Gossip Girl Clothing Line, & The Siamese Slanket

Hello-Hello!

We jump right into things today with the news there actually will be a Gossip Girl clothing line.  From a story in the Houston Chronicle we learn more about the collection:

“…based on the show’s stylish characters, including Blake Lively’s couture-clad socialite Serena van der Woodsen and Leighton Meester’s Blair Waldorf.”

The line is being produced by the UK’s Miss Selfridge, a delightful chain of stores on the far side of the pond.  Below we show the Black Stripe Bow dress from Miss Selfridge, and the store’s Cropped Tux Jacket.

As an executive put it:

“Fashion is intrinsic to Gossip Girl and a key ingredient in the continued popularity of the series.”

There’s no disagreeing with that statement.

Sophie Wilkinson/Splash News

The clothing line will be available in April. We do not know if it will be distributed in US stores; if not, Miss Selfridge does ship to the US.

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Fashion Week continues apace, we have several looks from Mulberry to share:

BTW, that is Willis the French Bulldog you see on the left; his resumé lists “chewing headphones…general destruction” as some of his favorite things.

While not for someone practically in her dotage (heh-heh), these are going to be darling on the appropriate young ladies.

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Next, two styles from the Elie Tahari show:

As mentioned in an earlier post, this is the first time Mr. Tahari has shown at Fashion Week.

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The Tory Burch show was Thursday morning.

From the WWD review:

“…. with the eclectic, fashion-forward taste of the art-world archetype in mind, Burch put forth her boldest collection yet.”

More from the WWD writeup:

“It was a step in a riskier direction that paid off in vibrant, well-detailed clothes.”

We’re not sure how to characterize the brief comments on the show in the Times:

“It probably says something that guests at Tory Burch’s presentation greeted the designer as a celebrity. They oohed at the splatter-print jeans… and the jaunty sequined jacket with elastic at the waist and cuffs.”

More from the Times:

“They ahhed over the shoes, high-heeled hiking boots.”

Getty Images

“One woman said she took the train up from Washington just to have her picture taken with Ms. Burch.”

It’s not hard to see why. Ms. Burch has never given a thought to the red carpet.”

We can’t figure out if this was meant to be snarky or a compliment.

An interesting side note; Ms. Burch supported other designers this week: she attended the Narciso Rodriguez show, and following her own event Ms. Burch joined Tommy Hilfiger and other fashion notables at the first-ever runway show by Reed Krakoff.  Mr. Krakoff is the Coach CEO, regarded as the person responsible for bringing that brand back to life and making it a power player; he is now launching his own line of apparel and accessories.

We shall have a look at Mr. Krakoff’s new line tomorrow, as well as styles from the Hilfiger show, closing out Fashion Week tonight at 8.  Anyone interested in seeing the show live, as it happens, click here for the Tommy Hilfiger Facebook page. (And do pop over to visit The Princess on FB as well, one never knows what we’ll be up to!)

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Two more tidbits:

1) Marie Claire has a story on “15 Preppy Chic Bargains” that we haven’t yet read; we cannot say if we think the looks are preppy or chic. Or bargains.

Marie Claire

2) Finally, because of our utterly irrational and inexplicable propensity passing interest in all things Snuggie/Slanket, we bring you the very latest: the Siamese Slanket.

We only discovered this last evening, via those sharp shoppers at Outblush. Keep in mind, the Slanket folks say they were first with the phenomenon, that the Snuggie is merely following in their footsteps.  (Click here for the post that really gets to the bottom of this important issue, with a look at what the Consort calls the Snuggie-Slanket Smackdown.)

Not  only do we have the Siamese Slanket, available in two snappy colors (ahem), we are happy to introduce readers to the Travel Slanket.

Courtesy Slanket.com

Because air travel isn’t miserable enough.

With that we say g’bye until next time!

PHOTO CREDITS:

• Mulberry: Marcio Madeira/First View via Style.com
• Mulberry: Pasha Antonov
• Tahari: Marcio Madeira/First View via Style.com
• Tory Burch: George Chinsee/WWD
• Tory Burch: ImaxTree
• Gossip Girl: Sophie Wilkinson/Splash News

Snuggie Truth Revealed, and Sperry for Spring!

