J. Crew Final Sale, “Preppy Paradise” Opens, Kate Spade Summer 2009 Looks

Hello and happy new day everyone!

We start with a quick couple of hits, things going on you may be interested in, like J. Crew’s “Enjoy an Extra 30% Off“ Final (their word, not ours) Sale, ending Wednesday night at midnight.

To enjoy the additional discount use Promo Code EXTRA30 at checkout.

In other J. Crew news, the sharp eyes at the Material Interest blog on Men. Style. com have spotted an intriguing piece at the Tribeca Liquor Store locale.  It is a very limited edition jacket, something you may find appealing for the Mr. Wonderful in your life.

Courtesy J. Crew via Men.Style.com

A stop at the online Men’s Shop at the Liquor Store does not show the military style jacket, but then, with a run of only 7 (s-e-v-e-n) jackets (not to mention the $850 price point), it’s likely one must visit the store in person to view this item.

The jacket is a collaborative effort with the one and only Mister Freedom in LA; below, as shown in a November post on the Mister Freedom blog.

Courtesy Mister Freedom

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Lost in last week’s frenzy, news in The Cut blog about Fred Perry’s SoHo store opening. This is a beautiful thing.  As the story describes it:

“Buttoned-up British sportswear brand Fred Perry quietly unveiled its first Stateside store last week, bringing a preppy paradise of plaid, argyle, and tweed to Soho.”

We will never, ever, complain about a new stop on the circuit. Even when we are experiencing extraordinary difficulty getting away for a few days to enjoy the circuit. Sigh.

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Regular readers may remember previous posts about Michelle Obama wearing jewelry by Loree Rodkin; she wore earrings by the designer election night and several pieces during Tuesday’s Inaugural events. Guess who was in Loree Rodkin at the SAG Awards last evening in Los Angeles?

PHOTO: Danny Moloshok/Reuters

None other than winner Mickey Rourke, in Loree Rodkin sunglasses.  No diamonds that we can see, just the glasses.

FYI, following up Friday’s post about the First Lady’s jewelry at the Inaugural Balls, Ms. Rodkin says she has she has taken “… 100 orders for jewelry that is similar in style…”. This according to WSJ’s On The Runway blog, always on top of this sort of news.

BTW, not all the stars were at the SAG Awards over the weekend. Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester was at the launch party for Nylon Mexico.

The Nylon blog shows the dress worn by Ms. Leighton in detail; it is now available at Net-a-Porter.

It is referred to as the “Preen Cordula Lace Up Dress” as well as the “…lace-up bandage dress.” If it is a style you fancy, not to worry about showing up at a function with TP in the same frock.  A tad too racy for us. We knew you would understand.

Let’s go from one Nylon item to another… a stop at Nylon online today revealed these cute shoes in the blog’s Spring Awakening story. The Ballet Flats are found for $19.50 at Old Navy.

Another example demonstrating precisely why we effort a visit to the Nylon site every day.

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Also a quick look at some of the Kate Spade Summer goods featured in today’s WWD story on the company, most notably the brand’s foray into apparel. Below, pieces from the upcoming collection.

PHOTO: Robert Mitra via WWD

The story focuses on efforts to rejuvenate the brand, and the highly competitive landscape when it comes to accessories:

“Contemporary lines like Rebecca Minkoff and Botkier are appealing to fashion-driven consumers, while J.Crew and Tory Burch are fortifying their accessories focus with a solid infrastructure already intact.”

PHOTO: Robert Mitra/WWD

We’re not sure yet how crazy we are about this look… is anyone else thinking hula skirt? There is also an elegant cuff bracelet from the line.

PHOTO: Robert Mitra/WWD

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Not to be left out of the picture, a Kate Spade competitor is featured in today’s email missive from Bergdorf’s:

Bergdorf Goodman

The retailer is featuring the new Tory Burch Logo Sandal.

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And for a closing smile we get back to our semi-regular feature, “Pretty in Pink,” with the Pink Ligne Roset chair by Pierre Paulin:

That’s a smile and a half… enjoy your day!

Obama Inaugural Gown Update, Preps Party at CFDA

Well, here we are again!

The volume of inquiries surrounding plans for the Michelle Obama inauguration gown is increasing; thus today’s additional post.  At last night’s CFDA gala Diane von Furstenberg shared an interesting tidbit, according to a story in today’s online New York magazine: she has submitted sketches for an inugural gown.  And why did she send sketches?

