The simple yet brilliant idea was dreamed up by one Andrew Jones, an automotive industry consultant whose wife "had" to fly to New York from Palm Beach to make sure she'd have a unique getup for some charity function. According to Politico, " the site includes a place where users can log the designer, color, length, neckline description, material and other characteristics of their dresses. There's even a spot to upload a photo."

So far a hundred ladies have registered gowns — understandable when you consider that Laura Bush had to change when she showed up at the 2006 Kennedy Center honors to find three other dames in the same Oscar de la Renta. (And shouldn't the protocol have been for the other ladies to change? Maybe she lived closer.) After all, there are only so many beaded, mother-of-the-bride apropos Washington-style dresses in the world! The Star-Telegram confirms the frump factor: "Registered dresses are mostly ankle length, many with plunging necklines. Labels range from an ankle-length blue dress by Banana Republic to a scoop-neck, to-the-floor ivory gown by Halston. Shades of purple, orange and red seem to outnumber the old classic, black."

While the success of the scheme obviously depends on everyone registering their outfits - which we simply can't see grandes dames of a certain age doing — it's a smart modification of something some upscale stores have been doing for years; and what is, after all, standard practice for designers. In order for the concept to really take off, it will probably have to work in concert with those populations. Actually, while we can see how it would make sense for a press-heavy event like the inauguration, the natural market for something like this seems to be high school proms. Think about it: a tech-savvy population drawing on a much smaller pool of options, with probably more humiliating duplication consequences. Can you imagine the rush to claim the choicest Betsey Johnsons, the pouffiest Jessica McClintock? While this would obviously lead to a few brats putting dibs on numerous dresses and then making a decision at the last second, well, who's to say some senator's wife isn't doing the exact same thing? The internet can bring out some people's dark sides.

DressRegistry.com [Official Site]
Web Site Lets Women Register Their Inaugural Dresses [Star-Telegram]

Say Bye Bye To Dress Duplicates [Politico]

Lilly Pulitzer herself had a textbook background: Chapin, Miss Porter's, marriage to a publishing scion, and a youthful life of wealthy eccentricity (Pulitzer is famous for going without shoes and undies and for keeping a menagerie as a young wife.) Then came anxiety attacks, a stay in what she terms "the nuthouse" - “I can’t really remember how long I was there, but my cousin was there too, so that was nice” - and depression that led to the start of her "hobby," running a juice stand that called for a practical uniform of shift dresses that wouldn't show stains.

The rest is, of course, history: the gaily printed shifts became a sensation with the Palm Beach society set, former classmate Jackie Kennedy wore one in a magazine spread, and Lilly Pulitzer became a household name, selling not just pink and green dresses, but embroidered trousers and capris, sarongs, and all manner of sportswear. Pulitzer is often credited with creating the concept of "resort" - or, as she blithely put it, "it’s always summer somewhere.” Although she closed up shop in the businesslike 80s, she sold the brand in 1993 and has continued as a creative consultant in its new incarnation. The line currently has 20 boutiques, plus department store collections. According to today's WWD, "brand extension is a significant part of the growth strategy for Lilly Pulitzer as it begins its second half-century."

Of course, was Lilly Pulitzer really ever anything but a lifestyle brand? Did people ever really love wearing luridly-colored monkeys and sea-horses? Yes, the prints were cheerful, but when you see a Lilly Pulitzer, you think "Lilly Pulitzer" and that has surely always been the point. To wear one of her dresses was to momentarily be a part of a world where sporting goofy, unflattering clothes is a mark of dashing, privilege-bred confidence, the very definition of the uniform of an insider. Its appeal now is nostalgic. As W puts it, "the Palm Beach social swirl that Rousseau recalls—in which counts sat next to carpenters at her dinner parties and, as she relishes telling, Kennedy spoon-fed John-John on her kitchen floor—has an almost mythic quality, one she laments no longer exists." But to most of us, the nostalgic appeal is at least as much for a character like Pulitzer's as for anachronistic high society. She was, of course, inseparable from that privilege, and hers was a success inexplicably linked with her connections, friends, and lifestyle. But the old-fashioned no-nonsense sense of entitlement is also what allowed Pulitzer to build a successful business in a man's world, divorce her husband and move out on her own, where many women would have been happy to leave dresses as a pleasant sideline to a socialite's life. She took her lifestyle and made it a business. Everything about her story — from the world that inspired it, to the entitlement that encouraged it, to the scope of the achievement — is part of a long-gone world. This, as much as the unapologetic silliness of the clothes themselves, is a fascinating glimpse to another time for the rest of us.

