A Gossip Girl on the Worst Dressed Lists, SATC 2, Pink & Green Whales You’ll Love

Hello-Hello, and welcome to a Thursday!

There is so much happening on the Preppy Planet, it is hard to know where to begin. We’ll start today with the tale of a star from faux-prep school show Gossip Girl being excoriated by many of the fashion press and bloggerati.

It seems Leighton Meester’s wardrobe selections this past year do not meet with their approval.

Photo: REX Features

Some readers may recognize this as the wretched outfit we shared in a November post, and to be fair, we were not complimentary about the style.  But now Miss Meester has been declared the Worst Dressed of 2009 by our friends across the pond at Marie Claire UK. From the magazine’s website:

“Now this makes us sad. One of our favourite girl crushes, Leighton Meester usually gets it so right in the style stakes, but so didn’t when she threw together this fashion car crash of an ensemble. In her efforts to launch a solo pop career, it looks as though the Gossip Girl decided a complete image overhaul was necessary – perhaps to distance herself from the preppy on-screen style of her GG alter-ego.”

Ouch.

Yesterday Fashionista posted “An Open Letter to Leighton Meester“:

“Dear Leighton,

So maybe we’re used to you oozing Upper East Side debutante in Blair’s Ralph Lauren pea coats and Nanette Lepore frocks, and we are open to change, but we’ve really started to worry about your recent choice of outfits.”

The letter was accompanied by this collage of offending outfits:

Courtesy Fashionista.com

In November the Fashion Police dedicated this post to their concerns over the young star’s sartorial selections.  And that was before this outfit from the KIIS-FM Jingle Ball in Los Angeles earlier this month.

Or this one from Saturday’s Z100 Jingle Ball in the city.

Photo Agency

Us magazine places Miss Meester second on their list of 2009’s Worst Dressed Stars.  The outfit they use to make their point is below, worn by the young actress and singer to the Met Costume Gala in May.

Photo: Getty Images

While we may not be fond (ahem) of Ms. Meester’s wardrobe choices, we do applaud the young lady’s spunky approach and her refusal to be chastened by fashion writers and critics.

Ms. Meester is not the only G2 star on the Us Magazine hit parade; Taylor Momsen is also included.

George Napolitano/Getty Images For Giuseppe Zanotti

Indeed.

Speaking of Gossip Girl, WWD (Women’s Wear Daily, subscription req’d.) reports that the next real-life fashionista appearing on the show is Teen Vogue editor Amy Astley. From WWD‘s story:

“…. spent Tuesday with Blake Lively and company on location at the IAC building filming a scene for the CW soap that is tentatively slated to air in March.”

Ms. Astley can be seen on the far right in the photo below, taken in September at the Clinique Fresh Faces Tour kickoff, a promotional event put together by Teen Vogue, and featuring Taylor Momsen.

Mark Von Holden/Getty Images

That concludes today’s Gossip Girl fashion-related report. (Heh-heh-heh.)

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Also fashion-related, the Sex and the City 2 poster has been released, providing a peek into the design aesthetic for the upcoming movie.

“SATC 2: Carrie On” is slated for release May 28, 2010.  Sarah Jessica Parker wears a dress from the spring 2010 Halston Heritage collection, Christian Louboutin Pigalle Gold Sequinned Pumps, and she carries a Chanel clutch.  Here is a closer look at the pumps with black sequins.

Also debuting next spring, Candace Bushnell’s The Carrie Diaries, introducing readers to Carrie in her teen years.

The book is scheduled for release April 27.

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We close with our very favorite new item here at the Prepatorium, it just arrived Tuesday and we couldn’t wait to share!

PreppyPrincess.com

The Pink Whales Bag has a drawstring closure in bright pink, making it casual and easy to carry. It is very durable. and perfect for your little one to use as a laundry bag, to tote their toys or goodies to a sleepover, and more.

The closer look also shows the bag’s two other patterns, Pink Funkier Monkey and Blue Funkier Monkey.

With that cheery image we say g’bye until next time, may everyone enjoy a relatively calm Thursday!

That Back to School Preppy Look…?

Hello-Hello, and welcome to another edition of “Preppy is Everywhere, Version #4921”.

There are numerous and diverse references to what we’ll call broadly term ‘preppy fashion’ strewn about the media landscape this week. In yesterday’s post we discussed the merits, or lack thereof, of ‘sexy preppy’.

Today we turn to the Trib for “Preppy fashion takes on an edgy look,” offering a more egalitarian look at the task of clothing one’s offspring for the approaching (or already underway) school year.

“For most people, back to school does not mean a return to a pricey prep school.”

