J. Crew Bridal Line Update, & Look Buffy, It’s a Preppy Frenzy!

Hello-Hello, and soggy, soaking wet greetings of the day!

“I don’t do rain.”

Regular readers recognize Silly Tilly, the living embodiment of “Bring Your Dog to Work Day” here at the Prepatorium, an event we celebrate daily. And today is one of those days demonstrating why Tilly is nicknamed Twinkletoes. This moniker came in reaction to her refusal to go outside if there is so much as One. Drop. Of. Rain.

We beg. We plead. We grovel. We do ToughMommyVoice, and then resort to the  “YouBetterGoOutsideNOWOrYou’llBeSorry” tone.  And Tilly’s reaction?

"DREAM ON MOMMY, DREAM ON."

Let there be no doubt as to who is really running the show. Of course. Sigh.

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A quick note on the J. Crew Bridal Collection, a line we adore.

J. Crew Silk Taffeta Sascha Gown

WWD (Women’s Wear Daily, subscription required) reports on a few minor updates in this arena for Crew:

“…select J. Crew stores are selling styles from its bridal collection, which until now was only available online. Shoppers can schedule complementary consultations with a new bridal expert who will help them select wedding gowns, bridal party attire and honeymoon clothing…”

The story adds that J. Crew is planning its first Bridal trunk show.

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We seem to be in the midst of something akin to a preppy frenzy. Again.  We have news stories and articles popping up everywhere about “the return of preppy style”.  Just last week one of our posts was devoted in large part to a news story entitled “The Preppy Look is Back’ from a Buffalo newspaper.  Today we bring you another story with a similar theme from the Biloxi Sun Herald.  In the story a Tommy Hilfiger factory store manager is quoted:

“That preppy look is coming back,” he said. “Women are layering on light pima cotton sweaters. Short sleeve cardigans in argyles are big in women and men.” He said denim for girls and women is pleated, beaded and glittered and “the color palate is bright with lots of citrus, royal blue, not florescent, but deep and bold.”

TP must jump in here with another annoying opinionated an editorial comment: prep denim is most assuredly not embellished with sequins, beads, or other folderol. (You know, folderol, also fal·de·ral, n., 1. Foolishness; nonsense; 2. A trifle; a gewgaw.)

Nick Ramirez, the Hilfiger store manager quoted above, goes on to add:

“Expect to see more and more classics,” he says. “Ralph Lauren is going to go back to that classic suit…”

Speaking of Ralph Lauren, today is the last day of their Friends & Family Event. Use promo code RLSP2009 to receive a 30% discount at Rugby, Ralph Lauren, and Ralph Lauren Factory stores.

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We do have a few more SOTTs today we thought you might find interesting:

• Marriott Hotels is the first major chain to stop delivering free newspapers to guest rooms. All is not doom and gloom however; complimentary papers will be available in lobbies and Rewards members can update their profiles to receive their paper of choice
• Chanel has withdrawn from this year’s Friends and Family event at Bloomingdale’s. For more on this shocker, pop over to see Lila at Madison Avenue Spy.
  
• Customers at the recent Sothebys auction in Hong Kong attendees had to purchase their own coffee. Naturally this forces the Princess to ask the obvious: is nothing sacred?
  

Do not let that tragic circumstance (heh-heh) deter your participation in this spring’s Magnificent Jewels auction at Sothebys.  That would be a shame, and preclude your bidding on so many pretties, like Lot 259, the Tiffany Poissons Brooch by Jean Schlumberger.

Courtesy Sothebys

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On that note, we hope your day goes swimmingly! (Silly Princess.)

Fifteen Years Ago Today

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It has been the best. The. Best.

In fact, we both feel the state of Matrimony deserves the Seal of Prepaliciousness.

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We are extremely grateful, as we have been more than blessed.

Indeed.

Your Help is Needed for a Bridal 911. Now.

Hello-Hello everyone!

Today we have a post that is a bit different from the norm, certainly one likely to be vastly more engaging for readers than most of our day-to-day mental meanderings.

Many readers already are familiar with our ever-so-dear and delightful bloggy friend, Daisy Duke, attorney-at-law.  If not, the link below will pop you right over to her wonderful blog, Legally Blonde Ambition.

Ladies, Miss Daisy is in need of our assistance. Pronto. The situation has not yet reached dire nature proportions, but we promise you it could if we cannot offer prompt action.

The nature of the problem? We are talking about a fashion emergency, of a sort that has potential to reach cataclysmic levels. You see, Miss Daisy is now engaged to her Prince Charming.  (For all the romantic details on how Mr. Wonderful asked the question, including photos of the ring he designed, just click here.)

But we stray from our mission.  Here is the challenge: the bride-to-be has selected her gown, a stunningly simple and elegant design we show below.

PHOTO: Courtesy Brides.com

This piece of bridal beauty is from Anne Barge, and we adore the clean and classic lines.

But Miss Daisy is in desperate need of shoes, and she is beginning to despair of ever locating the absolutely-perfect pair.  So she asked yours truly if we might solicit your input on the topic; we all know what a fashionable lot Princess readers are, also possessing impeccable fashion taste.

