LupRocks Gossip

Gossip Girl Keeps it Hot

Part of me thinks that you must be tired of hearing about Gossip Girl, aka The Best Show EVER, but having just spent a weekend in Kansas City, in the heart of the proverbial "middle America" marketing target, I know that's just not the case.  Everyone I spoke to, and I mean everyone (and that's a lot considering I was attending a party with 200 people and, well, I'm pretty chatty), loves that show!  And why do they love it so much?  Across the board, it's Chuck Bass and the fashion.  Which makes Laura James' mention at the TOP of the "Gift List" by Today Style Editor Bobbie Thomas that much more impressive.  Congrats to LupRocks designer Laura, who was highlighted due to her status as "Gossip Girl favorite," and congrats to the many many designers who have ridden this show to enviable success!

Gossip Girl Respite

While tonight and the next several months will have us all focusing on the oval office no matter what the outcome of the election, last night's episode of Gossip Girl gave us a welcome break from politics and instead let us focus on some really fabulous fashion (not to mention delicious scandal!).  Many of LupRocks.com designers appeared on the show, including one of our favorite handbag designers, Isabella Adams.   The leather tote that figures prominently in the ill-fated "babysitting" scene just happened to be one of our past Product of the Month giveaway items.  We recently saw the lucky editor who won this bag rocking it at the AGTA event and it really is just as fabulous in person!

With fashion (and drama!) like this, it's no wonder the witty editors at NY Magazine are as obsessed with the show as we are.  Tune in each Tuesday for their cunning "Reality Index" of the previous night's episode and add your two cents. 

Halloween Wrap-Up

Halloween just wrapped on Friday night and it already seems like ages ago!  The streets of New York were as chaotic as ever and the number of great costumes on the town definitely out-weighed the losers.  Some of our favorites included:

• Our very own Price is Right Contestant
• Milli Vanilli
• Richard Simmons
• A baby lobster
• Bristol Palin
• An attendee of the Burning Man festival 
• Einstein

Some of the lamest included:

• George Costanza (come on, that's a total cop out!)
• A Douche Bag (really??)

As you can see by the aforementioned list, it's the people who thought outside of the box and didn't just run out to Ricky's and buy a slutty version of some fairy tale character that really got us excited about the holiday.  Clearly, so many of the costume designers who use LupRocks.com feel the same way, which is why the television shows we work with always showcase the best jewelry and accessories!   We can't wait to tune into Gossip Girl tonight to see all of the LupRocks.com designers that make the fashion really shine, and we will keep our fingers crossed that other shows, like 90210, will see how much better it is to work with real designers creating original designs verses working with off-the-rack-designs from Macy's.

Designers featured on Gossip Girl

OMG! Gossip girl is back, and I could not be more excited. Hence, my ridiculous expression of the shows famous acronym. Whether you are a fan of the show or just a fan of seeing your jewelry on the show, everyone can admit the show is serving a great purpose: mindless entertainment, addicting plot stories, amazing product placement opportunities.

From the first two episodes, I am proud to say that at least three LupRocks.com designer’s jewelry was spotted on the lovely ladies of GG. Alex Woo had a “BW” diamond necklace worn on Blair in last nights party, Laura James had a cameo necklace featured on Vanessa, and Marya Dabrowski had two necklaces featured on the new character Catherine the Duchess.

 

Was your jewelry also spotted on our favorite leading ladies?! Let me know…

 

Reaching that next level…

The reason product placement is important for a designer is because it gives your brand exposure. When you combine that exposure (press) with an established aesthetic, product, style, name, symbol, etc., you begin the process of branding. Branding is what you want to achieve. When you have branded your collection, your company, you have given it an identity. 

Take Gemma Redux for example. This LupRocks.com designer had several designs placed on Blake Lively in the first season of Gossip Girl. Both the character, Serena Vanderwoodsen, and the actress, Blake Lively, instantly fell in love with Gemma Redux. The costume designer (as well as Lively) mentioned Gemma Redux as a favorite designer in an interview with Vanity Fair, and Lively has been photographed around town in her personal life wearing Gemma Redux jewelry. Type "Gemma Redux and Gossip Girl" into Google. It is pretty inspiring!

