thePreppyMafia.com

Check out this article in The New York Times Style section today! http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/fashion/25Prep.html?_r=1&ref=fashion

They are relaunching a book called “Take Ivy,” and while it seems mostly geared towards men I love the idea that the “preppy” fashion trend is making a come back. For me, it never went out. Of course I’ve dabbled in trendy looks but always with a more conservative/traditional flair.

Collars up!

WASP Wednesday

I love stationary. It is fun to look at, receive and write on. But with more and more being on line these days I’ve received adorable e cards. Lilly Pulitzer currently has a line with Cocodot

http://cocodot.com/lilly_pulitzer–check them out here

The other theory is going “green” with your invites, thank you notes et al.  So I wonder, will I move away from stationary? I don’t totally love email. I get a million junk ones, an invite could be missed in an effort to clean out my inbox. Will you get rid of your stationary?

Collars up!

We love to Monogram people. Recently at The Beverly Hills Hotel we got to the aspiring actor/waiter!

Collars up!

Please enjoy this article written just for us by Michelle of Votre Vu.
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If Americans have a skin care routine, the French have a beauty ritual. The French philosophy on beauty is simply to make looking great and aging well a part of their daily life. They do that by pampering their skin with the most beneficial ingredients Mother Nature has to offer. French women see their skin care as an investment in her and will buy more skin care products than makeup. The philosophy is that skin care lasts a lifetime, while makeup lasts a day.
American women tend to see skin care from a clinical point of view, while French women often consider their time with their skin care as a pleasurable part of their day.
Develop a French-style ritual so you to can baby your skin and look years younger!

1. What is the key to maintaining youthful skin/glow?
While truly there are no quick fixes, a devoted daily program is the best way to secure stable skin and consistent habits lead to consistent results!
CLEANSE. TONE. TREAT. PROTECT.
Proper cleansing/toning is essential as it affects everything that follows. Treating is all about preventing and actively correcting aging issues such as fine lines, hyper-pigmentation, sagging skin, skin tone etc. Protecting your skin with a proper moisturizer is clinically proven to reinforce the skin’s barrier function; vital to keeping the skin healthy and the first line of defense against aging. Additionally, protecting refers to daily SPF protection, which EVERYONE needs to prevent aging on a daily basis. Consistent use of a comprehensive, synergistic regimen is key to preventing aging and keeping skin healthy and looking beautiful.
a. ALWAYS wear sunscreen
b. Exfoliate
c. ALWAYS wash your face and moisturize at night (no matter how tired you are or if you had one too many…I remember those days)

2. If you have damage – what do you suggest?
Exfoliate GENTLY not with all the harsh grains out there on the market. You may think that the harsh grains are ‘getting everything’ off but they are truly stripping your skin of the nourishment it needs. The French are known for their gently cleansing with milk-based cleansers that totally nourish the skin and using actual pearls in their scrubs to gently exfoliate! Exfoliating also refines and helps resurface your skin – prepping it for the next step.
Complexion Renewing Fruit Acid Peel – I usually shied away from peels because they made my face feel like it was on fire (it must be working right? WRONG!) I have been very fortunate to be able to sample a brand new product from Votre Vu that will be available on June 1st called Nouveau Glow – Bilberry Bergamot Peel. One use and I could see a difference in the damage from my ‘fun and sun’ years. I cannot wait to get a full size in June.

Nighttime skin care regimen – I cannot stress this enough. My children noticed a difference in my skin one morning after I had treated my skin at night and that was all it took to ‘remind’ me to take 2-3 minutes before I go to bed at night and take care of my skin. Using rich serums at night along with cleansing is highly effective because the body is in high regenerating mode from the hours of 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. This also means that you should be fast asleep by 1 a.m. to reap the rewards of your body rhythms. Or try to be I suppose!

3. What do you wish you knew about face products etc. when you were younger?
I grew up in GA at the beach; this was the 60’s if there was sunscreen I don’t remember using it at all. I had damage very early in life. Then of course you only looked good when tan, so I continued to bask in the sun well into my late 30’s!! SUNSCREEN and EYE CRÈME! I can look at someone and tell if they started using an eye crème early in life or later. I have had my daughters using eye crème since they were 12. It is never too early. In an interview with the owner of Votre Vu’s skin care lab in France, we heard repeatedly that the French women keep their beauty because they use sun bloc consistently.

4. When should one start taking care of their skin and what are the first 5 tips/steps to taking care of skin.
It is truly never too early. You do have to be careful with younger sensitive skin, but once again, sunscreen is of utmost importance! I think children are appreciating their skin more now than ever and we as parents can and should influence their decisions on proper skin care. Keep them away from all the pore clogging make-up and let their beautiful and natural skin shine through. Women in France hardly wear any make up because they have taken care of their skin with luxurious naturally based skin care products and now Votre Vu has brought these products to the US for about 1/3 the price!

