Does Fashion Rock?

Well, if it isn’t really and truly a change of seasons – it simply can’t be ignored any longer. Fall fashion magazines have started clogging the mailbox; the poor postal carriers must be simply smothered under the weight of them all!

Before anything else, The Princess has a pout. It’s about this, the annual Fashion Rocks supplement accompanying many of your Conde Nast September magazines, like Vogue, Lucky, Wired, and many more.

Well, actually, now it’s two things we’re feeling a bit peevish about because we discovered the second problem while looking for the page number to point out the first problem, which is an *enormous* typo. And we would tell you what page said typo is on, except there are no page numbers in the magazine. No page numbers. Not in the Table of Contents. Not on the pages. None. Nary a number. So now we are up to three irritants and trending down if we were to be asked. We apologize for being disturbed by the lack of page numbers, it really is just too linear of us, isn’t it? (Don’t even think about answering that one.)

So now we’re back to the 2nd issue which was originally the first (and only) one: the typo. Lacking a page number, we can only say that it is in the first paragraph of the first story of the first person they profile, who also happens to be the superstar on the cover of the publication, Justin Timberlake. Could we not have gotten this much correct? (The sentence in the story reads “I don’t how it works…” when TP thinks it is meant to read “I don’t know how it works…”)

We now get to the third problem, which is fairly simple: the Fashion Rocks website says “Stay Tuned.” It is essentially inactive other than cycling through a lot of previous photos of earlier concerts. This is a huge event with a concert at Radio City Music Hall with performances confirmed from the following: Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, Mariah Carey, Fergie, Rihanna, Chris Brown, Duffy, Keith Urban, Kid Rock, and Lil Wayne, Chris Cornell, OneRepublic, Pussycat Dolls, Solange Knowles and Timbaland, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, to name but a few.

It is the Fifth Annual concert, but the first time with all the hoopla of three network news anchors formally announcing plans for it back in July. Now, there is an AOL site that has loads of pictures and information, should that pique your interest. The Princess merely thought a website for a fundraiser of this magnitude would be a bit more well, active or something, wouldn’t it? If you would like your social secretary to pencil this in, the concert is on CBS on Tuesday, September 9th. (It is actually taped on the 5th.) Proceeds from this year’s concert will benefit Stand Up To Cancer.

Now that TP has that little tirade episode behind her, let’s talk fashion magazines, shall we? All is not hunky-dory for at least for more than a few of them when it comes to the all-important September Fashion issues. For openers, Vogue’s September issue with Keira Knightley on its cover is down by about 50 advertising pages from last year, a rather stunning development.

Vanity Fair, Cosmopolitan and W are among those magazines losing traction on the advertising side of the business. On the other hand, it turns out that Elle actually boosted its advertising $$$ by a good percentage; it features Jessica Simpson on the cover.

What’s Elle doing the others aren’t? TP thinks it may have something to do with the cover girl selections. Last month’s cover showcased Mariah Carey, before that Mary-Kate Olsen, and the month prior to that it was singing star Rihanna.

Unless we’re misreading things, they seem to be trending toward a *much* younger demo. Vanity Fair and their slight shrinkage? Well, we don’t know about everyone else, but here at the Prepatorium, the increasingly strident attacks on so many different things and people have become tiresome. Perhaps we’re poor citizens, but we’re just tired of all the yelling.

One way publishers try to goose sales a little can be with different covers, like the two Bazaar used for their September blowout, both with Tyra Banks.

We received the blue issue in our mailbox. Some designers actually spent more on magazine advertising this year than they did last year. One of those doing so is Oscar de la Renta, one of TP’s favorites. Below we show two looks from his 2009 Bridal line.

That provides the perfect opportunity to showcase what has to be one of the most scenic locales for a fundraiser TP has ever seen. Ever. Seen.

We’re talking about Oscar de la Renta’s 8th Annual benefit for the League to Save Lake Tahoe. One arrives by boat for the party, in what appears to be a classic Chris Craft or perhaps a Century. Regardless of make, it is TDF. Totally. (TP was used to the family Century, but realizes the majority were Chris Craft.)

Is there a better locale for a fashion show that you have attended? If so you simply must tell us about it so we can share that info with the rest of the class.

We leave with something from a line TP currently doesn’t have in her walk-in, and it will probably stay that way, but we definitely applaud any new designers willing to take on the fashionistas with something new. So, how about this for the ultimate in ‘lighting things up”?

‘Rhyme and Reason” is a design firm using light as a material to enliven white knitwear and “…create transformative fashion.” Besides, one can alway multi-purpose their clothing in ways previously unexplored.

“When not being worn, the pieces double in function as lamps, avoiding the fate of hanging neglected in a closet.”

As always, our thanks to Luxuo.com for their eye.

