My friends and I derive great entertainment from looking through catalogs like L.L. Bean and Land’s End and making fun of the ridiculously good-looking models and the cliched settings of the photos (especially the rugged, gray-haired older men, and the inevitable golden retriever sitting in the living room.) So I’ve ordered some catalogs: L.L. Bean, Land’s End, Greatland, Herrington, and Cabela’s Classic.
I want some names of other upscale/preppy type catalogs. New England-style nautical themes would be great, as well as Aspen ski-lodge type stuff. But any humorously yuppie-ish catalog would do. Can I get some recommendations?
Restoration Hardware. Pottery Barn. Crate and Barrel. Smith and Hawken. Most of these are housewares, but they’re ludicrously overpriced, so they might fit the bill.
I saw a Rainbird “retro” style sprinkler head at Restoration Hardware once for $55. Now that’s some Yuppie weirdness.
I always have great fun searching through the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book. They have all the usual stuff in there, but they also sell some unbelievable fantasy gifts.
Ralph Lauren Polo and Brooks Brothers’s catalogs are awash in impossibly good-looking WASPy folk in rugged, timeless settings. Good eye candy, if that’s your thang.
While the clothes are a bit outre~ for a lot of tastes, there is one silver-haired model in all of the Chico’s catalogues who is pictured in tastefully woody & elegantly subdued settings - www.chicos.com
Also - the Frontgate catalogue; they actually advertised for “estates” to be featured in their catalogues.
WinterSilks has a bunch of ruggedly-goodlooking WASHpish people sitting around reading the magazine while wearing silk long johns. It’s kind of funny, and not even remotely sexy.