If you need 'Help'

Stone in The Help

 

By People Page Staff8/4/2011

A few tie-ins are popping up to promote The Help, based on Kathryn Stockett’s bestselling book about a sassy reporter (Emma Stone) who ruffles feathers by writing about housekeepers’ lives in 1960s Jackson, Miss. Tune into HSN.com Aug 13 for behind-the-scenes footage, community boards, cast biographies, and a chance to buy an autographed copy of the book. The shopping site is also hawking Help-themed beauty products like a Carol’s Daughter Be Loved bath set and Deborah Lippman’s Don’t Tell Mama nail polish. Ms. Stone reportedly loves it all.

And elsewhere in the fashion world...the brick and mortar kind: Banana Republic is going retro cool. The retailer, which was founded in 1978 as a bastion for travelers and bought by the Gap in 1983, keeps getting more and more inspired. Their Mad Men collection, in stores this Thursday, is genius. Headed up by the AMC show’s costume designer Janie Bryant, the line promises to “deliver a modern take on the cool polish and panache of the 1960s.’’ Pieces include effortlessly chic trousers, leopard trenches, high waisted skirts, streamlined sweaters, as well as the era’s must-haves: money clips, pocket squares and fedoras. A real plus if you work at an ad agency.