Ultimate Fashion Gala, & A Sneak Peek at the Preppy Laptop

Hello-Hello, we hope the sun is shining as brightly in your corner of the globe as it is here!

We begin with an apology to those not fond of fashion-laden posts, we must beg your indulgence one more day, as we have yet to share the images from another big do. The Met Ball was Monday night, arguably the season’s most important event for seeing, and being seen, in serious formalwear. (The official name for the event: the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute gala.) The evening also officially kicked off the Museum’s special exhibit, American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity.

For decades the Gala has been overseen by Anna Wintour.

Via The Cut

The Vogue magazine editor was in an ensemble by Chanel Couture; some found it less than attractive, but we actually liked the look, and thought it was flattering on Ms. Wintour.

Two of the evening’s most elegant looks: Jennifer Lopez in Zuhair Murad.

Kristin Somody Whalen/WWD

And Marion Cotillard in glittering Christian Dior.

Kristin Somody Whalen/WWD

They are both wearing what we refer to as “SPFs,” Serious Party Frock.  The editors at Refinery 29 came up with this group of “Best Dressed” ladies at the Gala.

Via Refinery 29

From the left, Zoe Saldana in Calvin Klein, Kate Bosworth wears Valentino, Rosie Huntington (apparently a popular model) in Burberry and Emma Watson, also in Burberry.

The event is A List only; below we see Lauren Bush and David Lauren, on the right, Ricky and Ralph Lauren.

In an unusual twist, we thought the younger generation’s styles were superior to those seen on their elders; the blue jeans looked horribly inappropriate.  Below left we show Dylan Lauren, and on the right, Tommy Hilfiger and his wife, Dee Ocleppo.

Taylor Swift was in Ralph Lauren Collection, and Tory Burch in Tory Burch.

From the Gossip Girl contingent, Blake Lively wears Marchesa and Jessica Szohr in Versace.

Leighton Meester and Penn Badgley were also on hand.

The Cut had an intriguing tidbit in their post about the G2 stars and the event:

“… all the relationship drama has made the cast of Gossip Girl skittish around reporters, because Penn Badgley, Jessica Szohr, and Blake Lively each didn’t so much as turn their heads as they hustled up the stairs, surrounded by flacks, and went inside.

And how did Ms. Lively look for the after-party? Below left we see the more casual look she sported, and on the right, co-stars Penn Badgley and Chace Crawford at that function.

We were not crazy about Ivanka Trump’s Atelier Versace dress, nor did we think highly of the Chanel look seen on Kristen Stewart.

We also struggled with someone we generally adore seeing in a fab frock, Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks; this blue gown simply didn’t work.

The black and white gown on Malin Akerman was another miss IOHO.

One dress creating quite a stir (and also making it onto almost every ‘worst dressed’ list), Katy Perry’s LED light-up dress.

We absolutely adored WWD’s commentary on the gown:

“It was enough to provoke a seizure (or at least a headache), but Perry behaved as if nothing were out of the ordinary. Guess no one told her there’s a difference between dressing to stop traffic and dressing like a traffic stop.”

Note who leads off Refinery 29’s review of the “The Bad” styles:

Photo Collage via Refinery29.com

Also seen with Ms. Perry in the dubious distinction category above, Chloë Sevigny in Proenza Schouler, Tina Fey in a jumpsuit of unknown origin, and another Mad Men fave, January Jones.  Ms. Fey and Ms. Jones surprised, they usually appear far better put together. In a new category we are calling “Worst Gown by Volume,” model Coco Rocha and her Zac Posen.

WWD.com

As the Fug Girls wrote:

“…that reminds me of every Bed In A Bag on sale around the time I was going off to college.”

We don’t consider our reading on any fashion topic complete until we have seen what Cathy Horyn writes, we especially like this comment from her story:

“I thought Lauren Santo Domingo looked terrific in a sparkly, long-sleeved beige dress by Proenza Schouler. It suited her height and coloring and it’s nice to see long sleeves.”

Just in case anyone missed the most important part of the comment:

“… it’s nice to see long sleeves.”

Not that we’re obsessed proponents of bringing back sleeves for some styles. Not at all. (Heh-heh-heh.)

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We share good news and not-so-good news in today’s SOTT (Signs of the Times):

• Saks is closing their San Diego Fashion Valley store in July and the NorthPark (Dallas) Armani store is being closed the 16th of this month. (Muffy and Hopsy – oh no!)
• Saks is expanding their Off Fifth stores, adding outlets in Pittsburgh, Portland, Houston and the Raleigh/Greensboro area
• On an up note, Nordstrom opened their new store at Fashion Island (Orange County) a few weeks back

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And with apologies to our Facebook pals who may have seen this on one of our Fan pages, we close with a stellar Pretty in Pink that also qualifies as an Adventure in Argyle:

HP Courtesy Image

That is the soon-to-be-released Preppy Pink Mini from HP, a thing of beauty.  The Mini 210 is technically a netbook, not a laptop, and while we aren’t crazy about the pink keyboard, we are gaga for the overall design.

