Martha's bedding

Last night in the Home Store, Macy Mae started paying more attention to who's looking at the Martha Stewart line. I engaged them more, and listened to what they're saying. Martha's getting good marks on quality and design in the textiles, and I would be the first to say the compliments are well deserved. 100 per cent cotton comforters -- where have you been? And the new lace sheets and bedskirts that came in yesterday meet a need we've been without for far too long! On the whole, as I wandered through her rapidly-filling display, I felt the return of my girlie affection for the late great Laura Ashley. These are bedroom furnishings to make you feel like a princess..





... and therein lies the problem. Princesses, you may have noticed, usually do not sleep in queen and king sized beds. Indeed, as we all learned in "The Princess Diaries", once they become a queen (whether or not with a king), princesses have to tone down their girlie style. I once sold a beautiful field of Ralph Lauren flowers to a loving husband of later years, who watched silently while his wife shopped, and then stepped to the register saying, "She gets what she wants." Can he be cloned? Because this doesn't happen very often. More often, the bride -- of whatever age -- says "he doesn't want too many flowers," or, at best, "He can live with that Calvin Klein."




So "princess" is for most of us a great but lonely life. Already, the refrain has arisen. "Do you have this in twin?" "Do you have this in full?" "Could this queen comforter cover work for a double bed?" Macy Mae predicted yesterday that this line would appeal to single women, and based on the size requests, I hit a bullseye on that call.





I hope Martha will quickly start shipping in full and even the occasional twin. The minute she does, she's going to kick up Macy Mae's bedding sales. Indeed, MM has already identified her OWN next summer set (Vintage) -- except that Macy Mae still sleeps in a double bed.