Steps to taking care of your skin:
1. Cleanse : Use a milk based cleanser not harsh soaps
2. Tone: Removes any residual cleanser/debris and helps restore the proper pH to your complexion and provide a clean canvas for the power ingredients to follow. Votre Vu’s toners are alcohol free!
3. Treat: Go deeper and apply a sérum. No longer thought of as an unnecessary step, sérums are crucial for protecting collagen, firming, minimizing redness and discoloration and minimizing the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles and age spots.
4. Protect: Use a moisturizing crème based on time of day and your skin type. Don’t forget a neck crème specific for your skin on your neck as it is the first place that shows the signs of aging.
5. Sunscreen!!! Eye crème and exfoliate!
Don’t forget your eye crème in your routine as it only takes a few pats on the upper cheek bone right under your eye (eye crèmes move up) to keep that area super moisturized!! There are no oil glands in the eye area and the skin is three times thinner than on the face. Votre Vu has three products that are specially formulated for this delicate, needy area.

www.votrevu.com/michelle
www.bamagalsxtwo.blogspot.com

While the book may have been written and published before I was born, the day I stumbled upon TOPH was no less life altering (or affirming) than the day it hit the streets in the early 80’s for the First-Generation TOPH devotees. That fated afternoon in June 1997 is one so vivid, I almost can feel completely engulfed in the moment if I stop and close my eyes. A friend was over and I can’t recall why we were digging through the bookshelves in the basement, but the second my eyes caught a glimpse of the faded madras cover, I knew it was a moment I was to remember forever.

Immediately, I dove in. I could care less about needing to be the most gracious hostess as possible to my guest (as things would later pan out, the friendship would part ways over the course of the next few years- she was much more earth-crunchy-hippie than I cared to be or put up with). I like to think of it as my thirteen year-old self having my priorities in order. The real friend was the one that I found that afternoon.
For the first time in my life, it was as if I was “home;” it explained and affirmed so much it was almost terrifying. For instance, why my sister and I (and all of the kids we were very close friends with) played tennis and golf in the summer instead of t-ball. Why we would go ski Taos over Easter vacation instead of going to Disney. Why my mother bought Talbot’s with the proclivity of a stockholder and why my father had a penchant for sports like golf and pheasant hunting. Why “do-goodness” was a key virtue in my family; whether it be chairing the junior golf program at the CC, serving on governor-appointed committees or serving as a delegate at presidential conventions. It affirmed my parents as the Cute Guy and Girl (doesn’t get much more cute than the head cheerleader and a varsity football star ). And it certainly helped to explain why all of the pj’s I wore as a toddler had those little crocodiles on them.
TOPH immediately seized command over my life thanks to its many avowing powers. Because it clarified so much, I would use it to chart my life’s course. I did not care that it was over fifteen years out of date, if it wasn’t stamped with Miss Birnbach’s seal of approval, my life did not have room or want for it. I especially remember taking issue with the fact that purple was not a preppy color. I liked the color and even ended up attending both high school and college at schools with purple as one of their colors. Nonetheless, I did my best to steer clear of donning large amount of purple whenever and wherever I could. My only concessions were when I had to wear the school-issued athletic apparel and the purple and grey school tie belt I own and would wear with my travel clothes to regattas. *Since then, I have come to terms with the preferences of my color palate and have incorporated more purple into my wardrobe- if only because purple is the color of royalty. I even read in an interview of Miss Birnbach, that it was noted that the High Priestess of All Things Prep was wearing a PURPLE, of all colors, polo.* I also recall being REALLY worried that my body did not clearly fit, as a thirteen through about eighteen year-old, into any of the three female body types. And worse- who I was destined to pair off with as a result. Thankfully, a pairing of my love for fitness and many reassurances from close friends has since lead me to believe that I am a Cute Girl.
I don’t know that I dare go as far to say that this book is an unqualified oracle, but there are so many of the minutiae of details which TOPH contains that consciously or not have transpired in my life. Who was I to know that I would be cut from the golf team in college to find myself immediately on the rowing team as a coxswain? That I would in the same year of my early twenties join Junior League AND one of the clubs listed in the weekly social diary section for the metropolis in which I currently live. Thankfully I also found and began worshiping the mighty alter of Lilly Pulitzer (I think it is the fact that I’m from the Upper Midwest- not exactly Prep-Central- paired with a golf-intensive childhood- more ponies than palm trees are found on the labels of golf attire). I would come to form a firm opinion on which of the Big Three produces the best gentlemen (Princeton, by far; it’s the most Southern of the Three and there is no party like an Old Nassau party) via firsthand knowledge of said young gentleman that walked those harrowed halls. Even my non Preppy fling was excruciatingly preppy; a Scandinavian national team oarsman, who I did realize would unfortunately have to amount to nothing more than a fling upon discovery that he did indeed wear a gold chain (like nails on a chalkboard to my little pink and green heart), as Miss Birnbach noted.

