Each guest has turned out in the spring line: flirty dresses, tops, and shorts in fun stripes and cheerful prints, all inspired by vintage issues of Vogue, Southern Living, and House & Garden. When Gayle admires her gold-and-pearl chandelier-style pendant, Mary Alice takes it right off her neck and hands it over, saying, "It's okay, I know the owner!" The necklace is Draper James, of course. Never mind that Gayle lived there only 18 months-as far as Mary Alice is concerned, they're compatriots. "I was born in Chattanooga!" she tells guest Mary Alice Haney, who grew up there, too. On today's guest list are several Southern transplants-including, if your definition of Southern is loose enough, O editor at large Gayle King. to pick vegetables from his garden and leave them for the neighbors." "And my grandfather would get up at 5 A.M. "She'd cook big Sunday dinners and send everybody home with leftovers," Reese says. Dorothea, who drove white Cadillacs and always wore pearls, was a renowned entertainer. The Nashvillian learned everything she knows about Southern hospitality from her company's namesakes: her grandparents Dorothea Draper and William James Witherspoon. If California entertaining says, "Hey, babe, it's casual," a Southern-style party says, "You're worth the trouble, darlin'!" In fact, a lot of the women Reese has played-from Elle, the frilly Harvard Law student in Legally Blonde, to Wild author Cheryl Strayed, who white-knuckled it along the Pacific Crest Trail-share the belief that if you're going to do something, you should do it all the way. It's an Elle Woods move, coordinating one's outfit with the tablescape. Her lemon-print Draper James dress matches her lemon-print Draper James plates. Reese herself is a blend of tradition and humor, with the look of a pretty and proper debutante and the laugh of a good-time girl. "Southerners don't take themselves so seriously, and at Draper James, we didn't want to take ourselves too seriously, either." "I wanted to make the kinds of things I grew up with and things that would make people happy," she says. It's a uniquely Southern combination of tradition ( a monogrammed mint julep cup modeled after vintage barware) and humor (a tote bag that says TOTES Y'ALL, which is so popular, it's sold out twice). The actress and producer loves to throw a party, and today there's a good excuse: She's celebrating the first anniversary of Draper James, her line of fashion, housewares, and other little touches essential for gracious living. In this case, the Southern girl is Reese Witherspoon, born in New Orleans and raised in Nashville. Either the apocalypse has come or there's a Southerner in the house.įortunately, it's the latter. A deep fryer must be grounds for a citation here in the land of sea vegetables and hemp milk. On the patio is the smoking gun: a cauldron of hot-popping fat. Could there be carbs on the premises? And coming from the speakers-is that Toby Keith, lamenting that if women come a dime a dozen, he ain't got a penny? The smell, for one thing, which is almost made biscuits. But there's something distinctly un–Bel Air in the air. day made for an outdoor get-together-warm, sunshiny, breeze rippling the backyard pool.
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