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Is Coach Like McDonald's? Also, Socialite Style

PreppyPrincess.com — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:40:24 +0000

Hello-Hello everyone, what a scrumptious day here at the Prepatorium, despite an early trip to the HOP (House of Pain, aka the dentist) the day still sparkles. Is it bright and beautiful where you are? We ardently hope so, it is good for the soul.

We start with a little something we have been meaning to share for a few days, a look at one of “The Big Money” columns as run by Reuters last week: “Coach is Now Traveling Coach.”

“… fashionistas who prefer Hermès and Louis Vuitton dismiss Coach as gateway luxury. A competitor called it the “McDonald’s of luxury” and one fashion blogger asked during Boom 2.0 whether it is “the scheming social climber of the handbag world.”

Ouch!

Courtesy Photo

The story by Jill Priluck is focused more on the new Poppy line from Coach, most recently discussed in this forum here (with lots of pics!) and here (very brief) last month. More from the story:

“”Even the occasional luxury buyer shuns the brand: “I don’t want to carry the same bag as a 15-year-old,” said a 37-year-old mother from New Jersey.”"

However, while Ms. Priluck’s story allows some to bash the retailer, she does not.

“And yet by all measures, Coach operates with exceptional savvy in the fast-changing, embattled fashion industry.”

Below, a collage featuring pieces from the new line not accompanying the article.

The story is a fascinating look at where the brand has been, and where it’s going. We highly recommend it.

Has anyone bought things from the new line? Looked at it in stores? Love it? Hate it? Unsure? Do tell, we are all dying to hear!

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Other morsels and meanderings today include a reminder about the wonderful work being done by the incredibly-generous Prep-E Girl on behalf of our four-legged friends.

Miss Erin has started a new blog, Puppy Love by Erin, with a ‘higher purpose’ than most blogs, including this one. Erin is raising money so she can sponsor a puppy in the Puppies Behind Bars program, a $3000 undertaking.

And how is she doing this? Because Miss E is one talented prep, she is making and selling handcrafted dog collars in all sorts of fabulous fabrics and materials. Below, a shot of the stylish Jake modeling one of the collars in an outstanding madras, very chic.

Erin is requesting a $20 donation for each collar, very reasonable IOHO. We want to do what we can to help out, and this is our first step, simply sharing information about Erin’s efforts with our friends here in the Preppy blogosphere. Our next step will be more tangible, but that will be just ‘tween us and Miss Erin.

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We share another bit of linkage now that we keep meaning to post, a wonderful story the folks over at the Refinery 29 Blog did in June.

From Babe to Brill: The Evolution of Socialite Style

The story by Kelly Hoffman really needs to be seen because of the superb graphic layout detailing styles decade by decade.

“Socialite, social, society—the words may change, but New York has always had its crowd of well-heeled women who never fail to bring the wow factor to a good party. But today’s toniest group of Tribute wearers weren’t the first pretty young things to light up a room (and cause a scandal or deux).”

Babe Paley, Nan Kempner, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, Tinsley Mortimer and Lauren Santo Domingo are a few of the women featured. As you can surmise, the story is another fun read we suggest one might want to find time for!

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Finally, we sign off with a darling photo we were emailed by the inimitable Jen at When Pigs Fly:

Cotton Candy Flip Flops at PreppyPrincess.com

We’re very impressed by the lovely pedicure seen on those toes, our Cotton Candy flips are honored to be used merely to accent that elegance and beauty! (Heh-heh.) At any rate, Jen managed to find time to take the picture while in the midst of a horse show this weekend, talk about multi-tasking! (You can read more about the show here.)

We mentioned a fun feature to Jen that we are starting at the Princess shoppe, and she jumped on it, getting that image of the twinkletoes seen above to us despite her extremely busy weekend! Simply put, Pictures from a Preppy Planet (that is our goofy working title for our endeavor) asks our charming customers to send us a picture(s) showcasing their Princess merchandise in action.

We have our top IT Folks on this (exactly, The Consort) project, creating a special page for the pictures on the shoppe’s website. Because we are sensitive to the need for anonymity, we realize not all customers can show the products in use with a person. But photos like the one above are ideal, just perfect!

Best of all, anyone submitting a picture that we can use receives a 10% discount code to use at the Princess for a month, it seems only proper to say “Thank You” to those sharing their fun!