“But no matter what your age or station in life, prep school style is a classic.”

We actually concur with the majority of statements in that portion of the article outlining classic style. As frequent readers may be expecting, we do reach a point where TP’s opinions don’t sync with the author’s. In this case it is the point where the story suggests “replacements” for classic preppy styles. For example, the ‘Naughty nurse white stretch knee-highs’ replacing regular knee-highs? We think not. (Fear not, TP is not accessorizing her skirts with knee-highs.)

We also have “preppy collegiate” as described by Lands’ End and Parents magazine in a ‘ joint survey’ on back-to-school fashion, described in this post on a Plain Dealer (Cleveland) blog:

“… experts say girls and boys are tweaking their looks under themes they’ve dubbed “boho chic” and “preppy collegiate,” with loads of references from the 1980s — skinny jeans, tunic tops and sweaters, leggings and splashes of neon.”

For those of us having witnessed many of the looks mentioned above, we can only say this is frightening. Very, very frightening.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette offers the following in a similar piece, using an ad from Kohl’s as an illustration:

• “Whether it be the rocker look or that Upper East Side preppy look … a lot of kids, especially teens, are taking their cues from celebrities…”
• “The combination of preppy and edgy make for a fun outfit…” (according to an American Eagle spokesperson)

  

We’ll be sharing more on the continued association of the ‘preppy look’ with other styles in the next few weeks; it appears there is no shortage of material on the topic. We’ll end today’s conversation with a look simply referred to this way in OK! Magazine:

“Ed Westwick and Sebastian Stan don their preppy best on the set of Gossip Girl…”

PHOTO: Joseph Giannattasio/PacificCoastNews.com

The Gossip Girl crew was shooting in Central Park yesterday.

What is your preppy best…?

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We actually have two Pretty in Pink items today, the first is our darling  Funkier Monkey Backpack from Four Peas, as seen in this recent story about Polo Ralph Lauren styles for back-to-school.  The story is a good read, as the styles are actually reviewed after being given a bit of a test drive by the kids.

About.com

You can also see the Pink Funkier Monkey School Supply Holder, ideal for those pencils, crayons, and who-knows-what your little needs to carry. (Pssst: these are also ideal for cosmetics and other items!)

Our second Pretty in Pink comes via The Peak of Chic in a post showcasing the many talents of boutique tentmaker Anne Girault; we thought the following would bring a smile to the soul.

What do you think, is it something Silly Tilly needs for her collection of beds here at the Prepatorium? She already insists on riding ‘up front’ in the Princessmobile, the better to provide directions to the Consort.

Of course.

Was Mad Men Enough? Also, is NYC Prep Better Than Gossip Girl?

Hello-Hello on this Tuesday morning!

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We are still catching up from our little weekend getaway to a family wedding.  We had the most fun, seeing relatives and visiting the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum for the first time. The wedding and reception were just delightful, the latter held in the The Terrace Club at Progressive Field, home to the Cleveland Indians. The best moment had to be the newlyweds going to home plate for photos, it was all wonderful fun, a lovely party and celebration.

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We begin by thanking the fabulous Park Avenue Princess for her generosity in bestowing upon us the Sparkles Award! To quote from her post:

“The Splash Award is given to alluring, amusing, bewitching, impressive, and inspiring blogs.”

Here are the stipulations accompanying the Award:

• Put the logo on your blog/post.
• Nominate & link up to 9 blogs which allure, amuse, bewitch, impress or inspire you.
• Let them know that they have been splashed by commenting on their blog.
• Remember to link to the person from whom you received your Splash Award.

And this award goes to the following…

Five Tomatoes

Lipstick at the Mailbox

Little Bow Prep

Mindless Musings

Puppy Love by Erin

Queen Bee Swain

Sweet Tea in Seattle

The Pink Tutu

Three for Tippy

(Ladies, we understand if you are crazy busy with the summer wrapping up, school and other obligations getting underway, we merely want to let you know how highly we think of you! If there’s no time to post about or pass on the award, not to worry!)

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Again, we send our gratitude to Miss Park Avenue Princess for including us!

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We have a few tidbits related to the comings and goings of certain television programs, starting with this look at the season finale of NYC Prep. The piece ran on the LA Times Show Tracker blog and in addition to asking readers if they want to see a NYC Prep Season 2, writer Enid Portuguez offers the following:

“It’s yet to be seen whether “NYC Prep” will get another season to prove itself. If it does, we’ll get treated to more of Sebastian’s hair flips, Kelli’s eye rolls and, hopefully, a set of new and improved prepsters. If not, we’ll just have to observe the Upper East Side through the eyes of “Gossip Girl,” which is completely fine with me.”

