York. British tabloid the Sun is claiming the shoes worn by the star were studded with real diamonds on the heels. Please, please, someone tell TP this isn’t true.

In the “Thank God it’s Over” department we take a quick peek at the newly renovated Saks in Boston.  If you are going to be in Back Bay, this is worth the visit, although at times it *is* far easier to navigate to Natick where one can do both Nordstrom and Needless Markup Neimans without the parking issues at The Pru.

The Meghan Jones photos above show off the new and improved look, with the second photo featuring the Swarovski crystals above the escalator in the store.

Wasn’t it divine to learn that one of the few things we try and watch on television, Mad Men, won an Emmy as Best Drama Series? Oddly enough we actually remembered to watch Sunday evening (a rare occurrence) but naturally found ourselves switching between amc and ESPN in order to see the Yankees’ last game at Yankee Stadium. And how does one prepare to attend the Emmy Awards?

Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times

If you are actor Bryan Batt (he plays Salvatore Romano, Sterling Cooper’s art director), with a glass of scotch in hand while having your eyebrows plucked. Mr. Batt said he would be wearing a Thom Browne tuxedo from Brooks Brothers’ Black Fleece collection to the show on Sunday.  Below, a photo of the actor in a scene with Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olsen.

But it turns out Mr. Batt was only one of many gentlemen clad in Brooks eveningwear. Others included Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report and Rick Schroeder of A&E’s sci-fi series The Andromeda Strain. Mr. Colbert is seen below with fellow comedian Daily Show host Jon Stewart.

Others from the Mad Men cast expected to be in Brooks included Robert Morse who plays Bertram Cooper, one of ad agency Sterling Cooper’s founders.

In the picture just below there are four Mad Men cast members and all four are wearing Brooks Brothers:

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Aaron Staton far left, who plays Account Executive Ken Cosgrove…

Michael Gladis, second left in the photo above; Paul Kinsey is his character’s name…

Mr. Batt whom we have already shown in character, and then Rich Sommer, seen far right in the four-shot in his role as Harry Crane, a Media Buyer.

This does not include at least four other men who work on the hit show behind the scenes who were also expected to be in Brooks Brothers Sunday evening.  If the fashions of the era interest you, amc-tv has a weekly Mad Men fashion blog, and there is also a good read, Mad Men Fashion: Then & Now on Black Book Magazine’s site.

The sense that all manner of things are going on simply because one is away from home is accentuated by the lack of that portable office created by a laptop. Imagine our dismay during our long weekend to find the wireless not working!

It must explain our missing the news of “The Carrie Diaries,” from SATC (Sex and the City) author Candace Bushnell. It seems we shall have the opportunity to learn all about a teenage Carrie Bradshaw, that character made famous by Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex and the City. Ms. Bushnell has a new contract with publisher Harper Collins for not one, but two books, on Carrie’s life before Sex and the City. A comment attributed to the author from the news release:

“Carrie in high school did not follow the crowd—she led it. It was there that she began observing and commenting on the social scene.”

Both books are due out in 2010, and will be published as “teen novels.” Some readers may recall our previous mention of something due out much sooner from Ms. Bushnell, One Fifth Avenue. It was released yesterday.

Following closely on the heels of this story is more discussion of the possibility of another Sex and the City film, conversation spurred as a result of the movie’s release on DVD.

Maria Sharapova & Gymnast Nastia Liukin Front Row, Anna Wintour & Sarah Jessica Parker Throw a Party

Well, it is a Friday.

And that means NY Fashion Week is kicking off, with more parties, functions and events that any human can possibly attend. And that’s before we even talk about the actual runway shows! TP is not at all disappointed to be passing on the big do this time around, and if pushed, would acknowledge a slight sense of relief at this fact. PreppyPrincess.com is consuming all our time and energies when we aren’t fulfilling social, charitable or familial obligations, which is as it should be.

Above we have a couple of advance sketches from designers, including a ‘nature-inspired sleeveless dress’ from Tracy Reese, and an enchanting floral halter “diary dress” designed by Wenlan Chia for Twinkle. The latter link is a delightful little site full of surprises and information in addition to the fabulous clothes, incuding the 2008 Holiday Collection. If interested, there is a great blog or running commentary that even has pictures of the models they selected for their show, some fun behind-the-scenes stuff for Fashionistas.

