At most every wedding the past few summers, during the “guys getting ready” I spied that familiar dark blue rectangular box with a splash of pink in the center.  Ahh yes, a Vineyard Vines tie box.

You gotta love Vineyard Vines…for a whole lot of reasons.  Love their colorful, fun good looking ties that many of our grooms wear…that girls and guys both like.  Love the entrepreneurial energy of these two guys–Shep and Ian–who reenergized that category with style, salesmanship, lots of variety and some great branding.  And love that they’re having an awesome time growing their business way beyond ties…really capturing the relaxed but dressed-up seaside style.

Vineyard Vines is headquartered in Stamford and has stores in Westport and Greenwich CT along with other perennially preppy spots such as Edgartown, Nantucket, Southampton, Palm Beach and Georgetown.  All told they have 18 VV stores and sell their wares in some 500 retailers…and have projected sales of $100M for 2011.  Of course, they’re very plugged into the wedding market, offering lots of customized wedding items.  In fact Vineyard Vines has partnered with Darien’s Coren Moore  (who designs beautiful wedding dresses & bridemaids dresses) on a line of brightly colored ties.

While I’m talking up Connecticut preppy clothiers…here are some others to check out:

J. Press in New Haven…the grand-daddy of prepdom, my dad’s favorite, right next to the Yale campus, J. Press has stores in NYC, DC and Cambridge as well….for Yale wear, Barbour coats, English-y sport coats etc.  In the middle of beautiful Essex CT is J. Alden, a classic boating town men’s clothier featuring who outfitted the guys at Farrell and Darius’s Dauntless Club wedding in August.

Up in the center of Litchfield CT is R. Derwin Clothiers, which is owned the parents of a client of ours who were married in 2009 up in the Berkshires.  Check them out for argyle, Viyella, and English country clothes.  J. McLaughlin from NYC recently opened a store in Westport (side note: what is it about first initial of all these retailers?).  As their site says, they offer “classic American brand featuring a flair for bold colors and signature prints.”  And, Rugby from Ralph Lauren in Greenwich and New Canaan offers an Etonian take on preppy.

Lastly, lots of these retailers now feature style blogs…and here are two independent preppy bloggers to check out: Dailyprep by Muffy Aldrich and ivy-style.com.

Jane was sent to the principal’s office…wow that still sounds ominous.  It was all good however when Jane had the opportunity to photograph New Britain High School’s Principal Michael Foran, who was awarded the MetLife / NASSP Principal of the Year award, for the cover and a feature article in Principal Leadership magazine.  She had fun walking the halls for a few hours with Mr. Foran, interacting with the students and seeing firsthand all the creativity and energy of the students, especially in vocational studies.  Mr. Foran’s got a great passion for teaching and leading New Britain High and improving the skills and future of all his students–congratulations on his well deserved award!  Great to see our local Connecticut schools getting this kind of national recognition!  Click here to see more photos from the shoot!

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We just got back from a photographers’ convention in New Orleans and see that winter has arrived (finally) in Connecticut.  Perfect timing for some images of summer!…here’s a peek into Caitlin and Greg’s beautiful early September wedding we photographed back in 2010 in Essex CT.  Loved their wedding at their home in Essex with the ceremony in the front yard and the reception in the Sperry Tent in their backyard.  We had the pleasure of working with Lauren and Kristin from Bellafare, the boutique event & wedding planning co. from NYC, and this wedding featured gorgeous flowers and decor from Lewis Miller Design.  Greg and Kaitlin’s album is the archival, handmade Queensberry 10×14 “Duo” album with a white leather cover.  Duo albums combine matted and flush-mount photos into one album for a classic, creative look.  Here are some photos of their album.  More album sneak peeks coming on our blog shortly…

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Bow ties…cool?…absolutely!  Bow ties have been booming recently, and you really notice that at weddings.  Bow ties add a dash of panache and are a fun & colorful way to amp up your style.  The resurgence of all things preppy is helping drive the popularity of ties, especially from retailers like Connecticut’s own Vineyard Vines.  Men would never call it accessorizing, but hey that’s what it is…and in general guys are way more comfortable with trying out different watches, bow ties, pocket squares, socks, belts, you name it…to look good.

For cool and colorful bow ties check out these sources: Vineyard Vines, Forage, (shown above), Pierrepont Hicks, Rugby, and Brooks Brothers.