The story is essentially a synopsis of the show’s final episode in case anyone missed (that’s a liberal use of the word) it.

Also talking about the show, Newsweek’s Pop Vox blog with a post entitled “7 Reasons NYC Prep Tops Gossip Girl“.  Speaking from the perspective of one who has seen not a frame of NYC Prep, and less than 20 minutes of G2, it is an interesting post:

“… NYC Prep actually trumps its scripted predecessor, Gossip Girl, in terms of quality guilty-viewing pleasure. Despite its flagging ratings, the series is actually more entertaining than the show from which it was born.”

One reason we love the piece? Because the writing peaks well into the red zone on TP’s Snark-O-Meter. Here is a sample:

“Reason #5: That entitled cadence. You can give an actor all the speech lessons you want, but there’s just no aping the actual singsong, privileged speech patterns of the Upper East Side native.”

There you have it.

As far as Gossip Girl goes, People (and a host of others) is posting some details about the upcoming season’s plot lines.

SPOILER ALERT CAUTION SPOILER ALERT

Giovanni Rufino/THE CW via People

(Before proceeding, we must say the photo above makes us think of a giant ice cream cone piled high with different flavors of sherbet, it is simply yumalicious.)

Back to People’s story, the magazine interviewed the show’s producer about what fans can anticipate this season:

“”Chuck (Ed Westwick) and Blair (Leighton Meester) are definitely going to be a couple and stay a couple this season…”

“We have our big Polo match in the first episode, we go to Sotheby’s for an auction in the third episode and in the fourth episode, we have a big movie premiere at Ziegfeld (Theater),”

For TP the most intriguing G2 item on the People site had nothing to do with the approaching season, for more of that information click here.  Rather, it is this photo of Mr. Westwick from the mid-1990s, part of the magazine’s bio on the actor. (Note the argyle.)

Courtesy People.com

Additionally, Ms. Meester has taped a version of the Broadway classic “Tonight” from “West Side Story,” it is part of a promotional campaign for the upcoming MTV VMAs

Courtesy MTV

We think the young star looks stunning.

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And then there was Mad Men on Sunday night. We enjoyed it immensely here at the Prepatorium, and it appears we were were not alone: the show drew record ratings with 2.8 million viewers. Those are more-than-significant numbers for a ‘cable show’ as some still refer to original programs on the “smaller networks”.

Courtesy Vanity Fair

All day Sunday (which started in Cleveland and ended back here at Princess InterGalactic HQ) the two of us were uncharacteristically neurotic concerned about somehow forgetting to watch the program, going so far as to set an alarm. What a relief yesterday to learn a friend experienced the same anxiety!

As for the show itself, it was one of the more cerebral episodes, delving into some psychological areas not frequently visited on other popular television shows.  It seemed a little racier than we remember Seasons 1 and 2 being, but that could simply be our tendency to ‘enhance’ history for those things we look upon with affection. Or it might have been more liberal use of vulgarities, we really cannot say.

Once again we cite the Newsweek Vox Populi blog for their review of the show in Mad Men: Was it Worth the Wait?

“But in terms of forward momentum, this was only a slight improvement from last season’s opener. Some viewers are bound to become exasperated and move on. I, however, won’t be among them. I’ll be the first to admit that the glacial pace wears on me at times, but there’s also something charming in the way Mad Men demands that you let its story unfurl at its own pace. It’s television as an old-fashioned courtship: true love waits.”

We do have one question for readers who watched: were we the only person on the Preppy Planet hopeful, despite fully knowing better, that Don’s philandering ways might end, if only temporarily while Betty is in her last trimester?

Sigh. Silly Princess.

We are back again tomorrow, hoping your today is fabulous!

Return of the Prep School Look … Again. Ralph Lauren Kids Opens

Hello-Hello and Happy Day!

In anticipation of The Big Vote (now officially dubbed TBV here at the Prepatorium) we share the following fashionably patriotic accessories, compliments of today’s WWD.

PHOTO: Thomas Iannaccone

The style statements are from a variety of designers, including:

• the cotton canvas clutch by Bruno Frisoni
• a ribbon, Lucite, glass & metal necklace from Erickson Beamon (Yes, the Erickson-Beamon jewelry favored by Michelle Obama as described in previous posts.)
  
• the wool velour hat by Jennifer Ouellette (Indeed, that Jennifer Ouellete of Gossip Girl headband fame!)

Courtesy Jennifer Roulette

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And believe it or not, the headline on the post is correct; it would seem that the Preppy or Prep School look has returned. Again.

This time it is compliments of our neighbors to the north, more specifically in an article entitled “Return of Prep School Look” from the Regina Leader-Post. One apparel line mentioned in the story is Canada’s Jacob Connexion.

