Meet the Crillon Debs, More Preppish Black Friday Updates

Hello-Hello and greetings from a rather frenzied Prepatorium!

We jump right in today with a look at some of the young ladies making their debut this weekend at the Bal Crillon in Paris, always a fascinating event filled with pretty people and stunning party frocks. (Previous participants include Lauren Bush, Scout Willis, Victoria and Vanessa Traina, and Lily Collins.)

This year’s group includes Francesca Eastwood, daughter of Clint Eastwood, seen on the right in the photo below; younger sister Morgan is on the left.

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty

Also entering society, Lady Kitty Spencer, seen below on the cover of Tatler, (she was named the magazine’s ‘Girl of the Year’).  The young Lady is the daughter of Earl Spencer, Princess Diana’s brother.

Seen in a more casual photo, this debutante will be wearing British couturier Bruce Oldfield, a favorite designer of Princess Diana’s.

Frederic Nebinger/ABACAPRESS.COM

Also making her official entry into society, Autumn Whitaker, daughter of Forest Whitaker and actress/model Keisha Whitaker.

Christophe Guibbaud/ABACAPRESS.COM

Today’s story in WWD about the Bal notes that Miss Whitaker will be wearing Jason Wu and shares a bit more on her escort:

“Friend William Bellingham, who can trace his ancestry back to Sir Anthony of Bellingham, 8th Baronet of Castlebellingham.”

A young lady who happens to be a delightful blogger is also part of this year’s class, Jane Aldridge.

Frederic Nebinger/ABACAPRESS.COM

Miss Aldridge writes the Sea of Shoes blog and has also designed two capsule shoe collections for Urban Outfitters. We are guessing the teen is probably more concerned about her hair than she is about shoes at this time; here is part of Saturday’s post from her blog:

Courtesy Sea of Shoes

Miss Aldridge will be wearing Chanel Haute Couture.  We can only hope the poor child’s hair turns out as she hopes.

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The holiday season increases the amount of merchandise described as ‘preppy’, with most merchandise labeled this way resembling nothing most readers would own, but it is that time of year.  We were pleasantly surprised when perusing the Prepster gift guide at PlazaToo suggesting this Shearwater Boot from Sperry.

On the flip side of the coin, a new boot debuting this Friday, created jointly by Ralph Lauren and Ronnie Fieg.

PHOTO: Pj Monte via High Snobiety

The new Ranger “Cookie” boot will only be available at hip shoe emporium David Z and its online site.  Clearly not for us, but the David Z site does have some fabulous markdowns on footwear for those in the mood for a little harmless shoe surfing. (Ahem.)

We move to another Ralph Lauren-related item, one of today’s updates to our Black Friday listings.  The Polo Ralph Lauren Factory Outlet Stores offer a 20% discount on purchases of $150+ after midnight Thanksgiving night/Friday morning.

Courtesy Polo Ralph Lauren

We enjoyed the helpful suggestions included with a portion of the copy detailing this year’s Midnight Madness event, tips on how a “well-planned excursion creates a more enjoyable environment” and remembering the “generous spirit of the season”.

Courtesy Polo Ralph Lauren

Ah, an effort at bringing civility to a rather uncivil occasion, laudable on PLR’s part.

We also have an update on Lacoste; this retailer is not waiting until after Thanksgiving to start its sale.

Lacoste is offering 30% off all merchandise as of now; use promo code THANKS09 at checkout to receive the discount.

Eddie Bauer is promoting its Thanksgiving Weekend sale; like Lacoste’s promotion, the Bauer sale is also in progress.  Yesterday’s post offers more Preppish Sales and Savings information.

Finally, we close with a look at our “9 Under $10“.

This was actually supposed to be “10 Gifts Under $10,” but someone here at the Prepatorium is clearly incapable of performing the most rudimentary math functions. (That would be yours truly, most assuredly not The Consort.)

At any rate, our idea was to make a quick and easy list of preptastic gift ideas for Christmas, Hanukkah, whatnot, all of them under $10. Friends who visit us on Polyvore may have already seen this little effort, but we want to blanket the Planet (heh-heh) as part of our ongoing efforts to Protect Your Pocketbook. The Seaside-themed Notecards, Custom Key Fobs, Magnet Packs and everything else you see is fiscally friendly, $10 or less.

With that shameless self-promotion, we say G’Bye until next time, may everyone enjoy a perfectly splendid evening!

