Rafael Nadal as Beefcake? Oh My! New Stores for Tory Burch & the Vines, J Crew Sale Gets Better!

NOTE: The Princess must apologize, for she thought this post was published yesterday (Monday) and it was not. She is shamed and chagrined. Silly Princess. Our bad.

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Well hello-hello everyone, and isn’t it a delightful Monday? A perfect August day marred only by the fact summer is drawing to a close, however desperately yours truly lives in denial of that reality.

We should have expected this I imagine, the Rafael Nadal and tennis fashion fascination, along with the Rafa is ‘hot’ as I believe it is said in today’s lingo? But you must remember The Princess is from a somewhat different era: members of the opposite sex are gentlemen (or nothing at all) and we most assuredly never referred to them as “Beefcake.” (Gasp!) Having said all that, TP has come to the conclusion that in an effort to be better connected to her customers at The Preppy Princess, not to mention her readers here at the blog, it’s time she learns all about Beefcake. (Double Gasp!)

At the very least we must force ourselves to become acquainted with the topic in terms of how it relates to tennis fashions, as that is something near and dear to our heart and a topic covered with some frequency on this blog. This week’s issue of New York has a fascinating story entitled The Beefcake in the BackCourt, written by the wonderful Ben Williams with a subhead that reads: “Another way in which ripped, raffish Rafael Nadal and his cardigan-wearing Swiss rival aren’t anything alike.”

And there is this:

TP is aghast. Horrified. Her face is aflame with a fuchsia color that would make the best Lilly Pulitzer print look washed out by comparison. She must make plans to go to confession as soon as she finishes this post. She simply cannot believe the photo on the right with Rafa looking so… ah…, looking so…, well, we’ll just say he looks rather intense. (Heh-heh-heh.)

The story is a splendid read, including the opening paragraph:

“Take your time. It’s okay. That photo of Rafael Nadal on the back cover of this magazine is undeniably … what’s a polite way to put it? Arresting. The mussed locks curled just so above the shoulders. The biceps curved like a particularly ripe aubergine. The shadows playing across the deeply grooved abs. All demand extended scrutiny.”

When you’re done, ask yourself this: Would Roger Federer ever pose for a photo like that?

The pirate look Mr. Nadal wears so well was evident in at the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.

As was Mr. Federer’s more buttoned-up look.

The Princess must say reading about ‘ripped’ Mr. Nadal’s additional attributes made for an enlightening morning, albeit somewhat shocking. We’ll do our best to recover. Just knowing we could share it with you makes it all that more memorable! BTW, if there is anyone who can dish on the tennis fashion topic, Rich over at Down the Line Tennis is always on top of things.

We haven’t mentioned a number of store openings lately and wanted to cover just a few because they are of interest and/or more than timely. For openers, the Tory Burch store in San Francisco opens today on upscale Maiden Lane, a fab location. Here are a couple of the fall looks:

We aren’t wild about either one, but in the spirit of full disclosure TP has never done well with earth tones. They are very attractive to be sure, just not for us. The same can’t be said of the Hope Hooded Cardigan, very much for us, as it looks ever-so-snuggly. We acknowledge it’s not a bright and brilliant color, but when it comes to hoodies and their snuggle factor, color somehow ceases to be an issue for us!

A note on a name to watch: Katherine Fleming with news today she is launching her own line of handbags. At this point you are saying “This is all fine and lovely TP, and we’re quite Ms. Fleming is a wonderful human being and a great American, but why do we care about her handbags?!” Because fellow prep-heads, she is the designer responsible for much of the Tory Burch accessory line, as explained in this morning’s WWD story about her collection:

“…most recently Tory Burch, where she launched the brand’s accessories and was design director of accessories.”

Well, that definitely puts her on TP’s radar! Also opening a new store, but not until mid-November, is Vineyard Vines. They’ll be taking over the old Talbot’s Mens store in the Back Bay, and if there isn’t a lesson from the retailing Gods in that little scenario, wow. And that reminds us, you don’t want to miss out on the V2 Sale which is going full steam ahead.

We can’t pass up treasures like the Overboard Skirt, still available in a good range of sizes, or the Girls Boot Striped Polo, good to go in 3 great colors.

A decent amount of merchandise remains in the Mens and Boys sale areas as well as the Women’s and Girls, should this be of interest to anyone looking to snag a few things before the season is over.