Hello-Hello!

A quick reminder to be sure and enter our Lilly Pulitzer Stationery giveaway, entries close at midnight tonight! All the contest info you need is right here; the winner receives both a Lilly Pulitzer Latte Da! coffee mug, along with the Take Note Mouse Pad that also comes with a pad of Lilly paper for handy note taking!

We have even coordinated the two prizes, the better to brighten up your desk! The pattern is the always-fun Cabanarama.

We will use Random.org to select the lucky recipient tomorrow morning and post the news midday. A gazillion “Thank you” sentiments to everyone who has entered, you make it too fun for us here at the Prepatorium!

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It seems there is a wildly popular cultural phenomenon we had been unaware of until recently. We are speaking of the oh-so-popular “Seen on TV” product more commonly known as the Snuggie.

Courtesy Snuggie.com

Somehow we weren’t fully versed in Snuggie-speak, so we were forced to do a little research. (Okay, a lot of research.) Little did we know how popular the creations are, leading the Times to do multiple stories on them in the last few weeks!

For anyone as sadly uninformed as we were, the Snuggie is essentially a blanket with sleeves.

The oh-so-popular item is sold primarily through television infomercials.  But according to this story in the Times, the Snuggie was not the first! (Gasp!)

Nay, nay SnuggieFans, not so fast.

“On CNN recently, a segment on the Snuggie — four million of which have sold since it began advertising in October — said it “has spawned all sorts of online imitators” and later mentioned the Slanket as one “of the other versions of the Snuggie out there.”

But it turns out that the Snuggie is actually the imitator.”

We offer Exhibit A, the Slanket, seen below.

Courtesy theSlanket.com

Gasp!

But the Times story digs even deeper, revealing news the Slanket was preceded by…are you ready? Enter Exhibit B, the Freedom Blanket!

Courtesy FreedomBlanket.com

The Freedom Blanket currently sells for $29.99, the Slanket is $44.95 and the Snuggie is $19.95, although one can apparently acquire one for only $14.99 at ‘select’ retailers like Walgreens.

All of this leaves us wondering if The Princess needs to consider pink and green blankets-with-arms? Will we be horribly out of touch with our customers if we do not carry them come next fall? Will there be anti-Princess protests across the nation if we do not add these to our inventory and keep a ready supply on hand?

The Times also ran a story by Allen Salkin, “Snuggie on the Street: Watch Your Back” investigating the merits of wearing one’s Snuggie on the street.

PHOTO: Christopher Smith for the NY Times

Above we see the Snuggie on Broadway. Below, we see one of the drawbacks to outdoor use:

PHOTO: Christopher Smith for the NY Times

There is no back on this item, creating more than a little draft when one steps away from the sofa. Hhhhmmmm.

The whole topic has us wondering if perhaps some of the womenswear designers were thinking of Snuggies or Slankets when creating next Fall’s looks….?

PHOTO: Mauricio Miranda

These photos from the Milan Fall 2009 RTW shows certainly bear a resemblance to a Snuggie, don’t you think?  These two creations are from Salvatore Ferragamo, the photos via WWD.

PHOTO: Mauricio Miranda

We are just saying….

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In our unceasing efforts to hurry spring we offer footwear designed to boost everyone’s spirits, starting with the Sperry Pelican Tall Boot in a stylized anchor motif.  Miss Nautical, do you approve?

The boot comes in a number of delightful colors and patterns; above you see the blue plaid. We looked at these this weekend at Nordstrom, and would have considered trying on a pair had anyone in the store’s shoe department indicated an interest in assisting us in that endeavor.

Another Sperry shoe we are fond of is the Women’s Print Bahama, available in three colorways. The green version has anchors, the pink features sailboats and the aqua-blue pair is adorned with a seahorse print.

Also new this spring, the Waterloo from Admiral in a seersucker and chambray look.

Courtesy High Snobiety

They will also be available in this classic blue seersucker and chambray.

Courtesy High Snobiety

We thank the bright minds over at High Snobiety for their initial story on these shoes!

Until next time dolls, have a simply splendid afternoon!