Friday Fun: Meet a Mini Preppy Princess

Hello-Hello, and Happy (oh-so-joyous) Friday!

Today we offer our inaugural effort at Friday Fun, something we shall attempt on those weeks when we are so swamped with business, volunteer and other activities we are simply incapable of creating a post containing anything remotely witty, wise, or otherwise wonderful.  Not exactly Thoughtful Thursdays or Wordless Wednesdays, just some light, bright, fun events and activities as captured by you, our treasured readers!

We do admit being a tad anxiety-ridden, as we are starting with a Friday Fun event that may be tough to top. Take a look:

PrepSchool 101

That Little Princess is PrepSchool 101’s precious Lady C, all smiles with a package from the Preppy Princess.

Inside?

PrepSchool101

Little Miss C’s new friends are named ‘Barrett’ and ‘Genevieve’ (perhaps she somehow knew about our Great Aunt Genevieve…?), and they are part of her Lilly Pulitzer Paper Doll set.

We think this Little Princess has an outstanding eye for fashion, as her new friends are very well-dressed and perfectly accessorized; clearly they’ll make quite the style statement when they head out the door.

Seeing what a helpful assistant Little Miss C has was also very impressive.

PrepSchool 101

The skills and assistance offered by Jane-the-kitty are not to be overlooked. Perhaps equally important? Jane is almost as style conscious as her supervisor, just look at her preppy madras collar by Katie and Olive. And we love a kitty with a conscience; proceeds from sales of these collars go to a very good cause, visit Puppy Love by Erin to learn more.

To enjoy all of the fun with Miss C, or to simply see her enjoying other activities of a Preptastic sort, pop in and visit PrepSchool 101, always an enjoyable, enlightening, and more-than-fashionable read!

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Our other Friday Fun element involves introducing readers to a new blog focusing on a favorite topic: Lilly!  That’s right, the irrepressible Muffy Martini has created a new home for those loving all things Lilly: the appropriately named Lilly Lovers is the spot to be!

Courtesy Lilly Lovers Blog

In fact, Muffy and a good friend of hers, Mrs. Newlywed, (whom we adore and consider ourselves fortunate to have on our little Princess Team), were so excited about the new blog they convinced us we needed to help Muffy celebrate, and we said “Why not?”

We let them talk us into doing something we have never done before: offering 10% off everything on our site.  To receive the discount, use promo code MUFFYDEAL at checkout.

We conclude our initial Friday Fun effort with a reader request: send us your fun photos, stories, anything at all you think others might enjoy seeing to brighten their day!

In Honor of the Big Event (Please Don’t Say You Forgot.)

Hello-Hello!

Isn’t Wasn’t it an exciting day?

Ummm… are you saying you didn’t know? How is that possible? Honestly, priorities are so misplaced these days.  Well, there’s no point in wallowing in your shame alone, none of the Palace residents knew about the big event either.

But take heart – it isn’t too late to recover your dignity. In honor of the Day we are declaring it Lobster Stimulus Day, hoping that if we shared relevant items of a retail nature we might all feel better about overlooking the occasion.

We start with the LobsterLine collection from David Wood, an outstanding men’s shop in Portland, Maine.

Lobsterline Courtesy David Wood Clothiers

There are several items in the group.

Everything is fabulous, especially the pink pants. For men. Sniff.

If seeking decor for the cottage, the Lobster Lamp at Newport Nautical is… well, it could be called… whimsical. How’s that?

Newport Nautical

(You did note our use of the word cottage?)

Another possible option for one of your contributions to Our National Economy, the personalized Lobster Platter from Preppy Princess. (we must inquire: Did you see that acronym? ONE? Our National Economy? Doesn’t it make you all warm and fuzzy inside?!)

PreppyPrincess.com

If this doesn’t tickle your taste buds, how about the Lobster Rug at Nautical Rooster?

Those seeking personal accessories featuring the crustacean may favor the Kate Spade Lobster bag from her 2007 Cape Cod Collection, still available at some online storefronts.

The cost at the places we saw it was about one-third less than the bag’s original selling price, in light of its past-season status.

Seeking a smaller investment? A set of two Boatman Geller Lobster Pads is only $38, and that includes personalization.

PreppyPrincess.com

Our next item features a lobster larger than we generally like, but the Men’s Lobster Pants from Bermuda Styles are still cute.

BermudaStyles.com

One can find Nantucket Reds sporting the lobster in either seersucker or poplin. (The Reds seen below show a whale; the photo is offered as a means of providing context only.)

