Did you hear?! Pink Peonies founder, Rachel Parcell, recently launched a brand new fashion line, and she’s celebrating with an office makeover that has us weak in the knees! All of the shoppable details (and Rachel’s creative business advice, too!) are below.
Tell us everything we need to know about your new fashion line!
It’s always been a dream of mine to own and create my own clothing line. I took sewing classes when I was about 10 years old and I think that’s where the idea all started. I’m so grateful to blogging because it has given me a platform to launch my clothing line, Rachel Parcell, and is so much a part of the reason why it has been so successful in such a short amount of time. I have the most amazing readers in the whole world who have been so supportive of Rachel Parcell. It’s because of them I was able to finally start working on my dream!
What’s your favorite piece in the collection?
Ahhh! That’s such a tough question. I truly love them all, but if I had to choose one, right now it would be our newest arrival, the Fairest Pink Fit and Flare Dress. It’s so flattering and feminine!
How would you describe your personal style, and how does that translate into the style of your office?
I would say my personal style is feminine and classic with a little edge, and my office space completely embodies that. It’s a very feminine space (hence the pink), but the marble flooring and black accents give it the right amount of edge.
I’m so passionate about my blog and sharing bits of my life and style with my readers, so I love that the blog provides me with a way to share all of that five days a week, and that my clothing line gives me a creative outlet to design specifically for the women who read Pink Peonies!
The floors of your office are so unique! Can you tell us about that detail? Was it original or did you add it?
It was an addition to the space. There’s something so timeless and classic about a marble floor. Originally, I was going to lay the marble in a checkerboard pattern, but when I started playing around with the sample pieces, it looked plain. I decided I wanted a more intricate and unique pattern, so I started looking for inspiration to draw from. My floor was inspired by one of my favorite designers, Kelly Wearstler, and her entryway, which was recently featured in Architectural Digest.
What are your top-five office essentials?
- A notebook! I keep my notebook right next to me throughout the day so while I’m working, I can write down different ideas that come to me and to-do lists so I don’t forget. I couldn’t live without my notebook!
- An amazing candle. I always have a candle burning while I’m working. My current favorite is English Pear and Freesia by Jo Malone.
- Diet Coke and chocolate. I always need a little pick-me-up during the workday and Diet Coke and chocolate do the trick!
- A phone charger. My phone always dies throughout the day, so I need my charger right by my desk—especially because so much of my job involves social media!
- A comfortable chair. I purchased a chair that I thought was so cute and stylish, but it ended up being so uncomfortable and it effected the way I was working throughout the day. Be sure to invest in a comfortable chair, especially if you have a desk job where you’re sitting for long hours. It makes the workday so much more enjoyable and productive.
What’s your all-time favorite shade of pink to decorate with? To wear?
The very first item I selected for this room (aside from the flooring) was the fuchsia pink rug from Lulu & Georgia. I designed the entire room around the rug, and I love the bold statement it adds to the space. When I’m decorating a feminine space, I always love to add a few pops of fuchsia pink. It instantly adds so much to the color palette of the space. My favorite shade of pink to wear is definitely blush pink!
Can you tell us about your inspiration board? How often do you update it and where do you pull things from?
When I start working on a new collection for my clothing line, the first thing I do is browse through all of my favorite fashion magazines (Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar) to find inspiration for the theme of the collection, just to get my creative juices flowing. For my spring 2017 collection, it was one photo I found in Vogue that inspired the entire color story. It was a simple image of flowers in a field, but it spoke to me and from there I had my color story!
I have one board dedicated to each collection I’m designing and I keep adding to it throughout the entire design process. Once that collection is complete, I’ll take that board down, get a brand new board and start from scratch. I like to keep the boards from past collections because they become almost a fine piece of art to me because so much time and energy went into completing that collection.
I have the most amazing readers in the whole world who have been so supportive of Rachel Parcell. It’s because of them I was able to finally start working on my dream!
Where do you buy the customized items in your office, like the fun gold “Pink Peonies” wall accent?