HP Courtesy Image

The HP Mini 210 in Preppy Pink (it will also come in “white crystal”) launches June 15 in the USA with a $355 price point.  Click here to register for availability notification from HP.

With that, g’bye until next time!

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ADD’L PHOTO CREDITS:

• Katy Perry Dress: Steve Eichner/WWD
• Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters

About That New Lilly Logo, and Those 12″ Heels

Hello and greetings from the Prepatorium, what a busy day it has become!

We start with a look at a logo Lilly Pulitzer fans are likely to become accustomed to:

The logo is part of the company’s ‘Lilly Loves Green’ initiative; we chatted about the campaign in this post.  WWD explains more in this story by Julie Naughton (subscription req’d.):

“As part of the initiative, each of the seasonal collections — beginning with resort 2009 and ending with fall 2010 — will focus on a different environmental theme, which ties into the bigger Lilly Loves Green picture. Resort 2009 is dubbed “Escape to the Water’s Edge” and comprises ocean-inspired designs…”

Which brings us to the Coral Me Crazy necklace seen below:

Courtesy Lilly Pulitzer

The necklace debuts tomorrow night at the Lilly Mother Ship; it is also the official launch of this year’s Resort collection.  The necklace will retail for $48, with 10% of proceeds benefiting coral conservation efforts at Sea Web.

Some readers may have received an invite to the bash:

In reality, invites aren’t required for tomorrow evening’s festivities, the event is open to the public. If you are in the city, pop in and sip on a Pink Lilly!

A few lucky readers have already had a peek at the Resort line. (Did we say Muffy?) Below left, the Cameron pant (in the Coral Me Crazy print) and on the right, the Bermuda Caravan Sewn Patch short, both from the Resort line:

Also from the Resort collection, the Olie Dress (L) and the Gia Print Pant (R).

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In our next item, a quick glance at the upcoming Penney’s line by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Olsenboye. (Because there are not enough celebrity clothing, accessories and perfume lines.)

The new collection is targeted to teens, coming only in Junior sizes.

Courtesy JC Penney

The entire group launches in February, but 50 select Penney’s will have the line in-store for a limited period of time beginning November 6.

We really don’t know what a parent of teenage girls must go through with all of the limited edition and special collections constantly being created and promoted.  How does one handle a style- and peer-conscious young lady amidst such intense marketing campaigns?

Courtesy JCPenney

To be fair, the Olsens are better equipped than almost all the other celebrities undertaking this type of challenge. We are intrigued to see how this one plays out.

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Finally, a word about what we won’t be wearing for New Year’s Eve.

The Thakoon Mirror heels are a tad garish for us. And come next Spring, it is unlikely we’ll be skipping about the Prepatorium in the Versace polka-dots:

Or any of these from Christian Siriano, coming next Spring to a Payless near you:

Despite seeing all of these, we still had to grin at this story on the Vogue UK site:

Evidently the understanding at the office was that the Alexander McQueen shoes ‘only’ had a 10-inch heel. When discussion arose about the veracity of such a claim, it was time for the tape:

As far as how they look on actual feet?

There you have it.

 

EDITOR’S NOTE: This post has been amended to correct an egregious error on our part, we originally referred to the shoes as being from Alexander Wang, when anyone with an ounce of sense knows they are the other Alexander, as in McQueen. We thank the always fabulous Wendy Brandes for her kind correction, and apologize for the error.

 

Is it a “Pink Plague” for Girls? Barbie in Burberry and More!

The Princess is excited this morning. Why?

Because we are lucky enough to have been given an award by two different Belles! Yippee! And the timing is sublime, as we just topped 300 posts!

The fabulous Belle in Bloom was kind enough to give us an award yesterday….

Belle in Bloom

And then we learned that the always delightful Tale of a Southern Belle bestowed the same honor upon us today!

Tale of a Southern Belle

We are talking about the Lemonade Award, and we say “Thank You” to both ladies, both of whom are always an excellent read.

Lemonade Award

The Award has some rules:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show GREAT ATTITUDE and/or GRATITUDE!
3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award.

Here are the 10 we are nominating, starting with a blog in the spirit of the two that nominated us!