LL Bean offers the pink and green Lobster Flip-flops:

LL Bean

One mustn’t forget our best friends when on a quest for proper duds to mark the special day.

PreppyPrincess.com

The Custom Dog Collars, Harnesses and Leashes are all available at our little shop, and they are *very* reasonable, trust TP on this.  The pink and blue colorway is also available for these items.

And we also offer cute key fobs. At only $5. And you pick the ribbon, and the backing!

There is one lobster item we discovered that can’t be purchased

We hope everyone enjoys celebrating the big day!

On a separate note, we hope everyone is able to pop over and send good wishes to Mrs. Newlywed as she undergoes a major medical procedure.

Adieu until next time.

Tiffany Makes a Move, Sales & Savings of a Prepalicious Sort

Hello-Hello and Happy Friday dolls, yippee!

It is a simply splendid day here at the Prepatorium, so let’s dive right into things! (The sooner we finish the sooner you-know-who can scoot outside!)

We want to do a quick reminder about the Lilly Pulitzer sale at RueLaLa; things sell out so quickly at these sites it is best to mention it right off the top so anyone interested in adding to their walk-in can head in that direction.

RueLaLa is one of those ‘invite only’ online sale sites that have sprung up recently. If you aren’t yet a member, use the special Princess code to join: go to RueLaLa.com, at the prompt select “Invited by a Member” and then enter this as the email address to get in: VIP@ruelala.com.

Now, Lilly isn’t the only sale at RueLaLa, they are also doing CC Skye.

Both sales end Saturday night.

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Next, word on some interesting moves by upscale retailers, Tiffany & Henri Bendel. Let’s start with the store-we-once-adored,Tiffany. (Surely you remember this dreary tedious episode and yes, of course we continue wallowing in our snit.)

News came late yesterday that Tiffany is buying bankruptcy-challenged Lambertson Truex (see the middle of this post if seeking more details) from Samsonite. This could make perfect sense for both companies, as this story on the WWD site explains:

“Lambertson and Truex will explore the development of a collection of leather accessories for Tiffany & Co.”

Remember our posts last summer about these outstanding totes? (NOTE: We have linked to them as a courtesy but they are no longer available.)

Courtesy Tiffany.com

It makes perfect sense to us; there may well be many more pieces in this color.

As far as Bendel goes, they are going to stop selling clothing and shrink the 5th Avenue flagship store as today’s WWD reports:

“The Fifth Avenue flagship will be reduced in size from three to two selling floors, offering accessories, handbags, jewelry, gifts, beauty and fragrance…”

“There’s lots of iconography, like our [brown and white] stripes…

TRANSLATION: Probably more of this sort of thing.

Now mind you, TP has long been fond of Bendel’s iconic brown and white stripes, along with the Bendel Girl. We just don’t care to see them on our teapot every day, be it by Villeroy and Boch at Bendel or from Target.  So our guess is the company will roll out more logofied merchandise moving forward.

We do want to alert everyone there is a sale on some goods at Bendel, including the Henri Bendel Mini Notebooks. (We confess to a soft spot for these, in previous years they have made a great gift.)

They are fun because of their names: Bliss List, Me, Me, Me, Thin, Rich, and Fabulous, and Worth Waiting For. Previously selling at $25, the notebooks are now $12.50.

Perhaps if we hold hands and sing Kumbaya our fears about raging attacks of Logophobia will prove to be unfounded. What do you think?

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Yesterday’s post talked about what we refer to as something of a ‘preppy trifecta’:significant sales at Brooks Brothers, J. Crew and Polo Ralph Lauren.  We neglected to mention the obvious:

Brooks Brothers Friends and Family event begins Saturday, providing a 30% discount on merchandise, ending Monday, May 11. Use promo code FRIEND79 or FRIEND 81 to receive the discount, or go to BrooksBrothers.com/friends.  By the way, if in need of the code to receive an additional 20% of sale merchandise at J. Crew, use promo code EXTRA20 at checkout.

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In other Sales & Savings news, Target has reduced prices on the Alexander McQueen collection, prices many felt were too high from the outset.

Additionally the always awesome Third Coast Preppy is clearly back in the swing of things after bringing an exquisite new preppy into the world, her list of preppy savings and sales can only be referred to by one word – Prepalicious!

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We also have a few briefs on several stars of that kinda’-sorta’-preppy Gossip Girl, starting with news that actresses Blake Lively and Taylor Momsen both made People magazine’s 100 Most Beautiful People list.

