LupRocks Gossip

A New Purse-spective on SATC

I have held back until now from blogging about the Sex and the City movie. Mostly, I refrained, because I was not sure exactly what to say about it. Bottom line: Seeing the four leading ladies is enough for me to say “I loved it,” but the movie itself was not actually very good.

The acting was incredible. I expected it to be, and it surpassed my expectations. The issues and conflicts were relevant. I cried. (A lot.) I laughed. (A lot.)

The fashion was okay. It was not great, it was just okay, and Patricia Fields is not to blame for that. She had to balance the organic product placement (Manolo Blahnik) with the overabundance of artificial product placement (Bag, Borrow, or Steal). Considering the circumstances, she did the best anyone could. Patricia Fields is an artist, and they restrained her, gave her rules, and it showed!

The truth is the movie was bad because they turned it into a Spiderman. A Batman. Except instead of little Carrie action dolls in your McDonald’s happy meal, you got written-in plugs for Bag, Borrow, and Steal and H Stern. You got Samantha driving a Mercedes Bends. (Do you think that the whole reason she lived in LA was so they could have that one shot of her in the car make sense? Don’t kid yourself …its possible!) You got a belt on all four ladies in every shot, and you got a designer label dropped every six seconds.

I care a lot about product placement. It can make a brand huge. It worked for Manolo Blahnik. (It can work for you!) However, this is product placement gone sour. We will never know if the hit series really would translate to the silver screen, because that was not a real attempt.  It was a money-grabbing attempt from any big company willing to pay the big bucks. It was an auction off of camera time. It was ultimately a disappointment.

Looking forward to September...

This (below) movie looks really great, and the trailer is a Where’s Waldo of LupRocks.com jewelry designers. The movie is not coming out until September, but honestly after the amount of tears shed at SATC, I could use a break before another full fledge tear jerker. Have a great weekend, and Happy Father’s Day!

The Women

Here, There and Everywhere...

Two quick stories:

Emily and Ashley have their jewelry in the showroom Fragments. The owner of Fragments went to lunch with two editors from InStyle, to which she wore an Emily and Ashley ring. The rest is history. The editors came into the showroom and met with Emily and Ashley, took lots of photos, and then requested specific samples. That month InStyle printed a full page feature on Emily and Ashley.

Kara Ross had a gold cuff appear in WWD last Friday. I saw it, and told my friend about it, since I was happy a LupRocks.com member got such a great placement. My friend went to look it up, loved it, and ended up ordering a different Kara Ross design from Vivre.com.

Product placement is truly here, there, and everywhere. You never know where your next client or placement will come from, but is exciting to know that the possibilities are endless. Anything can happen. And anything can happen to you!

Saying Thank You

Before I begin to wax poetic…I want to direct everyone to PR Couture. It seems your hard working team here at Lup HQ is starting to turn some heads. Read the buzz about us!

After a placement…something to consider:

Say Thank you. Two simple words. In fact they are so simple and short (aka obvious) that we almost forget them. Jewelry and accessory designers are often sending products into the office for various reasons. Sometimes they include a thank you note. I can remember every name of every designer who sent me a thank you note for something I did for them in the past few months. We have become the generation of “thanks!” emails. We have evolved from the much more personal hand written snail mail letters of yesteryear. The next time a shoot wraps up, or a production is finished with your product, send the person who has given you great exposure a nice written letter. Put your good vibes out there in the universe.

Last year we worked on a film that had several costume designer assistants, and I can only remember the full name of the one who sent me a hand written letter – in purple crayon. It matters. If you are one of several designers whose product is pulled for a shoot, and you are the only one that sends a letter, that person may remember you too. And when their next need for product shortly follows, you will still be fresh on their mind.

A designer was recently bothered by the need to gift every media member she comes across. “Don’t,” I told her. There are times when gifting is appropriate, but this type of gift costs you only $0.41 cents, and is sometimes just as effective. If not more!

A blog about blogs

If you are addicted to gossip magazines or insist on flipping through the pages of every fashion mag – no judgment, we do it too - but are sick and tired of wasting that four dollars every week at your local newsstand, then we have a solution for you. (Although I am sure you have other plans for that four dollars – hmm…like a cup of a certain over priced big chain brand of coffee?) It’s called the internet. Magazine addict meet Mr./Mrs. blogger. We think you two will be very happy together.