If people are talking about your brand, and recommending it to others, then you are well on your way to being branded. If a blogger can recognize a piece from your collection on an actress, then you should take a moment to stop and smile from ear to ear.

That’s what we did when we heard about Gemma Redux. Congratulations! 

Photo from Just Jarred.com.

From Screen To Green

I know I promised that I would not post about Gossip Girl anymore this week, so consider this a post to a FAQ instead.  This is another one of those questions that I constantly find myself answering, and today the New York Times dropped the answer into my lap – literally the paper rest on my lap as I write this. 

How does a great placement translate to sales? 

Besides what you have to do to get the ball rolling (another topic altogether), today’s article in the NYT – I’m sorry I meant to say front page article – explains what Gossip Girl is doing for fashion industry sales.  To sum up, although I am providing the link and strongly recommend you read the entire article, the fabulous Ruth La Ferla reports that, “Merchants, designers, and trend consultants say that ‘Gossip Girl’…is one of the biggest influences on how young women spend.”  According to the retailers quoted throughout the article, the clothes, bags, jewelry, and other accessories seen on the show are immediately sought out – and more importantly bought out- by the large fan base that watches the show.  Now there is a formula I think designers can be happy with: See, want, buy!

Read the whole article!

One more post about Gossip Girl

This is my last post this week about Gossip Girl - I promise!  Today's WWD validated the success of the show and the major impact it has had on fashion, and  - more importantly for you - the impact it has had on sales of that fashion. "The Millennials also aspire to look as if they stepped off the set of 'Gossip Girl,' the hit series about New York's Upper East Side adolescents with adult-size sins and pocket book."   -  Khanh T.L. Tran, WWD.  Khana continues on to report that brands seen on the show had immediate increases in sales.  You could be next!  The costume department is pulling jewelry and accessories from LupRocks.com, and they have posted a desperately seeking!

 

 

Gossip Girl is back!

The costume department of the hit series Gossip Girl posted a call for product in the Desperately Seeking section today. The show immediately became popular with the young teen crowd it was intended for, but also did surprisingly well with a much older crowd. So in light of today’s classified, and because I myself am a huge fan - it is total brain candy - I bring you this little clip so you can understand why it is so intriguing and addictive. Just be careful... the show packs in so much scandal, great fashion, and of course gossip into one episode that you may get hooked just from this preview.

Gossip Girl Gossip

Gossiping about Gossip Girls is always on the agenda on Thursdays at Lup HQ. Ok, so we may be dorky, but the one hour of jam-packed teen drama and scandal that graces our TV every Wednesday night, has quickly become our guilty pleasure de jour. Of course, as jewelry and accessories fanatics we focused special attention on the wonderful accouterments worn by the leading ladies. We favored Blair’s headband look over un-parted hair. With the same adornment featured in every Blair scene, the style was so engraved in my mind, (I am almost embarrassed to admit) I showed up to work today wearing my favorite headband a la’ Blair. We also loved Judith Bright’s (yeah LupRocks.com member!) sterling silver hand hammered double link earrings from her Rockless collection, which dangled beautifully in the small screen spotlight. In the theme of the gossip girl herself, I sign off with a XOXO!

Stay Tuned?

We laugh and we cry. We repeat lines and we discuss plots. We take it personally when our fave primetime characters make poor decisions.   Now it is the writers themselves of the Writer’s Guild of America who are taking things personally.  The Problem: Writers want their dues from the media mediums of the future.  The Real Problem:  What will we watch?! Well that depends on who you are…Here is the breakdown:

                              

The first to suffer are all of the night owls whose favorite shows like Connan and Colbert depend on daily scripts.  Although these funny-men were once the genius behind the jokes they told, legally hosts can only contribute to as much of the script as they did pre-strike.  Get ready for re-runs and some stretched-out improvising like what was seen in the 1988 five month strike.  Animated shows with productions a year in advance such as Family Guy and The Simpsons are in the clear for now.  Soap operas generally have a month long episode back-up.  And then there is prime time. Most long running shows have four to five episodes hidden up their sleeves, while some newer shows have had to put a halt on productions. So what will happen with Serena and Blair?!?  What lies in the fate of Lost?  Only time will tell.  Until then – and it pains us to say – you may have to rely on reality TV, which remains completely unaffected.