Reese Witherspoon launches lifestyle website Draper James

Reese Witherspoon has joined the glamorous conga line of celebrities who have their own lifestyle websites. And hers is controversially hypocritical.

FILE - In this Feb. 22, 2015 file photo, Reese Witherspoon arrives at the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Witherspoon has launched her own lifestyle brand. The Oscar-winning actress unveiled her Draper James online store Wednesday, May 6, 2015, which includes women’s clothing and accessories, stationery and home decor. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

OPINION

REESE Witherspoon is having a crack at Goop-ifying her way to enlightenment — or as we like to call it — being Gwyneth Paltrow.

The Oscar-winning actress launched her nauseatingly perfect online store Draper James on Wednesday, which sells women’s clothes, accessories, stationery and homewares.

The store is named after Witherspoon’s grandparents — Dorothea Draper and William James Witherspoon — who supposedly inspired the Legally Blonde star to embrace “gracious Southern living.”

If you’re in the market for a $400 handmade sterling silver bowl in the shape of a flower, you’ve come to the right place.

Witherspoon joins the glamorous conga line of celebrities who have their own ‘lifestyle website’.

Paltrow’s now infamous Goop launched in 2008, Blake Lively followed her lead with Preserve last year and chief WAG Kyly Clarke got in on the fun with her blog Lyfstyled.

Reese wearing clothes sold on her new website.

The only saving grace here is that Witherspoon isn’t trying to offer us health advice or get us to steam our vaginas. She just wants us to buy her carefully curated selection of overpriced clothing and homewares. Phew.

“I created Draper James to honour my past and allow others to embrace the beauty, style, and excitement that embodies what is happening in the South today,” Witherspoon said in a press release.

In a promotional video for the site, she sits perched on a floral sofa with a perfect blow dry and peppers her speech about the charms of Southern style with “y’alls” and fluttering eyelashes.

Witherspoon is clearly embracing her Nashville roots to sell this brand.

In a statement, Draper James CEO Andrea Hyde said: “Draper James was built on the backdrop of Reese’s Southern past which is both timely and relevant. Not only is the South having a cultural surge, but it has a rich ecosystem that we tapped into on every level.”

But it seems a bit rich to sell $300 ($AU375) dresses and $85 ($AU106) napkin sets inspired by a city where the median household income is $US46,141 ($AU57,790) and 18.2 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line, according to the latest US census data.

Draper James is peppered with southern-isms.

Witherspoon’s fans aren’t impressed with Draper James’ expensive prices.

“I love Reese, the items are beautiful, but the prices are uber scary. Not realistic IMO,” one fan wrote on the site’s Facebook page. “I would never in my life pay $200 for a lace top. $30 for 12 note cards? I shop the dollar bin at Target for note cards. I wish Reese the best of luck with her new adventure but hope she will see that the prices need some adjusting.”

Another wrote: “I really like Reese Witherspoon, her style, and what she stands for, but unfortunately I believe these prices are way out of most people’s budgets. There’s just no way I can justify spending $20 on 12 *paper* coasters. It’s just not a realistic idea.”

The whole Southern schtick wears a little thin when you start to label random, everyday items such as pencils ($14 for a set of 12) as ‘Southern’.

Sure, the dresses are pretty. The blankets look cosy. And those darn pencils are packaged beautifully.

But when one of the world’s highest paid actresses — who can command a fee of $20 million per film — asks for my money all in the name of “Southern charm” ... well, that sounds to me like a load of baloney.

Originally published as Reese Witherspoon launches lifestyle website Draper James