I smile when I think of the first few moments upon running into TOPH and really, ran into myself; past, present and future. I find myself wondering from time to time just what else is fabulously crammed into those pages that is yet awaiting me. Will my future husband have attended one of the schools listed? Is he nicknamed Tripp? Did he almost make an America’s Cup team? Will I live in one of the approved towns and take up needlepoint? What rowing trophies/accoutrement of mine will my children take and jam into their college dorm rooms? I can only wait and hope with anticipation that TOPH and its kid-sister, True Prep, the book I’ve waited for ever since about a day after finding my mother’s underlined TOPH will hold even more than my wildest dreams can imagine. And that Miss Birnbach for once and for all, officially allows the color purple back into all of our wardrobes

We at The Preppy Mafia don’t like mean girls. Meet meg, our guest blogger:

You can visit her blog here http://playgroundstoprepschools.blogspot.com/

I’m reflecting a little this morning on SC’s blog on mean girls. She’s introduced us to the “Preppy Mafia”, but unfortunately my Big Girlie’s new school has the “Playground Mafia”. Known as such for years before we arrived, these mom’s are the glittered and glossy bullies of the PTA and seem to habitually walk over newbies and hometowners alike. I’ve never been one to be intimidated. Within weeks, invite or not, I hit the scene with a smile ( and a great pink purse, of course!) ready to make a difference in the neighborhood school. I fit in immediately as confident, well-dressed and properly perky, and they were eager to sign me up after I spoke passionately in the meetings.
“We’ve got the perfect position for you. You’ll join, won’t you? It’ll be super!”. They nodded in unison.
I’m not a watch and wait philanthropist, and I hope my readers aren’t either, so I ran with my first assignment, Committee Chair of the annual Fall Festival. Evidently, that isn’t how it works in this joint. When they picked me, what they wanted was more of THEM.
My powerhouse committee, of otherwise wisely uninvolved parents, and I made arrangements for a fab event which we could be proud of. It not only entertained school families with things that exude Old Town charm, but served as great PR for the school as well as gave back with some much needed community service. If ten or more people are gathered, there is no excuse not to seize the opportunity to help others. Anything less is a waste and rather indulgent, in my eyes.
My “Playground Mafia mates did not agree. I was promptly dumped. Notified that I was not promoting the project as a school only, balloons and bubbles event, my work was dismissed. The event was timed so most working parents couldn’t attend. No local venders were used. My tie in with the play advocacy group KaBoom was dropped. Last year’s bulletins were reprinted unchanged beyond the date. All Our work was wasted. They were thrilled with the sameness and safeness, and we skipped it for an outing with other families in search of something that would be… fun.
Maybe I should have been hurt and frustrated, and sulked a bit in my inability to please the” in crowd” on my first attempt. I wasn’t. I didn’t. I’m polished and poised, and I can cheer and chit-chat better than most, but there isn’t any value in that pleasant shell if it doesn’t deliver an equally sharp product. I can have it all. These ladies didn’t want anyone or anything that exceeded expectations. It scared them to lose control of their group and their image as the ringleaders. That isn’t enough for me. I love life to be aesthetically pleasing and full of comfort and bliss, and nothing is uglier than excluding people ignoring the needs of your community. We tell our girlies to give everyone a shot. Make room at the lunch table. Kill ‘em with kindness. Sometimes though, people are just pure ugly to the core. I think it is time for a prettier plan, PTA 2.0. First meeting’s Pink Gimlet’s at my house– bring a friend!
-Meg

Collars up! And be nice.

Congratulations to Ashely for winning our Preppy Mafia Mother’s Day give away. Let us know your address! You can check out her blog here. http://www.sweetsouthernprep.com/
Thank you to everyone who participated.

Collars up!

Happy Friday – I’m so excited to announce our giveaway!  The Preppy Mafia kills with kindness.  Enter to win

A Car and Cell Phone Monogram from 2PreppyGirls.com

A Preppy Mafia Bumper sticker

A PM stadium cup

A signed copy of Social Climbers, a preppy novel.

A Katie And Olive preppy child’s dress (niiiice!!)

To enter:
Leave a comment below with your entries (comments will be open for only a few days!!)
Fan us on Facebook
Tweet this contest 1 entry for every tweet
Post this give away on your blog for 5 entries
Add The Preppy Mafia button on your blog roll for 5 entries (we will be checking!!)
Suggest Social Climbers Fan Page to your friends for 5 entries.
Suggest 2PreppyGirls Fan Page to your friends for 5 entries.

Good luck – Collars Up!

tPM

The Junior League of Hampton Roads, Inc. is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. Its purpose is exclusively educational and charitable.

Check them out!

http://www.jlhr.org/?nd=apron_auction

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In celebration of the Stephan Bonanno sale we’re doing a poll about SHOES!!

Each day will be a different designer and at the end of the week we’ll vote which are most comfortable. I have a theory about shoes: The more expensive they are the more comfortable they are. And people who design shoes first and foremost make the best ones. But, I’m willing to put my theory to the test.

Please send us pictures (click the Contact Us tab) each day of your choice of shoe and we’ll have such fun trying out all of our shoes and reading your thoughts on your favorites.

Fun project to start off May, don’t you think?

Monday-Gucci
Tuesday-Manolo Blahnik
Wednesday-Jimmy Choo
Thursday-Louis Vuitton
Friday- Kate Spade
Saturday-Lilly Pulitzer

I’m so excited to plan outfits around my shoes! I had fun wearing skirts but I’m ready for May!

Collars Up!

Ways to be involved:
Leave your comments on our fan page!