And then there’s Miss Little Bow Prep, oh she of the chic taste and fast fingers, typing up a storm of preppy goodness and culturally broadening blogdom. MLBP has been exceptionally generous in bestowing upon us a Diamond Award…whoo-hoo! The rules of the Award state that one must acknowledge on their blog they are a recipient of it and then tag seven others with the Award and link to their blogs. So here we go:

• Muffy Martini
• Tres Poshe Preppy
• Jewish Girl in Wasp’s Clothing
• Preppy Newlywed
• Misadventures of a Newlywed
• I Pick Pretty
• Preppy Pink Crocodile

Thank you Miss Little Bow Prep!

NYC Sweatshop Raid: You Might be Surprised What Companies are on the List & the Self-Vibrating Mascara (Honest.)

Greetings and good Thursday to all! FYI, the next tidbit has absolutely *nothing* to do whatsoever with anything preppy, particularly since most of us aren’t exactly laden down with makeup. However….

we didn’t say we never touch the stuff! This is on The Princess’s “we want to try so we’ll probably buy” (maybe!) list, if only for the fun factor. You’ve probably already heard about it, or one of its competitors: this version is the Estee Lauder TurboLash Vibrating Mascara. If you aren’t familiar with it, we’ll just let the ‘official description’ as posted on Sak’s page do the talking for us:

“Turbo-charged” motion mascara with auto-powered, vibrating brush gives you volume, length, curl and separation all at once. Gently vibrating LashSonic Brush with micro-pulse bristles continuously separates and saturates lashes. Find lashes you didn’t even know you had and coat them instantly and perfectly. The motion brush keeps lashes clump-free so you can reapply several coats, even refresh during the day. A worldwide first.

One quick tip: this has already sold out on the Estee Lauder site. The most you can do is sign up to be notified when it is back in stock, so if interested, your best bet may be a quick trip to your local department store. It does look entertaining, although we’re a bit unclear on the locating of lashes we never knew we had.

We’re a bit behind on this next item, so we’ll do just a quick note on a little brand extension from Harper’s Bazaar: the magazine is launching a new glossy called Runway Report, launching July 27. Don’t look for it every month though, as this one is designed to be a quarterly, so if you like it, your next fix will be three months away! As Editor Kristina O’Neill describes the $6.95 publication: “”We know our readers love clothes, and this is really a full report on what we saw at the shows, and what they are going to want to be wearing as soon as the weather cools.”

We move to not-such-fun news, reports of a raid on a Queens sweatshop manufacturing clothes under allegedly illegal conditions. Two factories were busted; the Times reports in their online coverage today they made clothes for Macy’s, Banana Republic and Victoria’s Secret. The retailers the factories manufactured for that WWD listed in their coverage include Macy’s private label brands Ultra Flirt and INC, Gap, Banana Republic, Express, Victoria’s Secret, Limited and Coldwater Creek. If true, the conditions workers toiled under are disgusting, and the elaborate plans used by factory owner/management to avoid being found out even worse.

Here are some reactions from the companies as reported by WWD:

Macy’s said the allegations represented a “serious violation” of the company’s code of conduct and that it has “begun our own internal investigation on this matter.”

Jeffrey Parisian, senior vice president of administration at Coldwater Creek Inc., said the company was also launching its own internal investigation and would cooperate with the Labor officials.

Dan Henkle, Gap Inc.’s senior vice president of social responsibility, said the company took the matter seriously and would be cooperating with the state’s Department of Labor. “At this time, we have no production in this factory in Queens and we are suspending any future production with this facility until this investigation is satisfactorily resolved,” said Henkle.

The Princess is wondering, “Dan, how about no manufacturing at any time in the future with this company? As in Never. Ever. Again. How is never for you?” If they did it once they’ll do it again. Why reward bad behavior? Honestly.

Now we’ll move on to something far more frivolous: the Toy Watch Company’s Neon Plasteramic Collection. How is that for a Prepalicious name? If you have seen this one you know what we are talking about, because you cannot easily forget it!

They are just too fun, and some predict, soon to be as popular as Ray-Bans.

We’re loving this Italian range watches, amusingly dubbed the Toy Watch which comes in blindingly bright selection of primary and fluro colors. So enamored are we that we’re predicting that the Toy Watch could be the new Rayban Wayfarer.

We’re not sure about that, but we do love them. The names of the colors are what grabbed us… after the eye-popping timepieces themselves grabbed our attention. With names like Plutonium Pink, Kryptonite Green, you know you need one. In addition to the wild ones, TP favors another (of course) in a slightly more demure color. “It’s ceramic…no it’s plastic…IT’S PLASTERAMIC!” as the site says; this is the Pink we find so appealing.

Is TP the only girl in the galaxy who hadn’t heard of these? Oh well. Once again, proof that we aren’t exactly fashion forward! May the rest of your day be delightful!