Is the Gap Back? Also, ‘A Proposition for Prep’

Hello-Hello, happy top of a new week to everyone.

Today we begin with a look at a topic we have been pondering lately, how things are going for the Gap. Some may recall earlier posts in this space about challenges facing the retailer, this weekend’s Times carried an interesting story about the company, “A Humbled Gap Tries a Fresh Coat of Pep“.  The lead sentence makes perfect sense to someone like myself who has been following Gap’s misfortunes, and wondering about the company’s marketing plan.

“THIS can’t be a Gap: the mannequins look kind of happy.”

That covers a broad swath of things related to Gap’s ongoing dilemma, more on the company’s situation can be found in Stephanie Clifford’s story:

After defining 1990s khaki culture, Gap fell hard in the early 2000s. Management missteps, executive turnover and, not least, unappealing fashion punished sales. It was a remarkable comedown for a chain that once seemed to dictate how America dressed.

What went wrong? Dozens of interviews with current and former executives depict a company that chased after rivals, rather than charting its own course, and that cut quality and lost touch with customers. Simply put, it filled its stores with stuff that people didn’t want.

I don’t know about your Palace, but that second paragraph resonates here at The Prepatorium, especially the quality issue. Parenthetically, it is also a description one could apply almost verbatim to Talbots current status.

It looks like some basics are back on track, like Gap’s Oxford Shirts.

Gap

While not a close observer or customer of the Baby Gap line, it seemed from what we noticed in online and print ads that this part of the company retained its focus and core products fairly well….yes?  For those in touch with the children’s clothing, was quality an issue here as well, or not so much?

Baby Gap

The DVF for Baby Gap and Gap Kids line is insanely cute. (More on this collaboration may be found here.)

DVF for Baby Gap

Below, two marketing images from this spring demonstrates the retailer’s commitment to vivid colors.

Gap

More from the NY Times story:

But recent moves seem to be spurring sales. The clothes are bright and fabrics better. (Mr. Peck mandates a minimum weight for T-shirts and knits.) And Gap has added production flexibility so it can chase trends it initially missed — for instance, it just rushed in floral-printed jeans for women.

Again, the emphasis on plenty of brights.

Gap

The back to basics mantra is also influencing the men’s clothing and accessories.

Gap

Other initiatives don’t seem as popular, like the brand’s flip-flops, at least if judging by comments left on the Gap Facebook page, there is some push back on these when it comes to the price, $24.95.

The story closes with a paragraph about Gap’s collection for this winter.

Mannequins wore winter gear, like an updated cable-knit sweater with a slouchy fit. The rest of the collection was red, navy and camel — peppy and preppy.

It looked like something that had been missing for a long time: it looked like the Gap.

It would be wonderful to see Gap back again.

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Also today, a quick look at a piece done over at The Bag Snob titled “The Top 5 Preppy Bags: A Proposition for Prep“:

The Bag Snob

In the story Bag Snob Tina writes:

The word “preppy” tends to have a very specific connotation. Somehow, eighties imagery of Lacoste alligators, Nantucket Reds, and Sperry topsiders (not that they’ve even left preppy dudes’ closets) still hover.

But I’m noticing a freshly cut crop of clean-cut bags that put the “hip” in “prepster,” if you will. Whether you carry yours with a hint of irony or without blinking an eye, it’s time to embrace a little bit of modern prep.

The Anya Hindmarch ‘Nevis’ color block tote is very attractive, that color combo is perfect for the summer!

Until next time may your skies be bright and beautiful!

Anya Hindmarch Target Collection Early Release, Just Not at Target

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Does the greeting card below remind you of anyone who calls you? We thought it might. It seemed appropriate to attempt humor again this afternoon, just in case the market craters again. The Princess is beginning to think she should start contacting friends, if only to leave messages on voice mail asking, “It’s 5pm…do you know where your trust fund is?”

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Here in the corner condo at InterGalactic Headquarters for the Preppy Princess we are thinking that if financials start to augur in right before our eyes we may need to change channels. It is unlikely The Princess Consort is going to be desirous of talking us off the ledge again.

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We do find the following story from The Hill interesting, although it would have been wise for editors to think through this particular title for the article:

House limits constituent e-mails to prevent crash

When we saw the title by itself we actually thought to ourselves “How can limiting email to the House of Representatives possibly prevent a crash on Wall Street?”  At any rate, the story explains the following:

“The House is limiting e-mails from the public to prevent its websites from crashing due to the enormous amount of mail being submitted on the financial bailout bill.

As a result, some constituents may get a ‘try back at a later time’ response if they use the House website to e-mail their lawmakers about the bill defeated in the House on Monday in a 205-228 vote.”

We feel validated; yesterday afternoon we thought our online activity was markedly slower than normal, and here in the office we are fortunate enough to have a T1 line. It didn’t make sense, but then, neither did most of yesterday.

One suggestion: do not even think about using email to contact your elected Representative in our nation’s capitol unless you enjoy the exploding brains experience. (Yes, it is quite tacky to have used such a expression but we are at a loss. No pun intended.)  We attempted to get to the main “Email Your Representative” page several times so as to better share the experience with you; not a bright idea.  Each and every time it froze our browser (using either Safari or Firefox on an iMac) and ultimately shut down the browser.

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We are hopeful the much-too-kind Europa Fox won’t deem this post inappropriate for a recipient of the Smile Award…especially when leading into discussion of such a fun topic!