Why you NEED blogs:

1. All blogs offer information available for sharing. If a million people each have a blog, then there exists a million more pieces of information available to you that weren’t there before. By searching for blogs (google has a search option for this) you can find a blog by a commodity financial-ist discussing gold prices, another jewelry designer in your neighborhood who is sharing her do’s and don’ts of getting her business started, or anything else you would like to know more about. Disclaimer: most of the information is of no value to you. You will not want to read a blog about the Jones’s family vacation in the middle of nowhere. Everyone should go out and find one blog to read today besides this one.
2. Sort and save. Three small words that will make one big change in your life. Stop wasting your time, which you have less and less of these days, by flipping through 20, 40, 100 pages of advertisements and articles you won’t read, when you can more simply just click on the information you do want to read.
3. You are saving paper. We know the jewelry industry is in-tune with the flower child / tree hugger that lives within all of us. How do we know you care? JCK put out a “Green” issue for April, and it is packed with articles about environmentalism and the industry. And that’s right – JCK has a blog too.
4. There are people more aggressive about staying on top of their topics of interest than you, and they are willing to share their info. Use this to your benefit! For example: AngelaReneDesigns leant a brooch to David Schwimmer’s girlfriend for a big movie premier. That very same week she found a blog that had this picture of the lady de jour wearing her brooch. She now has a picture of the star in her jewelry to share with her potential clients/customers. (Congrats Angele Renee Designs on the placement!)
5. You can find the same quality of information in blogs that is in printed media (if you look), except that blogs are not censored (some are), and so they are often much more entertaining to read. They have not been edited to please advertisers. The competition for readers causes the bloggers to be witty and relevant. What more could you ask for?
6. Blogs about sharing. So, not that you have taken, give back. I know you have thoughts and information you want to share. A successful sale or placement story, a crisis you solved, a sale your company is having, etc., are all good things for you to put in YOUR blog.

Choose one printed magazine, (the one you don’t really read), start reading it online, (almost all magazines are online now), and while your out there in cyber world, find one blog to read as well.

Strut Your Stuff

Fashion could not be possible with out models.  Well, perhaps that’s an overstatement, but you know how we like to be dramatic. The truth is, in today’s day and age, models do actually play a very important role in fashion, and a good model can make or break one of those big white-tent shows we spent so much time gossiping about in February.  So in the year 2008, what is the ultimate sign you are important?  Duh, if you are the subject of a reality TV show, you are officially buzz worthy.  Case in point: America’s Next Top Model.  (Come to think of it, there was also that show on Bravo, "Make me a Supermodel," I guess models really are in center focus.)
It follows, that if you have a reality TV show, you have addicts that will tune in.  This is dedication!

Tyra Banks is synonymous with model.  So we love seeing the expert herself modeling some of our favorite jewelry designers.  Amali Jewelry and Judith Bright have benefited first hand form the runway queen’s modeling experience.   These two LupRocks.com designers have had reoccurring appearances on the hit show. Congrats! Way to strut your stuff!

New York: I love you? I love you not?

Hello dear readers. Is it just me or did this week skip over those middle days I count on to get everything done and jump right to Friday? It seems like it was only yesterday that I was shopping and plowing through my weekend reading and in an attempt to unload the massive pile that has accumulated on my backburner. Well, my recommendation for this weekend is to watch all those movies you have gotten in the habit of renting during what seems like the never ending writer’s strike, because with the deal finally closed productions are back in full swing, and new episodes are scheduled to arrive very shortly. We are extra excited about Gossip Girls which is scouring LupRocks.com for the hottest jewelry and accessories.

Speaking of films…we intercepted this photo from the ultimate Natalie Portman website (www.NataliePortman.com), taken during the much anticipated film, New York, I love You, currently in production but already generating tons of buzz. The picture shows Natalie Portman wearing gorgeous and delicate Lazare Kaplan earrings, with less than gorgeous Chasidic garb. Congrats on this placement Lazare Kaplan, this movie, release date still unknown, already has the blogosphere hitting the keys.

P.S. Check out this FAQ section on www.NataliePortman.com, its hilarious!

Lazare Kaplan Successful Placement

Speaking of fab fours, (read our post before), diamond jewelry experts Lazare Kaplan had this engagement ring playing an important role in the now released film Definitely, Maybe. Actor Ryan Reynolds stars opposite leading ladies Isla Fisher, Elizabeth Banks, and Rachel Weisz, who play his past, and possibly current love interests, while the amazing young and talented Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) plays his daughter. This romantic feel-good movie is a tear jerker, and coming from the creator of Notting Hill and Love Actually, this chick flick brings you a great tear jerker worth your time. Congrats Lazare Kaplan, the ring looks great on the big screen!

Nicole Landaw Placement

Even though it has been four years, four days, and ten hours (not that we’re counting) since the last episode of Sex and the City aired on HBO, we still feel the pangs of loss over our favorite chicken soup for the soul. So what keeps us going? We have traded in our hearty “soul food” for brain candy with the new fab four of Cashmere Mafia, and while no one will ever replace the plots and personalities of Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda, at least costume designer Patricia Fields is back to lead us out of the dark with a bright shining fashion forward light. She was smart enough to place these Nicole Landaw earrings on CM character Zoe Burden played by Frances O’Conner, for a great placement and a great look. Congrats Nicole!

I can't believe he said that?!

Dear readers,

You know how important product placement is to us.  Hello – we do spend every waking hour working to get your products into the hottest productions and magazines.  We like to think that the rest of the world agrees with us, but occasionally, someone comes along that just does not get what we do. Case in point David Lynch was caught saying this…

 

People who are going to be interviewed should really never wake up on the wrong side of the bed!  I guess we won’t be working on Lynch movies anytime soon!