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September 20, 2019
There's kind of a flirtatious partnership going on between what pros in the biz call "High-Low" collaborations. This is where some really tony and high-class designer does a collection or two or three for a discount store - usually Walmart, J.C. Penny and the latest is Victoria Beckham. Yes one of the Spice Girls who has started her own very profitable line of clothing - which is beautiful in its own right - see below.
The whole idea is to make the world of rarefied high fashion available to all of us who shop at discount or even part-discount stores. The thinking is that we would get something of quality or at the very least a little more quality than the regular stuff at the discount rack.
The problem is that yes, there is a name in the label (Mizrahi for J. C. Penny) but that the workmanship is most likely the same as the brand label of the store's. I know that sounds rather cynical, but it is most likely the truth.
BUT......
there is something here that's very important to take away, and that is a clear filter on what designs are worth the high-low moniker. It can be very daunting to go through all the designers that show during the New York, London, Paris, Milan, Tokyo and other fashion weeks out there. There are truly thousands of them. But taking a look at the list of high-low collaborators, can really be helpful. Perfect case is above, look at Victoria Beckham's
style. It's very appealing and very telling. Things to notice in the above shot are 1. all skirts (skirts, dresses are very hot), 2. Styles are understandable and moderated and actually wearable, 3. Little ruffle here and there - some girlie-girl stuff going on.
Jason Wu
But here's a look at some other collaborators - like Jason Wu (the famous designer that did a lot of Michelle Obama's clothes).
This really isn't a hard one, cause Jason Wu has always been a go-to designer and ever since he made a great name for himself designing for first ladies, he doesn't have to pay too many dues. Because of that, he's one of the new set of designers who are only showing 2 or 3 shows a year, not the pre-requisite 6 shows with 30+ designs in them which is an outrageous number of designs per year for one house. These younger self-made designers don't do that.
Another one who doesn't is Zac Posen, who's also a go-to designer as his things are normal and reasonable looking. Looking at all these dresses and tunic (bridge between pants and dress), there's a gob of pretty ideas here in these three outfits - necklines, silhouettes, sheer over opaque (thank heavens no nude stuff), and quite literally, really pretty clothes!
Anna Sui
This is another designer which has done a collaboration with a discount retailer, and been successful with it.
Although these may look like nightgowns - don't kid yourself, they are full designed beautiful garments. I'm particularly inspired by the tunic-y looks that bridge the pant and dress as a way to get more folks into the dress - which is hot - did I say that already?!!!
Proenza Schouler
Another collaborator you might not think of is Proenza Schouler (to look really sharp the next time you're in Target looking for something you can pronounced it correctly - pro - en' - zuh school' - er which is a collaboration between Jack McCoullough and Lazaro Hernandez named after the maiden names of their two mothers! - so now you know how to look really sharp).
So these pictures here are really big. If you want to download them or even look at them through your browser, you can do that because the one on the right has the coolest detail you have ever seen on the sleeve with the buttons.
All of these photos come from the S/S 2020 which is going on now or just past the last few weeks. And what's really fun about them is that you can go back and look at past shows on Vogue.com (one of my fav go-to sites for looking up designers). And although I will not be purchasing any high-low collaborations from Target or any other discount store, I will keep up with who these discount stores pick to collaborate with, because they will all most likely be very
moderate and interesting designers for inspirations.
And remember you don't have to use everything that's on there -maybe a button detail, maybe a jacket line, maybe a skirt length, maybe the idea of a tunic to bridge into a more dressy look - all of those are great inspirations to take away from these designers.
So thank you to the discount stores for this high-low collaboration, cause it gives we creatives a whole other place to look for inspiration!
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PS - I do a lot of posting on Facebook as both Claire Kennedy and SewingArtistry - if you want to friend me to check out the goodies over there
for free!
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