And should you fancy Tracy Reese, there is a quite substantial sale underway if you care to shop online. For example, the Flared Skirt with Pockets in Marine is discounted 60%, as is the Large Tote in its vivid turquoise and green tones (and lots of other goodies!).

While celebrities have always been a part of Fashion Week, this year there will be even more athletes and sports celebrities also in attendance. Tennis star Maria Sharapova invited Olympic Gold Medalist Nastia Liukin to attend the Peter Som show with her, something the teenage gymnast is very excited about. But that isn’t the only show for Nastia; she is also going to Isaac Mizrahi and Cole Haan. Below, Ms. Sharapova at the Valentino Couture show in Paris this July.

Photo by Eric Ryan/Getty Images

Here, a photo of Nastia in Beijing, wearing all of the medals she won at the Summer Games, followed by a promotional partnership benefiting the Susan G. Komen Fund.

The talented teen has been hyper-busy since returning from the Beijing Summer Games, inking sponsorship deals, making appearances and trying to relax. She is already working with Vanilla Star Jeans to launch Nastia Liukin Gold tops and bottoms in time for the holiday selling period, and hopes to do some designing herself. She is signed with Cover Girl Cosmetics, Adidas, AT&T, and a host of other companies. The Texas superstar is slated for an appearance of Gossip Girl. And then there is the Wheaties box….

One reason the Vanilla Star Folks are pleased to be partnering with the gymnast is explained in a MediaPost story:

“…Liukin embodies the brand’s “anti-jean” philosophy by opposing the trend of exploiting young teens’ bodies in its ads. “We always try to find personalities that our core Vanilla Star customer is attracted to and will set a good example…”

The company’s slogans are “Smart girls rock,” and “Live the dream.” And don’t we find that refreshing, albeit somewhat ironic, as the Fashion Week celebration of the “You can never be too thin…” philosophy gets underway.

Below we simply had to include what is arguably TP’s alltime favorite photo of Miss Liukin, taken at the Liukin’s training facility in northern Texas before the Games. We love the sensation of floating, weighlessness, as it appears she is simply suspended in air, all symmetry and lines, grace and strength, captured in this one shot.

As far as runway shows go, one of the first this weekend is Lacoste, at 10am Saturday, in the tents at Bryant Park seen below. Others we have an interest in are Carolina Herrera on Monday morning, the edgy Z Zegna and Ports 1961 are both Monday afternoon, Monique Lhuillier Tuesday morning, Milly and Oscar de la Renta both next Wednesday, plus Ralph Lauren on Friday morning. And that’s a very disciplined and highly edited list from the Princess!

Above, a shot of the tents in Bryant Park as preparations turn into realities, with shows starting today. Unfortunately the area stands to get as much as 4-6″ of rain from Hurricane Hannah, and that could be a challenge. Here’s something of a hot ticket, depending upon one’s political persuasion and capacity to donate their way into the party….

The Runway to Change party is Tuesday night, co-hosted by Le Wintour and Sarah Jessica Parker; it will be held at desinger Charles Nolan’s studio. There is a *long* list of “Participating Designers” on the invitation, including Beyonce, Vera Wang, Russell Simmons, Zac Posen, Jay-Z, Juicy Couture, Isaac Mizrahi, and many more.

For those who are interested, don’t forget that Monday’s season opener for Oprah features 150 Olympic athletes and others, including Debbie Phelps accompanying Michael Phelps. Here are a few behind-the-scenes shots:

Chicago Tribune photo by Michael Tercha

Chicago Tribune photo by Michael Tercha

Above we see Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, Olympic gold medalists in volleyball, arriving at Millenium Park for the shoot. Below, the family that fights together stay together…or something like that, here are Steve, Mark and Diana Lopez, Olympic taekwondo medalists, followed by members of our Gymnastics team, also all medalists.

Chicago Tribune photo by Michael Tercha

Tribune photo by Michael Tercha

May everyone enjoy an absolutely divine weekend free of stress and nasty weather!