PHOTOS: People Magazine, WENN

And another star of the hit TV show has landed another magazine cover; Leighton Meester can be seen fronting this month’s issue of Cosmopolitan.

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We close with a Pretty in Pink.

A Princess customer needed token gifts to use as favors at a shower; she ordered 40 of these when she learned the custom key fobs are only $5 each.

Apologies for the shameless self-promotion, we just thought the fobs were such a cute idea and more-than-practical.  (They’re far more vibrant than TP’s photo conveys, Francesco Scavullo we are not.)

On that note, we do hope everyone has a delightful weekend filled with fun and food for the spirit!

Spring Goodies and ‘BritPrep’ Arrives on the Scene

Hello-Hello everybody, and Happy Weekend!

There is an old saying that those of us living in the Great Midwest enjoy two, not four, seasons: there is winter, and then there is the construction season. And while the adage isn’t entirely true, we acknowledge succumbing to a raging case of Spring Fever Friday, a syndrome most difficult to contain and almost impossible to control.

With that in mind, we are excited to share some of the new treasures here at The Princess!  We begin with our new Seaworthy Collection, its style enhanced by nautical influences. Below, the Beach House placemats in authentic madras….

We love them because they are 100% cotton, just fine in the washing machine, and they are also reversible, providing two looks for the price of one!  Of course there are matching napkins in a snappy red stripe, or the matching blue stripe.

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The Sailor’s Knot Napkin Rings add a great touch.

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Also new to our little shop, the One, Two, Three Lilly Pad from our Lilly Pulitzer Stationery & Gifts collection.

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Here is help for those struggling with different lists, as this is actually three separate notepads under one cover. Labeled Home, Work & Play, we are more than hopeful these might help TP improve her organizational skills here at the Palace!

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Next on our list, a question about an issue we have struggled with for several days. The challenge isn’t our reluctance to ask for your opinion. Rather, it is because the issue itself is the nature of the photograph that actually *is* the issue. Obviously you will understand why we find it vulgar, but even that isn’t the issue. Anyone opening a fashion magazine in the last several years is familiar with the Marc by Marc Jacobs print campaigns.

DAISY LOWE PHOTOGRAPHED BY JUERGEN TELLER

Here is our question: Is this appropriate for the hypothetical readers of Teen Vogue?  That’s all. We are merely attempting to determine the level of our fuddy-duddyness; are we over the top finding this not proper for inclusion in a magazine targeted at that particular demo? We are ever-so-appreciative-in-advance for your candid comments and insight.

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Many readers know a fave read of ours is The Luxist, with a finger firmly on the pulse of all things posh.  Recently they took a look at Barbour and their efforts to expand their customer base with a collection named BritPrep.  The Luxist’s Jared Paul Stern fills us in:

“So what exactly is “Britprep”? According to Barbour, the look is not quite as clean and crisp as American Preppy. Simple, stylish, and contemporary, the collection “pays particular attention to fashion, color and tradition capturing the essence of ‘Britishness.'”

Courtesy Barbour via Luxist.com

The new line looks as if it may offer some intriguing possibilities for one’s walk-in.  TP has always adored Barbour; for decades they adhered quietly to their own fine standards, with exquisite attention to detail, very much like the old Abercrombie & Fitch. (The current company using the A&F name bears no resemblance whatsoever to its predecessor. None.)

Another look:

Courtesy Barbour via Luxist.com

The only fly in the ointment, so to speak? There are pieces sure to induce a serious bout of  Logophobia:

“Barbour has never really gone in for logos, but with the Britprep collection (above) they’re employing a new crest. Unlike designers who invent crests, it’s an authentic bit of heraldry deriving from the original Barbour family coat of arms originating in Galloway, Scotland.

Courtesy Barbour via Luxist.com

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On a lighter note, we wanted to share another addition to the When Pink Goes Bad gallery:

Dr. Martens at Zappos.com

Don’t be worried about missing out on these dolls, they are available in an amazing array of colors, and sizes.

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In other news, word that ANTM (we have finally figured this acronym out and are feeling ever-so-hip, it is America’s Next Top Model) is also doing apparel. The tip for this comes from one of our fave daily blog reads, All the Rage at the LA Times website, and apparently the collection can be found at Wal-mart.

PHOTO: Wal-mart via All the Rage

We presume you will sleep better this evening knowing this is available. (Ooooh, the Princess is a Crankenstein!)

We must fly, but hope you have a splendid spring weekend!