I’ve been blogging for over five years and my blog Pink Peonies is the foundation of both my businesses. My blog is how I was able to create and launch my own clothing line, so Pink Peonies is very much a part of my day-to-day work routine. I wanted both my blog logo and my clothing line logo to be present in the office because of that. I had Urban Walls help me create it. The company has a ton of pre-made decals or they can custom make anything you want!
What is your favorite part about being both a designer and a blogger?
I love that I have built such a personal relationship with the women who purchase my clothing line. They have gotten to know me and my personality for the last five years through my blog, which I am so grateful for. I have this community of women who I know would be my best friends in real life, and I get to interact with them directly, whether that’s through reader emails, Snapchat, Instagram or the comments section on my blog. So, when they shop my clothing, they know the face behind the brand. I’m so passionate about my blog and sharing bits of my life and style with my readers, so I love that the blog provides me with a way to share all of that five days a week, and that my clothing line gives me a creative outlet to design specifically for the women who read Pink Peonies!
Could you let us in on any big plans you might have for the second half of 2016?
Yes! Aside from the blog and clothing line, I’ve been working overtime creating a little baby boy who is due in September! Luckily, I have an amazing team behind me to help keep up with the blog and clothing line once the baby comes, so I can spend as much time with him as possible. Shortly after I have the baby, our fall 2016 collection will be released and I’m so excited! It’s pretty amazing and I can’t wait to show my readers what we’ve been working on and designing for them.
Resources:
- Rug
- Black and gold dresser
- Black polka dot pillow
- Round table
- Black chairs
- Pink bench
- Coffee table
- Full-length mirror
- Bar cart
- Floor lamp
- Blush pink sofa
- Marble top desk
- White desks
- Chandelier
- Console table
- Ghost chair
- White and gold office chairs
- Stapler
- Boxes
- Pink pens
- Monogrammed agenda planner
Most,if not all of the clothing that she claims to design has been ripped off from legitimate designers (like Stella McCartney, Dolce & Gabbana and Trina Turk) and stores (like Nordstrom and Old Navy) that are pieces that she already had in her closet. She did the exact same thing with her now defunct jewelry line. She is very dishonest and not forthcoming about any of this. Very shameful that she would steal other people’s designs and fabrics and then lie about it.
I was just about the comment the same thing but you beat me to it. She didn’t design anything. She copied designs from REAL DESIGNERS. All Rachel did was pick out colors.
Basically this entire office was free (c/o). Must be nice to “decorate” and not have to pay for it. Seems everything she does is dishonest
So where is mention in the article that all the office furnishings are c/o?
There’s inspiration and then there’s shameless plagiarism/copying, but the line is thin and very hard to prove. Probably just as hard to prove that there’s little real designing going on in that “office”, which appears to be 1) more for show or 2) an 11-year-old girl’s idea of what a fashion designer’s office might look like.
By the way, the coffee table that’s rStyle linked in the resource list is completely different from the coffee table shown in the photographs.
Not in this article but if you go to Pink Peonies and read the blog post about the office it’s pretty much all c/o.
Not aimed at Rebecca but at GG in general: I agree with the other posters. PP is a joke. She doesn’t have an ounce of originality in her. GG giving her credit for anything is sad and pathetic.
Go to the Pink Peonies blog and you will see everything, and I mean everything down to the stapler is c/o.
If that’s the case, then Glitter Guide and Carrie should absolutely include that information in this article. And remove the link to the coffee table, which is different from the one in the photos.
I agree with the other commenters here that Rachel Parcell isn’t any sort of designer. She’s a blogger who’s benefitted hugely from receiving everything from designer bags and dresses down to staplers for free. She’s taken advantage of the very thin line between “inspiration” and plagiarism in an industry where theft is harder to prove, and from an enormous fan base who are happy to click on all of her affiliate links and support her every endeavor, however iffy. This is a Barbie Dream House office, and makes a mockery of those women who work hard at interior design and fashion design.
I am an interior designer myself. Went to school for it and have been in the industry for years. Every designer gets inspiration/ideas from others. Nothing new about that.
