Those Mad Men Are At It Again, & Yale as the ‘Gay Ivy’?

Happy Friday everyone, this has seemed like a long week, and yet we have a bit of an empty feeling as we ask ourselves, “Ummm, exactly what did you accomplish this week Missy? Hhmmm?” We’re sure we managed to provide some tangible benefits in exchange for the privilege of taking up airspace here on the Preppy Planet, we’re just not able to recall immediately what those benefits were.

Well, that’s more-than-enough of a dreary detour, let’s move on to something with no redeeming values whatsoever, a look at the news.

We start with happy news about our absolute favorite television program:

Courtesy amc-tv

Mad Men has received multiple Emmy nominations: 16 in total.  Once again Jon Hamm (aka Don Draper) draws a nomination as Best Actor in a drama, and costar John Slattery is nominated as Best Supporting Actor; he plays Roger Sterling, one of the founders of 1960’s advertising agency Sterling Cooper.

USA Today had a great Q&A with Mr. Slattery on the eve of last year’s Emmy ceremony, click here. Below, a photo of both men at last year’s Emmy gala; Mr. Slattery is on the left.

PHOTO: Mike Blake/Reuters (9.21.08)

Actress Elisabeth Moss is nominated for her role as Peggy, and the show itself garnered another Best Dramatic series nod; it was the big winner in this category last year. Below we see Ms. Moss between Mr. Slattery and Mr. Hamm. (Oh, to be a sandwich between those two….)

Courtesy mac-tv

Mad Men Season 3 premieres Sunday, August 16 at 10pm EDT.  You know where we’ll be…. how about you?

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Now we display our ignorance for all to see and comment upon. We were well aware Tiffany was carrying handbags…

Courtesy Tiffany & Co., (No Longer Available)

The handbag was referred to here at the Palace as the Tiffany Tote (we chatted about it here and here), yet somehow TP missed the news that Cartier was doing bags as well.

Courtesy Bag That Style

And from the looks of the photo of Gossip Girl star Blake Lively, it would seem this is old (moldy old) news! Are we just hopelessly out of touch?

But we go back to Tiffany for a quick moment: has everyone seen the new Jean Schlumberger enamel bracelet collection?

Courtesy Tiffany

Very, very pretty, IOHO.

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Next we have the growing discussion about Yale’s position as the “Gay Ivy”.  This is not a new phenomenon, but the current conversation is due in part to this month’s issue of the YAM, or Yale Alumni Magazine.

Courtesy Yale Alumni Magazine

Again, not anything really new other than its front page status in the YAM; however, the story by the magazine’s editors’ and accompanying profiles offer insight into the history and veracity of such an appellation.

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In other news that shall have no impact on our life whatsoever that somehow seemed moderately interesting nonetheless, WWD reports popular retailer Forever 21 will soon be adding home and beauty lines to their merchandise mix.

PHOTO: Shanna Ravindra

The company will be rolling out these products in their bigger stores, including the 15 former Mervyn’s store they purchased.

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And a tidbit about a one-time Princess favorite, news that a buyer has been secured for bankrupt retailer Eddie Bauer.  The buyer plans to keep most of the existing 300 stores open, and also says Eddie Bauer gift cards will be honored. That at least, is good news.

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We close with one of the cutest stuffed animals we have ever seen: the Whale Big Mouth Fun from Baby Earth.

BabyEarth.com

With that darling image we say au revoir until next time, may your weekend be surorunded by summer splendor!

The New Tiffany Tote Bag + Preppy Needlepoint

Hello and aren’t we happy-happy-happy it is a bright and beautiful Tuesday?! Tis a privilege to be on the third coast where it is bright and sunny, low humidity and high excitement at the Merchandise Mart! We owe a ‘Thank You’ for the lovely weather to Erin (Third Coast Preppy) who promised the Princess Consort it would be this way!

After designing our exclusive placemats, napkins and other goodies, there is nothing quite so fun as buying trips to find the latest and greatest in preppy goodies for the Preppy Princess. That’s where we are, on the road looking for the ‘newest and coolest’ in personal and home accessories.

Speaking of new… has anyone seen these yet? We just stumbled upon them while looking up another item at Tiffany’s. (Yes, to be accurate it is singular, Tiffany, but we’re feeling slightly sloppy this morning.) These are new, at least to The Princess, canvas with leather trim, and only available online.

The Tiffany Tote (our name – Tiffany is simply calling them ‘Pink Tote,’ ‘Brown Tote,’ etc.) seems more like a handbag to TP; regardless of name, we must admit they actually seem kind of cool. The website describes them this way:

Carry yourself with style. Tote in canvas with pink leather. 15.5 x 7.25 x 15.5″. Available exclusively on Tiffany.com.

The totes don’t look like they are really 16″ square from the photos; they seem wider than they are tall, but they do look good-sized. At $395 they are not inexpensive but their lines are clean and timeless. (There is also a white patent leather version of the tote we do not show in the photos.) We’re pretty sure this is one that will be in style next year and the year after that and the year after that. In other words, a good investment if you love the look. Of course, we would remove these pesky things lest the LogoPhobia kick in:

Discounting the easily removable leather logo tag (at least it looks easily removable) this is one handbag or purse or tote or whatever we might be able to establish a relationship with, one we could learn to like, even grow to love. TP would even consider overlooking her bitter and hostile feelings minor concerns (minor?!) about the Tiffany Eyeglasses and think about acquiring one of these. For new readers this means overlooking Tiffany logos the size of Lake Michigan on said eyeglasses. (We have discussed the tedious topic in previous posts and don’t want to bore anyone else with the background.)

Does anyone else think this is reminiscent of other retailers who have branched out into new markets? Cartier does handbags in addition to other personal accessories, and Bulgari comes to mind as a jeweler that extended its brand into new markets, especially leather goods. As an example, we see the Baby Panther Mobile Phone Strap from Cartier below.

On the other hand Fendi started as a small Italian fur and leather company that expanded into more apparel. These are a few looks from their Resort 2009 RTW (Ready to Wear) Collection, so they aren’t commercially available.

Now because it held such a big role as Carrie Bradshaw’s bag in Sex and the City, we simply must show the Fendi Baguette in shocking pink on sale at Bluefly.

You didn’t really think we would pass up the opportunity to do the pink and green thing did you? Here is the green one, also on sale at Bluefly Batcave.

Now, having shown with great fanfare the Polo Ralph Lauren Kids Paint Your Own Polos we were amazed to learn about this: the Fendi Paint Your Own Baguette!

This one was released months ago, back in February or March. It was greeted with almost universal disdain and resentment, people were simply aghast at the thought of $1300 for a white canvas bag with 10 magic markers as they saw it. It is still available at numerous sites if you are so inclined, like eluxury.com and Needless Markup Neiman Marcus.

Everywhere we see stories about the renaissance of needlepoint, although it really never went away for some of us… did it for you? Anything promoting the art/craft is good and you won’t hear us denigrate the coverage. Besides, it is always fun to learn about new designs, including these from Jonathan Adler. The pillow in the top photograph is designed to look like very preppy grosgrain ribbon belts, and the smaller photo below shows Adler’s Ties Pillow, both really TDF (to die for) and great additions to almost any room at any of your homes.

Then we have these two, each of which is on sale, originally $165 and now $98, quite the bargain. We show the set, but the Queen of Hearts and Ace of Spades pillows *are* sold individually so the set of two would run $196.