Until next time, happy day!

WILD WOMEN 1990

jadedressler — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:54:09 +0000

My grandmother never wore pants. Living The Vie Sauvage of the 60’s and the 70’s opened many possibilities for women skirted for centuries (yes, take that in multiple ways…) and all her friends readily took to the look and comfort of freedom of pants. Her lady-like figure however remained in full dress and pearls, even in the middle of Summer. That idea of holding a Bastion of Elegance remains a strong ideal for me, especially remembering her easily enjoying the such “non-ladylike” pleasures as a crass joke, a cocktail during Passover dinner or the obnoxious attentions of a man.

Her lipstick shade always that matched every color of her dresses (I was especially fascinated by the mysterious “BLUE”-entitled lipstick which was actually pink but specified for blue toned outfits) was as much an inspiration to me as discovering Diana Vreeland’s famous utterance that “Pink is the Navy Blue of India.” Here in the photo which has inspired me since the day I saw it…and my own environment of color upon color upon color.

Some women always retain their sense of elegance no matter what they wear and historically, if you were inclined to separate yourself from the the pack of common wild folk..be elegant, a diva, to live La Vie noble, you would be choose in those days to be dressed by Bill Blass. Bill dressed socialites such as Nan Kempner, Chessy Raynor, Pat Buckley, Casey Ribicoff, Nancy Kissinger and others. His house closing this past December marked the end of an era.

But for one season, Bill met Wild.

Flash forward to the 1990’s, I am a jewelry designer and my meeting with the man who was elegance himself, Bill Blass. Being tall and sweeping into a room helps however he was, more importantly, gracious, mannered and kingly. We were asked to design accessories for three of Bill’s runway collections and were fortunate to dress supermodels such as Iman and Sheila Tennant in our nature morphic necklaces. We dressed-up for Bill’s Fashion Week shows at the Pierre with ladylike respect while later indulging in our glittery, crass and loud evenings in the East Village…another kind of naked elegance.

Earrings of pink sequins and gold in the ameoba-like shapes of ocean waves accessorized Bill Blass’s two tone pink column.

We made navy blue silk shawls for Bill with silver beads coursing through.

We made long windy necklaces that topped silken evening columns.

And silver rubbery tubes like Jupiter rings. Thankfully, Bill, being a man of a country manor, completely understood the appeal that Wild can have meeting a Lady. Two other designers, Mary McFadden and Oscar de la Renta also went wild and put pieces from our collection on their runways.

The style and sensibility of our wild and nature inspired collection, JAMP, which I co-designed with Mare McClellan (now a painter of mystical and Rothko-like paintings ) attracted the attention of Sportswear International, the apparel trade magazine. Asked to style a story on new fabrics inspired by elemental patterns, a crew came out to our farm in Bucks County. The photographer, Adam Fuss (now an art photographer) and the crew complained incessantly about the insect life and summer, yet the results were beautiful.

Interesting the elemental elegance and juxtaposition of Adam Fuss’s personal and professional work. This piece below is Untitled from 1988.

As jewelry designers, our passion was the idea of the “elegance of dirt” for example, making bird’s nests from twine and tin metal to wrap around the necks of elegant women to accessorize couture gowns, wild, subversive and elegant in a secret way.

Like finding jewels in the dirt. This bracelet was called “Devocean”, for the devas (Sanskrit for ”Shining Ones”, to describe the divine powers of Nature), so the meaning was Devas of the Ocean and as well referencing the concept of Devotion, rare, shining and stunning.

London also heard about our collection and pieces were used to style this British Vogue editorial shot by Sheila Metzner.

Coorespondance, Terrepathy and Primal Search were the names we gave to the “jewels”, none of them made from precious or expensive materials. It was more about how the shapes and designs brought out the elemental beauty in a woman.

Studio Voice magazine from Japan also came out to the country and we styled a shoot about our studio and country lifestyle.

Pronto Magazine, also from Japan, came out into the Wild to feel the vibe.

Do you like my hair extensions piled atop my head? ( I know it reads as an 80’s poof of hair but I must defend myself…they were actually long dread locks piled up with some dangling!)