Lilly Land [W]
All the Details: The Lilly Lifestyle [WWD]

Be A Moddle: We use the term loosely, as almost every single one of the profiled Itties is, if not a professional model (Portia Freeman, Daisy Lowe, Coco Rocha) at least former (Alexa Chung)/aspiring(Isabelle McNally)/celeb-model hybrids (Teyana Taylor).

Be Celeb Spawn: Again, defining "celebrity" loosely (the daughter of Elvis Costello's drummer, for instance), let's just say it apparently doesn't hurt to be connected. Both Geldof sisters are in here: nuff said.

Date A Rocker: One of them is with an Arctic Monkey, Daisy Lowe is currently paired off with the way-senior Mark Ronson (although they broke up!), and Portia Freeman is rumored to be more than friends with Pete Doherty. Junkie=fab!!!

Be A DJ:Next to moddle, "DJ" is the most popular non-career for an It Girl! See: Tennessee Thomas, Harley Viera-Newton. Sort-of acting (We're counting Cody Kennedy's turn on Gene Simmons Family Jewels) is also an acceptable mode of employment.

If At All Possible, Be Under 20: It is highly desirable for an It-Girl to be obscenely young - like five of the fabs profiled here.

Be Really, Really Rich:This is so you can talk idly about starting club nights, drop out of school, flit idly from career to career, and, you know, have time to be seen! In fact, great riches are an essential part of It Girl-ness, as they are essential to "not caring what people think" and "awesome style," the two criteria editor Marvin Scott Jarrett identifies in his intro.

The one notable exception to these rules is designer Abigail Lorick, whose line is actually really, really good and who seems to really, you know, work on it. Quoth she, "I would hope that an It Girl would be a girl that is hardworking and inspires other young women to pursue whatever they want." So would we, Abigail. So would we.

Nylon [Official Site]

Related: We Want To See The Unedited Version Of Peaches Geldof's First Nylon Column

The Good:
Diane Von Furstenberg: perennial no-brainer. (For me, I mean. Doing the 'Good' category. Maybe you got that.)

Diana Taylor. For my NYC peeps, "Mayor Bloomberg's girlfriend." She always looks stunning, elegant.

This spring confection is modeled by Margaret McGrath, known to her many friends as Mrs. David Rockefeller. And who am I kidding? He's dapper as all git-out, and the one who really makes this picture.

Claire Danes' dress is lovely. But in some ways this pic does make me yearn for the Claire of '94…

Karin Greenfield's ensemble reminds me a bit of an outfit my mom wears, so maybe I'm biased. But I think it's elegant and appropriate.

The Bad:

See, this is what I mean. The normally sure-footed Diane Sawyer is wearing a blouse that puts me strongly in mind of what the more stylish 13-year-olds were wearing with their black pants fourteen years ago. (Yes, I'm 27.)

Ditto Evelyn Lauder's ensemble. (Which gives weight to the "no hose" argument.)

Now Katherine G. Fanley's, on the other hand, is reminiscent of the first "grown-up" dress I was allowed to buy in the teen section of Nordstrom's.

...whereas socialite Fabiola Beracasa's frumpy beige number looks like what the Bat Mitzvah girl herself might have worn in temple.