“The attitude behind Connexion for fall ’08 is casual with a certain level of chic, a very put-together, yet worldly preppy feel,” said Jacob creative director Karen Pornillos. “It is Parisian ‘bon chic, bon genre’ with a tad of East Coast Ivy League flavour.”

The Ivy-league style blazer is seen below.

Jacob Connexion

Here are a few more looks from the company’s fall line:

The story also says “…navy blazers, kilts, and knee-highs” have been spotted lately, and “…not just on the posh Upper East Siders on TV’s Gossip Girl….”

“The prep-school look, once reserved solely for uniforms and naughty Halloween costumes, has become the trend for fall among both students and young professionals, as crests, bows, and ruffles take over mannequins and store racks at retailers across the country.”

The following illustration accompanies the story:

Photos: CW Graphic: Linda Rea-Rosseker, Leader-Post

The Jacob Connexion line is spun off from the Jacob Collection, offering several more looks we find appealing. Very appealing.

In keeping with the style under discussion here, word today from the good folks at Racked that the Ralph Lauren Children’s store is now open on Bleecker Street.

This is the store that previously carried the Women’s Collections.

A quick update on the J. Crew cardigan mentioned in our previous post about Michelle Obama wearing J. Crew fashions on the Leno Show: the sweater surfaced over the weekend at a rally in Columbus, Ohio.

PHOTO: Emmanuel Dunand/Getty

Here is a closer look at the ‘Crystal-button colorblock cardigan‘ from J. Crew.

Courtesy J. Crew

Our argyle updates wouldn’t be complete without a few treasures we fell over online, including the Paul Frank Argyle 3-pack.

And from the CrewMutts collection at J. Crew, the Argyle dog sweater in lambswool.  A reminder, this is one of those items available only by catalog and online.

Courtesy J. Crew

BTW, does anyone know the reasoning for the Crewmutts merchandise falling into the Women’s section on the website?  It is merely curiosity that prompts the query.

In closing, today’s Pretty in Pink comes to us via LL Bean.  Below, Bean shows a creative use of a preppy standard, grosgrain ribbon. In this case the retailer uses it to adorn their Maine Isle Slipper.

Courtesy LL Bean

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That is it for today. A reminder in the best Chicago tradition, “Vote Early and Vote Often!” We are thinking many of our fabulous Chicago bloggers (Momx2, Lipstick at the Mailbox, Third Coast Preppy, Tres Poshe Preppy and more!) recognize this saying!

Another ‘How to be Preppy Guide’

Hello and a good day to all… we hope you are able to get out and enjoy it. Or stay in and enjoy it, whatever your preference.

Today we bring you another example of the as-yet-to-be-named viral infection sweeping Manhattan. Likely an airborne virus, this mutant strain appears to take over writers’  and editors’ thought processes, frequently resulting in columns on “How to Be Preppy.”  Our latest example comes via this column at website Complex, a site TP visits every now and again for research purposes only. Honest.

Band of Outsiders

In explaining how one accomplishes Prepdom (our word), Complex awards Band of Outsiders its designation as “The Brand,” presumably “the” preppy brand.  Above we show the apparel and accessories illustrating Band of Outsiders’ designation as “The Brand”: their trenchcoat in a Blackwatch plaid, accented by the ‘trapper hat’ trimmed with raccoon. Below, our selection of this look with David Beckham in the company’s cashmere tartan sweater vest.

Band of Outsiders Cashmere Sweater Vest

The rapid spread of the virus shows no signs of abating; we hear it is frantically being tracked by the CDDC (Centers for Design Disease Control) in an effort to maintain some, any sartorial standards. Below, our selection of Penn Badgely in a Band of Outsiders’ blazer and grosgrain wrapped loafers, from GQ’s August issue.

GQ August 2008

Many readers not ‘sur intime avec’ Band of Outsiders may remember them for their collection with Sperry Topsiders that debuted this past spring, the company’s first collaboration with an outside entity.

But we digress. The Complex Guide continues with pointers on ‘The Drink‘ (a Hendrick’s Gimlet)…

… as well as The Tie and The Shop (if you recognize the photo below, please award yourself ten extra Preppy Style Points, a currency we regret to inform you that is utterly without foundation or value, other than our holding you in the highest of esteem).

Now, you know exactly where this is going: The Shoe (of course), The Restaurant (appropriately situated on the UES,) and more. We must stop at this point to provide readers with full disclosure: we actually adore much of what Complex publishes, and quite love this little treatise as well, so there, our secret is out. We hope you don’t think less of us.

Until next time….