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She is just too wonderful, bestowing upon us a SMILE award. You know Europa Fox, international style star and truly our eyes and ears on the other side of the pond.  More importantly, a wonderful mother to the completely adorable Caspar. In fact, when Caspar is of age in another 19 years or so The Princess Consort knows he is being replaced. It is simply understood. Now here are the rules for spreading the smiles to fellow bloggers:

• Must display a cheerful attitude.
• Must love one another.
• Must make mistakes.
• Must learn from others.
• Must be a positive contributor to blog world.
• Must love life.
• Must love kids.

Rules when receiving the award:

• The recipient must link back the the award’s creator
• You must post these rules if you receive the award.
• You must chose 5 people to receive the award after receiving it yourself
• You must fit the characteristics of the recipient of the award, as posted.
• You must post the characteristics of a recipient.
• You must create a post sharing your win with others.
• You must thank your giver.

So now that it is our turn to share the Award with others, here we go :

• Preppy Pink Crocodile is a daily read for her fun and fabulous posts, not to mention the recipes, oh yes indeedy, those recipes!
• Mom x 2: Exquisite taste and lots of fun, this is another must-read, and her recipes are also a smash hit here at the Prepatorium.
• Preppy Lizard: Liz exudes elegance while remaining down to earth, a combo we find extremely hard to find. She also has extraordinary taste and has done Interior Design as a pro; the woman is a genius at this.
• Fashion Herald: You could almost say the Herald shops for a living. And she has friends with names like ChristmasTime.
• Tickled Pink & Green: A witty writer, Miss TP&G demonstrates her good taste day in and day out, and she can also write. Goodness, can this woman write!

Thank you Miss Fox!

Some readers may remember our post back in June about some of Target’s designer collaborations, part of their GO International initiative. New collections that launch next week (Sunday, October 12th) are handbags from Anya Hindmarch and shoes from Sigerson Morrison. However, visitors to the Hindmarch site can purchase the bags now.

Anya Hindmarch Target Look Nine

Abve we show the Look Nine bag in navy and black. Below, Ms. Hindmarch’s Look Five for Target, already out of stock on her site.

For those not familiar with Ms. Hindmarch, she is best known for her “I am not a plastic bag” environmentally friendly tote, but she has designed handbags since the 90’s.

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We leave you with one more greeting card image from someecards, an online greeting card company. It is also a financially friendly site (our newest moniker for these trying times), as all of their cards are free.

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Target’s Next Designer Lines? It’s All About Accessories & Fab Cosmetics

EDITOR’S NOTE: The title of our post changed to accommodate the following comment:

Hello, I am wrting you concerning the name cool cosmetics/ You must remove this from your we-site and product I own the name by trademark.

If you do not remove you will leave me no choice but to turn this over to our corporate attorney’s.

Regina Swope

615-202-7347

We made the egregious error of using the words c-ol cosmetics in our title. Sigh.

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The Princess is a trifle scattered this bright and sunny Saturday. It’s possible we may have flung ourselves a little too enthusiastically into our favorite new sport, extreme gardening. We discovered this earlier in the week, and let us just say, why head to the Club when one can achieve the same (perhaps better) results right here at the Prepatorium.

There is simply so much preppy and style news The Princess is tracking, we’re all atwitter! Would you be so good as to allow us to just ‘cut to the chase,’ as I believe the operative phrase states, and we’ll dispense with our more civilized “Hello,” and “How are you’s” if that is all right with you.

As part of their very successful and generally very cool Design for All program Target is adding three permanent cosmetic lines and they have also announced their next two temporary fashion collections!

The Boutique is planning their next special collections for the not too distant future, and accessory lovers will be celebrating, as it is going to be all about shoes and handbags! Sigerson Morrison will create Target’s 3rd limited edition shoe collection. We showcase a luscious yellow flat from the fab designing duo of Kari Sigerson and Miranda Morrison, and these just happen to be on sale at the pair’s own site.

The next limited edition handbag designer will be from dynamic British designer Anya Hindmarch; below we show a Hindmarch embellished satin clutch from the Vivre site. Both lines launch October 12th.

As usual, the collections will be available at select Target stores nationwide and at Target.com, in this case through December 26. The dates have The Princess wondering if, at least on the handbag side of things, there is an expectation of holiday gift buying with this particular group, as they are selling essentially for the month of November through the day after Christmas? An expiring mind would so love to know.

While it is no surprise Target is making the big moves on the cosmetics front, we didn’t know they were signing up such big names, especially Jemma Kidd.

Aussie Napoleon Perdis is also a big get for Target, although the Princess must admit this isn’t a name with which we were familiar. Perhaps one of our favorite bloggers of a prepitatious persuasion, Nautical by Nature, who is wrapping up her Australian Excellent Adventure, can enlighten us on Mr. Perdis (seen below).

The third new cosmetics name for Target comes from Petra Strand, one of the founders of niche British cosmetics brand, Pixi.

It sounds as though the retailer is going to be very smart about this, spending up to $15 million just on the first six weeks of the new products’ launch. Target is going to continue its relationship with Sonia Kashuk, the company’s first entrant into their Design for All line in cosmetics.

Arguably the biggest thing Target is doing in the cosmetics department is this: they will have testers for these new lines that will play a big role in getting customers introduced to the new products! (If you’re one of our gentlemen readers or unfamiliar with the earth-shaking nature of this announcement, let it simply be said that for years Target has been strongly criticized by customers and industry insiders for their refusal to use testers, a backbone of department store cosmetic departments.)