Second City Style Fashion Blog - Style, Luxury, Beauty & Shopping

Review. Rogan for Target

Initially I thought Barneys and Target made strange bedfellows. Why in the world was Barneys planning to promote and sell Rogan for Target? (In case you didn't know, Barney's had an exclusive pre-sale from May 8-11. The line will be available at Target May 18.) But there is something to be said about carrying your Target loot around in a Barney's bag. When was the last time anyone wrapped your purchases in tissue at Target I ask? Also, have you ever spent $100 at Barneys and walked out with a bag of clothes? Organic cotton clothes yet.

Truth be told I have not been impressed with many of the Target Go International lines except for Proenza Schouler (where I bought a black dress I wore last week), Libertine (I still get compliments on my whale and skull Bermuda shorts) and Patrick Robinson (I adore my two tanks). I also dig some of the Subversive jewelry line, but have to draw the line at pleather shoes and handbags (Loeffler Randal). I just can't go there.

However, I really liked a lot of what I saw of the Rogan line at Barneys , and apparently so did many other women. I had about an hour between appointments near Barneys last Friday. By the time I got there the collection was picked over and about a dozen women were milling around with armloads of clothes. Many of the sizes were gone. Oddly, only one of the pieces I bought is pictured here (the sweater in the second picture). I bought a black tank and a stripped wrap dress. Totally adorable.

This dress was gone in 60 seconds!

I bought this sweater in light blue.

   
Now I get it! For Target, the relationship brings: cache, exposure to more affluent shopper, people like me telling the masses the line rocks. For Barneys, the relationship brings: support to a designer already in the store, the cash register ringing in these trying times.

Shop the line at Target. Seriously. It's pretty good.

- Lauren Dimet Waters

British Invasion. Topshop to Stay True to Roots.

   
Regarding Topshop's New York City expansion, main man Sir Philip Green says they won't put an American spin on their classically British style. The Kate Moss line for Topshop, which was successfully selling in Barneys New York and helped spur Topshop's across-the-pond move, is an example of the English influence that will remain consistent in the New York stores. Green is even considering announcing the British brand with a fleet of red double-decker buses in October. Cheers, Topshop! Stick with what works.

Source: WWD

Get Shopping. The GAP CFDA Nominee White Shirts Are Now Available!

CFDA>GAP>TODAY

Get them while they're white hot... and crisp and clean...and essentially everything Gap usually is. Only this time, it's "designer". If you haven't already seen/heard, like last year, the CFDA nominee's designed a handful of white cotton pieces for Gap. 

The designers are Philip Lim, Band of Outsiders, Michael Bastian, Philip Crangi, and ThreeASFOUR. They go on sale today - both in-store and on-line. Some of my favorites include the Band of Outsiders shirt and Philip Crangi necklace. This is no time to be fickle - because last year they sold out in just a matter of days. Besides, Gap has a very undesigner-like return policy...

Shop the Gap collection here!

- Thomas Kikis

Breaking News. H&M Goes Avant-Garde and Taps Comme des Garçons For Next Designer Collaboration

Comme des Garçons Spring '08 RTW

Now this is exciting! H&M is teaming up with Comme des Garçons (by Japanese fashion designer Rei Kawakubo) for its next designer collaboration, according to WWD.

The collection is slated to launch in early November as the fast-fashion giant opens its first stores in Japan: a 10,000-square-foot unit in Tokyo’s Ginza district and a 16,000-square-foot location in hyper-trendy Harajuku. An international rollout will follow.

 

Kawakubo, known for a fearless, experimental approach to fashion, will design H&M fashions for women, men and children, as well as accessories and a unisex fragrance.

Photo: Style.com

Gap's Bringing Back Design Editions - Limited Edition White Shirts

Next month, Gap will be bringing back its Gap Design Editions limited edition program. This time expect white shirts from 3.1 Phillip Lim, Band of Outsiders, Michael Bastian, Philip Crangi and Threeasfour.

The initiative, part of Gap's partnership with the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, featured Rodarte, Thakoon and Doo.Ri last year. This time, it will also incorporate men's wear and jewelry, and widen its distribution to include Gap adult stores in Canada, the U.K. and Japan.

Each designer worked with Patrick Robinson, executive vice president of design for Gap Adult and GapBody, to put together their pieces.

The shirts will be available at Gap Adult stores from April 15.

Source & Photo: WWD

Retail Detail. Can Patrick Robinson 'Clothes' and Repair the Gap?

Patrick Robinson for the Gap Fall '08

It has been the burning the question of the last few years. Can the Gap be saved? According to an article in today's Seattle Times, the brand that helped lead America into a casual-clothing revolution has been floundering for years. Competition from stores like Target and H&M, where people buy cheap chic as well as basics isn't helping nor is a denim market that's saturated. It would appear there's no regaining the stronghold Gap once held.

Patrick Robinson for the Gap Fall '08

Now Gap has a new head of design — Patrick Robinson, former artistic director for Paco Rabanne — and the company took the unusual step of presenting Robinson's first full collection during New York Fashion Week in February.

Before the presentation, he said that Gap "had been pulled from side to side for different reasons" and suffered from "different leadership and different messages." Brian Tunick, a retail analyst with J.P. Morgan, said the Gap's sheer size (1,278 stores in the U.S. and Canada) and its attempt to be all things to all people didn't help either.