1. Belle of the Ball
2. Preppy Pink Crocodile
3. Jewish Girl in WASP’s Clothing
4. Monogram Chick
5. Preppy Pink Lizard
6. Poetic & Chic
7. Third Coast Preppy
8. Lipstick at the Mailbox
9. Legally Blonde Ambition
10. Very Busy Mom with Four
11. Mom x 2

We realize several of the blogs we are nominating may have already been suggested, but wanted to include them anyway. Thank you again Miss Belle in Bloom and Tales of a Southern Belle!

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Do you think too many toys for girls are done in pink?  The U.K.’s Daily Mail had an interesting story on the topic, “Pink plague: Stores are accused of making girls’ toys just in pink to encourage pester power.” (The headline reminds us of the film Broadcast News and the line “When all else fails, alliterate.”)

At any rate, a case is made that pink is used in a discriminatory fashion from the time girls are wee little things, quoting Sue Palmer, a ‘literacy consultant and author of Toxic Childhood.’

“‘I’m worried about the “pink plague”,’ she said. ‘You can’t find girls past the age of three who aren’t obsessed with the colour.”

The story’s author, Sarah Harris, shares these thoughts as well as some photos illustrating her point :

“It soon becomes apparent during a visit to a Toys R Us store, that hundreds of girls’ toys come in just one shade: A lurid sickly pink.”

PHOTO: Brent Cross, The Mail on Sunday

We are standing by to hear your thoughts on the pink issue.

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Talking about this reminds us about the increasing to-do over Barbie’s 50th Anniversary, including her runway show at Fashion Week in February.   Monday’s IHT (International Herald Tribune) has an excellent story about the designers Barbie has encountered over the years, accompanied by a fabulous slide show “Pretty in Plastic.”  TP is fond of the cateye glasses in the outfit below.

1959 Roman Holiday Barbie Doll (Courtesy Mattel)

We are hopeful you won’t be aghast to learn TP has more than a few retro pieces in her walk-in.  The story talk about the many designers creating clothing for Barbie.

“From Benetton and Burberry to Versace and Vera Wang, Barbie has been dressed by more than 70 designers, including Giorgio Armani, Christian Lacroix and Monique Lhuillier.”

The story also carries a great three-shot:

Courtesy Mattel

The look on the far left is Armani, Burberry is seen in the center and on the right it is Benetton. The article and slide show really are fun, definitely worth a peek if you have a spare nanosecond to invest!

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Speaking of investing, it will take more than a nanosecond to ingest/digest the latest book on the topic of wealth, “Rich Like Them“.  Released yesterday, the full title is “Rich Like Them: My Door-to-Door Search for the Secrets of Wealth in America’s Richest Neighborhoods,” written by Esquire editor Ryan D’Agostino.

Rich Like Them

An excerpt from the Publishers Weekly writeup:

“D’Agostino took a more direct—and more entertaining—route: he picked the 20 wealthiest neighborhoods in America and went door to door, garnering interviews with 50 very wealthy, very different individuals.”

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A quick couple of hits:

• Gossip Girl has been shooting in some noted NYC establishments according to the sharp eyes at NY Magazine’s Daily Intel post

Courtesy CW

• The W Editor’s Blog showcases two lengthy pieces from a former intern detailing her time working on the show in “I was a Gossip Girl Extra,” running yesterday and today. Part 3 will be posted tomorrow. (We had no idea this much could be written about a stint as an extra. No. Idea.)

Until next time!

Cartier does MySpace, Preppy at Milan Fashion Week?!

The Princess can’t quite figure out if Grandmother is approaching this particular holiday doing the proverbial ‘rolling over in her…,’ or privately winking at me as I tell Mommy about the newest member who is posting on the MySpace website: Cartier. The jewelers on Fifth Avenue. Exactly.

We shouldn’t be surprised; Neiman‘s did something very similar with YouTube last year as part of their 100th Anniversary celebration. (Yes, we said YouTube.) And anyone thinking TP is revving up for a rant (how very unPrincess-like, we would never do that!) is mistaken; we shan’t be making any snarky comments about Cartier’s marketing efforts. The firm has donated more than $2,000,000 to sixteen different charities through sales of bracelets like the one above. The bracelets sell for $975 with $200 of each sale going to one of the charities, covering a broad spectrum from the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance.

And since we were chatting up MySpace, we thought we would share this short item from the Men’s Style page in their News site entitled “Milan Fashion Week Menswear Trends: Preppy”

The looks above include eye-catching pants on the left from Dolce & Gabbana, the aqua shirt and khaki slacks are by Versace, and Enrico Coveri did the pieces on the right. A reminder these are from the shows presenting looks for the Spring/Summer 2009 season, so they are not available now. For those not familiar with Coveri, he has been on the scene longer than even The Princess suspected, and we show a few of his designs below, all of which we find quite attractive.