We were covered in major magazines and worn by all types of women. This next spread, “All About Eve” captured the essence of a woman who was surreal and earthy, a vision we shared with three of the most creative Visionaries in New York at that time…

Stephan Gan and James Kaliardos and Josef Astor. Stephan Gan discovered us. Currently the Creative Director at Harpers Bazaar, V and Visionaire, Stephan was the fashion editor and photographer at Details magazine (it began as NYC cool mag for boys and girls prior to being a mens mag) Stephan shot the image of the girl wearing our piece as roots and Josef Astor shot the tableau of the red Diane Pernet gown and our necklace. James Kaliardos, co-founder of V and Visionaire was the make-up artist, who also went on to become the chosen makeup artist for some of the world’s most celebrated beauties such as Madonna and Angelina Jolie.

I end with a drawing of mine, ”La Femme Furmental”. A little Dreamgirls, a little Drag Queen, a little Nature, a little Brain-like and a little Sexual. Maybe Real Elegance is Truly Wild. Yes, I think I believe that. What are the most elegant and wild moments you have had?

[Yves Saint Laurent Style] @ The de Young Museum

stylepov — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:22:02 +0000

[Yves Saint Laurent Style] exhibition has arrived to The de Young Museum San Francisco at late Oct 0

DeYoung's Dresses: Yves Saint Laurent

Kalla Vieaux — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 01:29:39 +0000

Now through April 5th, stop into the DeYoung Museum at Golden Gate park to view the phenomenal exhibit of Yves Saint Laurent creations. The collection boasts a large number of dresses from Yves’s early ethnic collections, pieces inspired by artists such as Mondrian, and bridal gowns fit for antarctic to tropical climates.

Purchase your ticket here to view the amazing pieces on exhibit, like this dress worn by Nan Kempner, Yves’s American muse.

Picture courtesy of villagevoice.com

Very | Victoria Beckham

Elizabeth Spiridakis — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:06:37 +0000

(Bauer/Griffin) Miz Posh took a break from the Spice Girls world tour to ring in 2008 in London with

Happy New Year!

Bacon Bits — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 22:57:04 +0000

The most popular question we get is: Hey Beanstockd, what should I like in 2008 (aside from this giv

Nan Kempner: American Chic

Susan Tabak — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 15:59:39 +0000

Last night I attended the opening of the Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute’s exhibition Nan Kempner American Chic. I totally appreciate and relate to Nan’s LOVE for fashion. She had a lot of clothes.

Nan had great style – her particular loyalty was to Yves Saint Laurent - which clearly suited her. She knew her own style and what looked best on her: somewhat conservative but always with great taste. She loved color – unlike most New Yorkers. Along with the mannequins, there were some photos of Nan dressed in the clothes presented, and they really showed her personality coming through. Although I never met her, I’m sure I would have liked her. She sounded like she loved a party and liked to have a good time.

Before entering the exhibit I met fashion editor, Lynn Yaeger – the antithesis of Nan – but one who clearly knows her own style, with her short square haircut, silver jazz shoes, vintage fur coat and signature ruby red rouge dotted under eyes – you couldn’t miss her.

Many fashion and style watchers attended, and we spoke about Nan.

Stephen Jones, the famous British hatmaker said, “It’s too bad there isn’t a video of her speaking – she had such a great sense of humor.”

Armand Limnander – journalist at the The New York Times – who had interviewed Nan agreed – she was so open she talked about her husband’s affair and smoking – topics that are often taboo.

Pamela Clarke Keogh – author of Audrey Style and Elvis Presley: The Man. The Life. The Legend, thought the exhibit was impressive.

Patsy Tarr – patron of the arts and collector of Geoffrey Beene – was overwhelmed with the volume of clothes, “How could she store all of her things?” she wondered.

Robert Burke - consultant and former Fashion Director at Bergdorf Goodman – said, “Nan was a retailer’s delight!!!”

Other social notables in attendance were Anne Bass, Georgette Mossbacher and Susan Fales-Hill and my good friend, Michele Gerber Klein.

Like Nan – I often wear YSL, now designed by Stefano Pilati. However, last night I chose to wear another one of my favorite designers Lanvin. Alber Elbaz is amazing, he creates elegant but modern clothes. His day clothes are chic and modern, and his eveningwear is sultry but sophisticated. My “party” dress was made of navy tulle with delicate hand sewn silver beading. When I wear it I feel like a cross between Marie-Antoinette and a ballerina from Degas painting. Not at all conservative like Nan, but definitely an homage to her, as I enjoyed her party with lighthearted chic.