“Well, they asked me to. Of course, everybody has,” she said. “I’m so proud to be an American.”

In the story by Alisa Gould-Simon, the question of a dress for all those Inaugural Balls was put to one of Mrs. Obama’s favorite designers:

Thakoon Panichgul, one of Michelle’s favorite designers, tried to remain elusive when we asked if he’d submitted sketches. “Um … we’ll see what happens,” he said with a devilish smirk.

And the Observer has a headline that will grab the attention of most fashionistas: “Narciso Rodriguez Hoping for a Second Chance to Dress Michelle Obama,”with insight from designer Narciso Rodriguez on one of his designs being worn by Ms. Obama election night:

“She saw that dress and she liked it,” said Narciso Rodriguez, who designed Michelle Obama‘s Election Night dress. “She saw it on the runway, she chose it, I guess from the runway…” He nodded slowly and mouthed “yes” when asked if he’d known in advance that she would wear it.”

Should one be interested in more information about some of the Thakoon designs worn by Ms. Obama, here is a post as well as here. The Observer story includes speculation from those in attendance at the dinner about an inaugural gown:

The young designers of Proenza Schouler approached Mr. Rodriguez. “Did you see Michelle Obama in his dress?” cried Lazaro Hernandez. “Really major!”

“They have a fabulous new bag line,” deflected Mr. Rodriguez. Mr. Hernandez asked if Mr. Rodriguez was designing the inaugural gown. “It would be nice to think so,” he said modestly.

Also in attendance at the CFDA/Vogue gala were Gossip Girl stars Blake Lively (in a dress that didn’t really wow us) …

PHOTO: Scott Gries/Getty

…and Penn Badgley….

PHOTO: Scott Gries/Getty

…along with Tory Burch…

PHOTO: Scott Gries/Getty

and über-preppy couple David Lauren and Lauren Bush…

PHOTO: Scott Gries/Getty

We apologize for being tedious, but we may need to be back one more time again today with our update on Black Friday sales for Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, J. Crew and more.  We’re typing as fast as we can!

Michelle Obama Inaugural Dress Update

Hello again everybody … we thought we should share this promptly as the rumors surrounding possible designers for Michelle Obama’s Inaugural gown are such a hot topic.

In brief, it is *not* designer Cassandra Bromfield as many have reported. To help clear up any confusion, Ms. Bromfield addressed the issue in her blog today, in a post titled Separating Fact from Fiction:

“On Wednesday, I got a call “Congratulations, are in order, I understand you will be making Michelle Obama’s Inaugural gown.” What in the world is she talking about. I just shrugged it off as a wishful thinking. Then I check my emails and there are a few more congrats, what in the world is going on. So I did a bit of research and found that it is listed on a few blogs (as of Wednesday). “Cassandra Bromfield is tapped to create Michelle Obama’s Inaugural Gown.” As the week goes on there are a few more phone calls and emails. Now, some media is calling and I feel I must separate fact from fiction.”

Fiction: Mrs.O has contacted Cassandra Bromfield

Fact: I would love to hear from Mrs. Obama, but I have not spoken to her directly

Fiction: I am sworn to any secrecy

Fact: There is no secret

One need only stop at Ms. Bromfield’s website to know she would design a stunning gown for the Future First Lady.

Courtesy Cassandra Bromfield

We want to publicly thank our tipster for the email alerting us to Ms. Bromfield’s update; we very much appreciate the assistance. Regular readers know we were concerned about the lack of a firm confirmation, with us tiptoeing around the issue as best we could. Below, a snippet from our post on Nov.6th discussing the Sasha and Malia Obama election night dresses:

“Ms. Bromfield also writes a popular wedding blog.  We will await confirmation of the news on the gown’s designer and share it with you as soon as we know the information.”

And in this Tuesday’s post on the Maria Pinto dress Ms. Obama wore for her visit to the White House:

“We still have no confirmation on the Cassandra Bromfield rumor…”

This is not intended to pat ourselves on the back, merely to demonstrate our efforts to maintain accuracy here at the Princess Blog. This may be one of the few areas where it is helpful to have spent all those years in journalism, as it has made TP just a tad neurotic. (A tad?!)

We shall continue to keep an eye on the Inaugural gown story and alert you as soon as we learn anything that merits reporting.