Across the pond they are still playing a bit of tennis, and this evening I am reminded that in tennis as in many other sports, good sportsmanship is defined by one’s conduct both on and off the court. We leave you with Rafa Nadal’s blog post on his win over England’s Andy Murray at Wimbledon, securing his place in the Finals. Here is his post as it runs on the Times of London’s site, “The Crowd Were Fantastic – And I played Not Bad Too“. 

Rafa Nadal & Andy Murray

 

Top Ten ‘Social Status’ Brands – Is Yours on the List? And an Anti-Prep Update

Recently The Spousal Unit indicated that at times The Princess might be a bit… well, a tad ‘snarky’ in her posts. Snarky? SNARKY? Moi? Feeling the need to defend my good name and reputation, it became obvious that some research was in order. Below we offer partial results for perusal at your leisure.

snarky

Pronunciation: \ˈsnär-kē\
Function: adjective
Etymology: dialect snark to annoy, perhaps alteration of snark to irritate
1 : crotchety, snappish
2 : sarcastic, impertinent, or irreverent in tone or manner <snarky lyrics>
snark·i·ly \-kə-lē\ adverb

We were delighted to find a wealth of information on the topic, with page after page of definitions, discussion and even some debate; it was really quite educational. Frankly, our favorite part of the research involved learning that snark may also be used as an adverb. Right now I’m trying to think of a way to insert it into conversation that way. How do you feel about Snarkalicious…? Oh, TSU was spot on, as always.

Let’s start with an Anti-Prep Update. This was, quite frankly, impossible to resist. As some may already know, Paris is beyond über Anti-Prep. She actually transcends the category, surpassed only by Kim Kardashian and possibly Perez Hilton. And maybe a few others. At any rate, we present Exhibit A, a heartfelt statement from Ms. Hilton on the home page of her hair extensions site, viewable here:

Everyone should get the chance to be me. That’s why I created the world’s hottest hair extensions. Choose from ten fabulous shades and you will be a clip away from hotness.

If we had only known that everyone should have that chance. To be her. Darn it. Once again our unhotness has been exposed in all of its stark, naked horror for everyone to see. And I had no idea I had the chance to be her. No. Idea. At All.

Well, chin up, shoulders back and all that, for here at the Prepatorium we do not let little tragedies like this derail us; we move on. We stated we would be discussing the Top Social Status Brands and we will proceed to do precisely that, hotness-like hair extensions or not. Harumph.

This particular list comes as the result of extensive research done by the Luxury Institute, and The Princess is more than gratified to see who is at the top of The List. You may well recognize The Knot clutches below from the Number One brand.

The Institute polled 1600 individuals with a minimum annual income of $150,000 for the survey, and Bottega Veneta took the top spot. In a story about the poll, Luxury Institute CEO Milton Pedraza notes “Bottega is subtle and inconspicuous — and paradoxically has gotten some press for this…You know it if you’re in the know. It’s for people who aren’t looking to impress others.” Below we show a look from their Fall/Winter 2008 apparel line.

Valentino follows in second place, then Prada (landing page at Neimans seen below)

Then Chanel, followed by Hermes in fifth place.

Giorgio Armani was in sixth place, then we have Versace (that is a dress from the 2008/2009 Versace Resort line below),

then Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci and Louis Vuitton. And there you have the top ten from the list.

BTW, if you were wondering who Anna Wintour might fancy come this fall’s election, here’s a clue: she had quite a role at last night’s fundraiser for prospective First Lady Michelle Obama, at a Manhattan gallery. (Wintour is the oh-so-powerful Editor at Vogue magazine and hypothetically the role model for Michelle Obama

Judging from the list of attendees at the function it was quite the place to be.Remember our mentions of Lauren Santo Domingo in previous posts? She was also at last night’s festivities at the Chelsea gallery in a divine Oscar de la Renta frock along with Spike Lee, designers Monique Lhuillier, Georgina Chapman and Nicole Miller. (You know, the Nina Ricci-SJP-SATC-Premiere-Dress-from-You-Know-Where-Nightmare that Lauren wore first?)

Speaking of Sex and the City, Cynthia Nixon also attended, wearing Calvin Klein Collection. Others in attendance included Lebron James and his girlfriend, and you could see Zac Posen’s “Yes We Can, Obama 08” t-shirt beneath his blazer. Many thanks to Fashion Week Daily for the fab photos!

We close with this absolutely delightful image from the good folks at Barneys. It was part of an email from them several days ago; looking at it keeps bringing a smile to my face. On an afternoon when some whimsy seems like a good idea, we’ll just leave things here and say “Au revoir.” (It is linked if you feel compelled to click!)