Which brings us to one more preppy sale of note, the J Crew sale. Their merchandise is now an Extra 30% off, customers just need to use the code EXTRA30 at checkout. What could be easier than that?

We’ll chat more later. Happy hunting!

Golden Boys, Sharapova Brings the Bling, Polo Ralph Lauren Wants You to Phone Home

Once again, it would seem the pictures best tell the stories. We start with the unprecedented.

Michael Phelps holds each of his 8 Gold Medals

What it’s like being Michael now…

Finding room to breath at the Speedo Athletes party…

Is that the Lacoste ‘Gator on Steroids on his hat?

And then we had the fierce factor out of the water, but no less potent. Rafael Nadal of Spain was all over the court with a ferocity that did not back down.

Here is TP’s favorite shot, a suddenly very grown-up looking Rafa consoling opponent Fernando Gonzales of Chile after the match and Nadal’s win, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3.

Of course, there is nothing like royalty attending your events to make you feel special. In this case, it is Queen Sofia of Spain.

Queen Sofia of Spain at Men's Tennis Final (Former IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch seated behind her)

The reaction from arch-rival Roger Federer was what one would expect, saying Nadal “totally deserves” the number one ranking, paying warm tribute to the Spaniard who takes over the number one tennis ranking on Monday, replacing Federer after 4-1/2 years.

“That’s what I expected and hoped for many years ago when I got to number one, that if ever somebody were to take it away from me, he would have to play an incredible tennis schedule, win the biggest tournaments, dominate the game basically, and then like this he can take number one. “I didn’t want it to happen that I would play completely bad and somebody would pick up number one in the world. So I think Rafa totally deserves it.”

And let’s not forget Team USA’s golden girls, Venus and Serena Williams, bringing home the gold in Women’s Doubles, beating Anabel Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain in the doubles final 6-2, 6-0. The sisters had some pretty good support from their fans.

The ladies really made short work of their opponents, looking outstanding in their pursuit of the win, and the Gold Medal. Congratulations to Venus Williams and Serena Williams!

Moving on to non-Olympic items, this has been covered many places and we keep intending to mention it ourselves, but between outside functions and Olympic events we simply didn’t have the time, so we apologize if it’s repetitive news. Here is the brief version: the smart marketing maneuvers at Polo Ralph Lauren continue at a rapid pace, most recently an announcement the company is moving into mobile, or “m-commerce.” In other words, we’ll soon be able to buy merchandise using our cell phone.

It all has to do with something called “QR” technology, that standing for Quick Response, a lovely idea, we are sure. Something to do with the box of computer-looking stuff, just like this one in the closeup, or in the ad just below. You can learn more about it in a story in “RL Magazine,” the online version.

Frankly, “Know the Code” sounds like some sort of Secret Squirrel Club hidden handshake or the government’s Disaster Preparedness Plans. Beyond that, all of the technospeak is a bit over TP’s head and really more the purview of The Princess Consort. Mobile shopping isn’t yet a critical need for The Princess, but should it become so, it’s nice to know that Ralph Lauren is leading the way in making it happen for us.

Injuries may have kept Maria Sharapova out of the Olympics and they’re also keeping her out of the US Open starting on the 25th, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t keeping other commitments. Come Wednesday Ms. Sharapova will be in New York unveiling five diamond-encrusted Canon PowerShot Elph cameras to hype her own Limited Edition version of the camera. (There’s that Limited Edition issue rearing its ugly self again…!) Yes, this is a *very* nouveau thing to do, and certainly nothing TP would condone (heh-heh-heh), however… those would be real diamonds, and real diamonds can be of assistance in these challenging economic times. For instance, if you are struggling paying the household staff, or pondering how to pay Missy’s first semester at Boston Latin… that sort of thing. Real-life emergencies.

The five cameras are part of a contest kicking off on Wednesday, “Canon Center Court” and running through October 20. And while we never (nevereverever) discuss the “M” word, it is suggested that each of the cameras is valued at about $12,000 each. If you should want to try to win one. More details will be available online at the Powershot.com site, presumably starting on August 20th.

BTW, speaking of mobile computing and such, you can also be in touch with the US Open through your cell phone via mobile alerts. Click here for details.

And we’ll be in touch tomorrow. ‘Night.