The only thing really throwing me off in the office this is the rug placement. It is partially under the acrylic table only on one side. I would have gone with a bigger rug or simply moved the rug over to not have any of it in the sitting area. (my personal opinion).
I’m disappointed to see this covered on GG. Her fashion line and failed jewelry line are painfully obvious rip-offs of real designer’s work. Rachel continues to abuse the line between “inspiration” and straight up stealing, while continually getting praised by outlets such as this one as well as her fangirl followres, and it’s getting a bit old.
The commenters on here come off as petty and envious. Is it all life changing designs? I’m sure I can google a peplum skirt and come up with 10,000 hits. But fashion, like art and decor etc seems to get replayed often. It’s called a trend. All the millennials are wearing crap I wore in the 80’s.
Also, every blogger decorates and gets outfits c/o. It’s apart of the business. She created a brand. For someone so young, she has built a blog from the ground up and happened to get in at the right time and has made big success from it. Young House Love just did a podcast how decorating bloggers now do entire rooms sponsored by companies for upwards of $30k. Do you work for free?
Yes, she got a free room, but these companies will sell a ton of what she just posted and they got away with cutting out the middle man…an ad agency. They gave her some furniture, she put it on her blog in a pretty way, she gets thousands if not millions of hits in a month (Architectural Digest itself only gets less than a million readers a month) and they make money. She has readership and style influence and she is capitalizing on that like any savvy business person would. She’s managed to make a lot of money and stay home and raise her child. As a woman, I applaud her.
The point is, what these bloggers are doing isn’t interior design (or fashion design). It’s advertising, plain and simple, whether or not you cut out the middle man ad agency.
And the problem is not following federal disclosure rules (as in the article above), especially for the not-so-savvy followers who can’t make the distinction.
I totally agree! I’m glad you said these words. I felt saddened by the comments and wondered why we have to put people down. I enjoy following Rachel and her adorable family. I don’t care if she makes money. In fact, I think everyone should do something they love and make money at it!
I don’t begrudge Rachel for being successful. It’s great that she’s found a way to earn a lucrative living doing something that she seems to love. But she’s created a business and I expect a business to be transparent. If you are selling clothing that looks exactly like a designer pieces you already have in your closet, you haven’t designed anything, you’ve copied someone else. You can say there are a million peplum skirts out there, but I think if you saw a comparison between the designer clothing and what Rachel claims to have designed, there would be no doubt in your mind that she’s copied it. I could see having similarities to one piece, but practically her whole collection has been copied. Anytime someone asks her about this on her social media accounts, she either deletes the question or many of her followers start calling the person jealous or haters. Asking a business owner to be transparent about her business practices is not being jealous or hating. And a business that deletes questions about their brand and allows their followers to attack someone for simply asking a question is not a business that I would like to support. Rachel has shown through her jewelry and clothing line that she has no integrity. I will not support someone who steals others hard work and claims it as their own.
Amy, you make very valid points above. I don’t think anyone is ‘hating’ or ‘jealous’. If Rachel Parcell is being run as a business, which it is, then there needs to be transparency, etc. I don’t think Nordstrom would delete negative reviews of clothing, etc and call people haters if they decide to post a criticism. That’s what bothers me most about these bloggers when they turn it in to a business and not just internet posts. It’s a business, act like one in all aspects. That means accepting and working with criticism as well as the compliments.
I read all the above comments with my mouth open! Am I really reading what I’m reading? How can people be so cruel, especially when it is not validated. Thank you, Jessica, for defending Rachael—-a beautiful, talented, successful, wife, mother, and business woman. It is very disheartening to read such petty and envious sounding comments. She deserves our admiration for working hard and using her creative gifts in such an uplifting and charming way. Blessings to her for sharing all of that with us!
Guys… She might have received the $1,100 desk and $2k chandelier for free but she DID buy some floating shelves from Ikea and a pillow from Anthro! ;)
Lol true she did spend $100 maybe. I love the floor and the stapler. I’m not a pink girl but my 7 year old granddaughter would love the room. I do think it was a mistake for Glitterguide not to include the majority of these items were c/o. That they are doesn’t bother me, good for her, but be transparent.