A quick look at the bodice of the gown, adorned with über-elegant pintucks.

PHOTO: Courtesy Brides.com

Now here are the details on the dress and wedding itself:

• it is ivory silk taffeta with a chapel length train
• the wedding is in Savannah, Georgia this October

And here is the scoop on Miss Daisy’s shoe preferences:

• her taste is classic, no sequins or over the top frou-frou
• the biggest dilemma is matching the ivory gown, so much of what Daisy has looked at is bright white
• she prefers delicate flats or a kitten heel, no more than 2″, ideally a scosh less if possible
• Daisy has already looked into Cole Haan (their adorable ballerina wedding flat only comes in white-white), Stuart Weitzman, Tory Burch, Kate Spade, & Neimans
• our bride likes bows, and is fine with champagne, gold or silver for shoe color
• her personal personal shoes are mostly Coach, Cole Haan, Kate Spade & Stuart Weitzman

What do you say Princesses? Can we do this? Can we step into the breach and take one for Team Prep? We bellow shout come back with an appropriately discreet, “Why yes, of course, this is not a problem for us. Not at all. We’re on it.”

We offer our gratitude in advance for what we know will be utterly divine suggestions, be they designers you are fond of, a certain shop you frequent that our Miss Daisy may be unaware of, or a specific pair of shoes you just know will work their magic on Miss Daisy’s twinkling little toes.

Feel free to offer your insight here, or over on Miss Daisy’s blog.  A grateful nation thanks you.

How Are Those Tiffany Eyeglasses Selling? + a Martha No Go

About a month ago The Princess expressed her Logophobic horror at the new Tiffany eyeglasses, in particular her dismay at the size of the Tiffany logo on the eyewear.

The Princess then went on what we understand is referred to as a ‘rant,’ shrieking about Tiffany’s cheapening of what was once a fabled brand with its introduction of more and more and more logoed items. (We share a few examples below for those who might have missed the original post, starting with the Tiffany Notes Pendant so you might hang the Tiffany store name and address about your neck, and the Tiffany Notes Charm serving the same purpose on your wrist.)

For other examples of the logoed up trinkets, here is the previous post we refer to above. Now to answer the question posed in the title of today’s post, “How Are Those Tiffany Eyeglasses Selling?” in a word, great. Sales of the new eyeglasses are doing quite well, thank you, described as ‘strong’ for the first quarter of this year. It would appear The Princess had best get used to seeing the Tiffany eyewear, and cease and desist from future whining. An interesting sidenote: sales at the Tiffany mothership (the Fifth Avenue NYC store) are up a whopping 16%!

Now, should you be looking for some extremely cool sunglasses that won’t have you carrying about an advertisement for someone else the size of Mt. Everest on either side of your head, we share a few photos of our new fave, Radley. Many of you may think of handbags or leather when you hear the Radley name, but they have wisely branched out with a sunglass line we think is simply luscious! Below we show the Amini model in tortoiseshell and brown leather, followed by the UDot model and then the Metoma pair.

Since we have been discussing heritage jewelers, those creating the heirlooms passed on from generation to generation, we should mention that another jeweler to ‘preppy families’ for an eon, Cartier, is also reporting strong sales. And who says love doesn’t conquer all? Cartier says bridal business at there Manhattan store is doing quite well, especially the Love and Trinity collections. Below, a Diamond Trinity Ring, followed by two of their Love Collection rings.

As mentioned in the sunglass conversation, many of us know and adore the Radley lines of luggage and handbags, most a bit more distinctive than what everyone else is using, and most almost always showing that welcome touch of whimsy that TP finds so delightful. Here we share a few pieces from the Radley’s other lines. The first is the medium suitcase from their Poppies Luggage collection, *very* easy for the driver or houseman to spot when he heads over to get your things at luggage pick-up.

For all Radley luggage, you can simply click here. The small leather goods are outstanding, like this Medium Purse wallet.

Perhaps the classic elegance of the Var tote handbag in soft, supple black leather is more your style, while yours truly enjoys the Circle Patch Duffle bag for weekends at the cottage.

And in the “This Just In” department, word from the UK that Martha Stewart has been denied entry to that country.

The Daily Telegraph reports the UK Border Agency notified the 66-year-old media and lifestyle tycoon sometime in the past several days that she is just, well, so not welcome because of her 2004 criminal convictions for lying to federal agents. Ouch. There’s no mention of these events in Ms. Stewart’s blog posting for today, or for yesterday, both datelined from the Detroit area where she has been meeting with auto execs and doing promotional events.

One additional note before we close… because The Princess was so gauche as to impose the reportage of personal family business whilst falling asleep at this keyboard (quite literally I’m afraid, bobbing head and all) in the oh-so-wee hours of this morning, we provide a small update on that business: we are happy to report the family pet has actually returned home from her trip to the veterinarian. For those not enduring the imposition of our personal pet traumas, we did not believe that Tilly, the family dog, would make it through the day. She seems to have rebounded somewhat, although we believe the betrayal of her elderly body to now be accelerating with a speed we had not anticipated. (Her actual age is unknown; she is a rescue dog, abandoned and abused prior to her rescue by a Bulldog Rescue Organization.)