“The Cult of J. Crew” & Silly Tilly’s New Friend

Hello-Hello!

We start with a photo indicating why today’s post is somewhat abbreviated:

"Hello everyone! Good to see you!"

This morning brought another visit to the vet for Silly Tilly, she loves going to see her friends there. It was time for an update on meds and the Separation Anxiety Issue.

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Next we share news about a Forbes story, “The Cult of J. Crew” by Leah Bourne. Below, the subhead on the story:

“The retailer is doing exactly the right thing: selling clothes that women want to buy. Why isn’t anyone else?“

It is a fascinating piece with background on the company’s history, challenges and success. We didn’t know the origins of the Crew name, explained in the slide show accompanying the story.

“The name Crew was picked to compete with Ralph Lauren’s Polo label…added the J because… it added cache.”

1987 Catalog via Forbes.com

Nor did we realize company founder Arthur Cinader’s premise in creating Crew:

“J.Crew was founded in 1983 by Arthur Cinader in the hopes of capitalizing on the success of The Official Preppy Handbook and Ralph Lauren.  J.Crew was to be the price conscious antidote for the growing legions of yuppie shoppers.”

Ms. Bourne also discusses the brand’s challenges in the 1990s, remember these styles?

Courtesy J. Crew via Forbes.com

More from the story:

“J.Crew quickly morphed into a store that appealed to younger shoppers making investment purchases, Birkin Bag-toting soccer moms cutting back on splurges at Neiman Marcus and career-centric women who can’t get enough of the pencil skirts and slim trousers.

John Aquino/WWD

“It’s a recession-proof model that few stores imitate–$500 sequin and tulle skirts expertly sit next to their $150 counterparts, with skillfully put together mannequins to help shoppers style the look for evening (with a silk tank) and for the office (with a T-shirt and belted wool sweater). Every purchase seems like a great buy.”

We inserted a look from the spring line; for more of Crew’s spring styles just just click.

Frequent readers know we adore certain Crew items while finding other pieces just this side of horrid.  Regardless of any inane Princess comments, the story provides a nice overview of the company, click here to enjoy it at your leisure.

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For today’s Pretty in Pink we share this bright bit of fabulosity:

Courtesy Photo

That would be the brand-spanking-new Fiat 500 in our favorite color, click here for more.

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Two more quick tidbits before we leave you, beginning with a congratulatory note to Miss LPC of Privilege blog fame, she did a guest post for Corporette today!  Named as one of Technorati‘s Top 100 Fashion Blogs, Corporette is a great site discussing  fashion styles for women in professional office environments; it is quite the coup for LPC!

Our second newsbyte involves those increasingly popular events known as “online sample sales,” “invitation only sales,” and other monikers. We have posted about them on numerous occasions in this space, and today we share a recommendation for a stellar story in the Journal about pricing practices at these sites.

“It’s 50% Off…Well, Maybe 35%” by Vanessa O’Connell offers information that online shoppers will appreciate seeing:

“… there are complaints that some of these sites, which typically promise markdowns anywhere from 50% to 70%, are relying on an old sleight-of-hand: inflating retail prices to make their discounts larger than they really are. Because these Web-only sales last a short time, usually 36 to 48 hours, shoppers feel pressure to make a quick decision.  And as with most sharply discounted sale items, purchases on these Web sites are often nonrefundable.”

Another good read, it has solid examples of pricing variances.

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With apologies to those who saw this after we Tweeted about it, we leave with a look at Tilly and her new friend:

The little love on the towel is a baby bully named Prudence, adopted by one of the techs at our vet.  We don’t know if Tilly ever had puppies (she is a rescue dog and we don’t know her history) but she acts so excited when seeing them, and is so gentle around them, we believe she did have a litter or two.  Today was no different, Tilly simply loved little Prudence. How could you not?

With that, g’bye until next time!