The Ugly:
Thank God for MIA. I don't know what she's doing here, but she adds the only dash of fun and questionable taste in the whole shindig. Plus, the fabric looks like a Barbie dress, in the best way. I almost put her in "Good," but I thought she'd want to be here.

[Images by Getty]

The Good:
This dress is sorta stupid, but also kinda awesome. And it's won by Byrdie Bell, whose name makes me laugh, laugh, laugh.
It takes a brave woman to put red ruffles on her ass, Cristina Greeven Cuomo.
When boho stylings happen to handbag heiresses who are really not bohemian.
Jennifer Creel: The only one who got the memo about playing it simple and classy?

The Bad:
A double-whammy of bad: Carrie Cloud looks like she stole Extra #8's costume from The O.C. and Lara Meiland's dress is irritating.
Doug Hannant is the only redeeming thing about Valesca Guerrand-Hermes's puke green column.
Ahhhhh my retinas! Thanks a bunch, Jamee Gregory.
I think there is a sea creature on Olivia Palermo's shift.
Is wearing a black dress better than wearing a dress with a sea-creature on it? Only Renee Rockefeller can answer that question.
Why did no one stop Susan Shin before leaving the house?

The Ugly:
The time machine broke down and Cynthia Lufkin got stuck somewhere between Tara and Saved by the Bell.
Nicole Miller has done little to disabuse me of the belief that fashion designers are always the worst-dressed ones in the room.

[Images via Getty.]

While we are very much a Christian religion (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints is Mormonism's official name), we don't believe that God stopped speaking to man after the last page of the New Testament. It's a lot for a young person to swallow, but I accepted it...Some Christians feel about the Book of Mormon roughly what the Jewish community feels about the New Testament.

Show us your history of religious strife over sacred grounds! Why don't you try using Joseph Smith to sell a grilled cheese sandwich for thousands of dollars on eBay? You know what Christians think of the Book of Mormon? "Hotel room accessory placed next to the Bible" is what they think. And that's where they're finally right on something!

So the rest of those stories is one of those, "I live in two different worlds, which would seem on the outset to be at odds with one another and here's how I reconcile it" pieces. Like the one about the Israeli doctor who shoots Palestinians as an Air Force officer at night night and saves their babies during the day? Um yes! Only where the unifying theme in that guy's life was his quest for adrenaline, the unifying theme in this lady's life seems to be, um, that she is a sanctimonious undermining asshole.

While my married Mormon friends collected children and school bills, I collected a closetful of designer dresses, a sprawling library of social-history books, and an even bigger shoe closet

"patrician Grace Kelly look-alikes who put the Hilton sisters to shame."

unlike Catholicism, our religion permits divorce.

became the Mormon mascot who could table dance for hours on no more than Pellegrino.

as I witnessed people in fashion and society losing their way, I often took advantage of the sanctuary my church provided.

There's also some discussion of all the Mormons in pop culture, from Mitt Romney to that Napoleon Dynamite kid. And!

Among my contemporaries at Brigham Young University was... actor Aaron Eckhart. Neil LaBute was one of his instructors at BYU before he left academia to take Aaron and himself to mainstream success with their first cinematic collaboration, In The Company Of Men

Fabiola Beracasa, daughter of media heiress Veronica Hearst, proudly advertises her jewelry business, but she is better known for her ubiquitous party appearances and dance routines on bar banquettes.

When she recently published her schedule for a typical workday in Gotham magazine, the lineup included an hour in the morning with her personal trainer, a two-hour lunch at Manhattan's Le Bernardin, then a hair styling, dinner and a party.

The Wealth Report: Heiresses Get Down To Business [WSJ]

We used to get all dressed up and go out dancing, then we'd go out for breakfast, and then we'd go to work the next day. I don't know why they don't do that anymore.

Well, Kitty, here's the deal: We grew up. We stopped doing coke. We started doing TiVo.

Now that we've clarified that, rest in peace.

Remembering Kitty Carlisle Hart, a Last Link to Glamorous New York [NYMag]