I hate to post about something that is on today's Daily Candy since its not very original, but I was so intrigued by this that I had to discuss. Obviously a long running but of-the-moment trend is bringing "couture" to the masses. And this isn't about Celebrities lending their names to a product -nHeidi Klum for Jordache or SJP for Steve and Barry. I'm talking taste-makers of the world gracing every Target/Walmart/Kohls town with the newest, hottest, latest. What started as Isaac Mizrahi (who both my parents still inexplicably call Isaac Mizraki - I ask you how many times do I need to correct them before they get it?) designing a line for target took off like wildfire and everyone from Derek Lam to Monica Botkier have done a limited collection for them. Shannon and I witnessed first hand (sort of embarrassed to admit this), the madness of the Stella McCartney collection at H&M. Victor and Rolf did wedding dresses there as well, Todd Oldham does flowers for FTD, Norma Kamali will soon grace the shelves of Walmart. The list goes on and on. Target linens by Rachel Ashwell, Vera Wang jeweled flats and knit caps at Kohls. So many times I thought to myself, "they've chosen too much of an unknown -- Sally Smith in Arkansas doesn't know or care who Jovovich Hawk is, and low and behold it at least appears that everything blows out. I never thought I'd say there could very well be a fair amount of Loeffler Randall labels sitting in closests in North Dakota, but now its truly possible.
(a ParisxNYC artist T design - Genevieve Gauckler x Eric Elms)So in this morning's DC Weekend Guide addition suggests that I hoard Colette x gap . A pop up store of 54th and 5th -- combining The Gap - one of the most widely known affordable and standard clothing in America, and Colette - the absolute, hands down pinnacle of cutting edge fashion, direct from Paris. A store that claims to be so of-the-moment, things are rotated out in something like less than a week. When I had the chance to see it probably 7 summers ago, it was sterile and exact and there was a lot of black clothing. And the music, like everything else, was probably being spontaneously created or it wouldn't have been new enough. Intimidating to say the least I'm pretty sure Gap has the same khakis they had at their first even San Francisco store in 1969. This caught my attention because it is certainly a new take on combining high/low brow. Feels more like a merge than one directing another, and the stores are just so perfectly different I think its pretty cool. You will definitely find me browsing there sometime soon. I'm really liking the Longchamps bag below, in Gapgreyjersey... I mean a standard Longchamps may not be their most glowing example of french cutting edge, but you get the idea.