Patrick Robinson for the Gap Fall '08

Keeping those basics but banishing the boring and safe is what Gap hopes Robinson, who joined the label in May, can do. While Robinson's name is familiar in fashion cirlces, his track record with the masses is less clear. He is credited with turning around Giorgio Armani's Collezioni line; his work at Perry Ellis was a hit on the runway but not at the cash register; and his tenure at Paco Rabanne was complicated by corporate restructuring, and the house failed to ship his fall-winter collection.

Patrick Robinson for the Gap Fall '08

Robinson said the goal behind his fall/winter collection of layered classic pieces "was to take the classic, iconic heritage of the company and make it relevant by doing things (such as) slimming down the cargo pants, taking a peacoat and making it oversized or taking a Chesterfield jacket and shortening it into a bomber."

Patrick Robinson for the Gap Fall '08

Initial reaction to Robinson's freshman collection has been mostly favorable. The collection is filled with all the basics: jeans, cargo pants, t-shirts, camisoles, pullovers, etc. However, it looks a little edgier, fashion forward and, a bit more sophisticated. The faux shearlings are particularly fresh.

Fortunatley for the Gap, current economic conditions could give the company a needed boost, as more customers are looking to stretch their wardrobe dollar.

Patrick Robinson for the Gap Fall '08

Read "Trying to bring back the Gap"

See the full collection at Style.com

Photos: Style.com

Fast Retailers. Rivals take a bite out of Target

Read this fantastic article by Sandra M. Jones that ran in the Chicago Tribune yesterday. Not just because it's interesting, but because your's truly (that's me) is quoted!

By Sandra M. Jones | TRIBUNE REPORTER
March 9, 2008

The discount chain merged design and affordability, and shoppers ate it up. But now it may be a victim of its own trendsetting success.

Rock star Avril Lavigne, the singer with raccoon eyeliner and skull-and-hearts style, is about to start selling a clothing line at Kohl's Corp., the traditional discount department store from Wisconsin that has been dabbling in trendier fashion.

The deal, announced last week, would have been unfathomable five years ago, before Isaac Mizrahi teamed with Target Corp. to make discount shopping cool. Now it's just the latest iteration in the swelling establishment of cheap chic.

While the idea of marketing trendy apparel and home goods to the masses -- an idea pioneered at Target -- has been building for years, the cheap chic phenomenon is seeping into everything from candles to bath towels to baby blankets to lamps, and bringing together such unlikely combinations as Wal-Mart and Norma Kamali.

That thinking began to shift about the time actress Sharon Stone paired a black Gap turtleneck with a black silk crepe Valentino skirt for the 1996 Academy Awards, setting off a wave of high-low fashion combos.

Now fashionistas tout their ability to mix an $18 Target T-shirt with a $3,500 Akris suit.

Lauren Dimet Waters, who describes herself as "very high-fashion," had never set foot inside a Kohl's store until Vera Wang's line debuted. Then she bought two sweaters and a dress, all for about $160. A Vera Wang Lavender Label cowl-neck dress at Bloomingdale's is $520.

"I think this is what shopping has become," said Waters, creator of a fashion Web site called Second City Style. "People are really in tune with fashion. They want to buy something new, and this is a way to do it."

Read the entire article in the continued section

Designer News. Say It Isn't So. Norma Kamali to Create Collection for Wal-Mart

Listen up Target, Wal-Mart isn't giving up on fashion. At least not without a fight!

According to WWD, in a long-term deal via Cherokee Inc., Norma Kamali will create an exclusive lifestyle brand under her own name that will encompass categories such as women's wear, children's clothing, accessories, footwear and home — all at Wal-Mart's mass prices.

Wal-Mart is "a very interesting situation and a new kind of venture for them and for me, and I like this new experience," Kamali said. "We are starting with women's and focusing on setting up an agenda for women's and take it from there. If it's something that fits the store and works, I have the opportunity to present whatever ideas I have."

Wal-Mart's fashion profile is rising as rival Target Corp. has lost Isaac Mizrahi, who is departing to take over the Liz Claiborne brand. In the next few months, the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer will introduce Ocean Pacific and L.E.I. fashions, and it also is preparing investment in athletic apparel and shoes and licensed goods.

Wal-Mart's efforts with designer and trendier fashions have had mixed results. Its Metro 7 line launched in 500 doors, and expanded to 1,500 doors too quickly, which proved to be a mistake. It scaled back the line to 500 doors, and Metro 7 is said to be doing much better. The discounter's tailored George ME by Mark Eisen collection, meanwhile, flopped at retail and was discontinued last year.

Read "Kamali to Design Line for Wal-Mart"

Source & Kamali photo: WWD

Retail for the Masses. H&M's "Fashion Against AIDS" to Hit Stores in February

Swedish chain Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) announced yesterday it will launch a new clothing collection aimed at spreading awareness of HIV and AIDS while raising money for projects to battle the disease.

The collection, "Fashion Against AIDS," will hit stores in February and is supported by many designers, musicians and artists, including Rihanna, Timbaland, Jade Jagger, The Cardigans and Ziggy Marley.

The collection is comprised of T-shirts, tank tops and hooded sweaters featuring specially designed prints. 25% of the proceeds will be donated to HIV and AIDS prevention projects around the world.

Source: Yahoo News

Fashion for the Masses. Rogan's Coming to Target.

Recent CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund winner, designer Rogan Gregory (Rogan, Loomstate and Edun) is the latest tapped to pitch for Target for it's seasonal collaborations. According to WWD, photographer Sarah Silver reportedly shot the Rogan campaign for Target Friday in Manhattan. No word yet if the items will be for women or men (or both), but we will keep you posted.