Phillip Lim for Target. The latest in designer collaborations

Don’t worry.  This is not going to be a post about strategy for shopping the collection, nor will it be a review or rave about any specific item from the collection. At this point, you either already know that stuff or don’t care about it.  I just wanted to reflect a little on my feelings about these designer collaborations in general. I’m not a huge fan of Phillip Lim’s designs. They are lovely. They are wearable. They are sophisticated, chic, cool, whatever but they don’t make my heart skip a beat. Yet,  I find myself counting down to Target store opening tomorrow so I can go and be a part of the craziness. I’m not in NYC anymore where you pretty much have to camp out to have any hopes of getting anything before the ebay horders descend. Things are a little more low key here in Minneapolis but I still think this one will have a large draw.  There are a couple of pieces that I do like and for $40 or so I will probably buy them, if I can. At the same time,  I don’t really want to be traipsing around town (OK going to the playground and girl scout meetings) wearing very distinguishable designer collaboration rags. Reverse snobbery?  You be the judge. I’m a bit conflicted about the whole concept. I prefer to buy clothes because I like the way they look and feel regardless of price point. I like styling clothes in my own personal way. Mixing high and low and expressing myself in how I put my outfits together on any given day. Designer collabs, logo heavy designer duds and super publicized fashion “must haves” just take the fun out of that.  I want to like buy something  because I am naturally drawn to it not because it’s in my face every time I open a magazine or read a fashion blog. Target will make their money, the ebayers will rack in some dough and we will all be talking about it or sporting the goods until we a countdown to the next big launch.
Which BTW is Isabel Marant for H & M on Nov. 14. and at the risk of contradicting everything you just read… I’m pretty pumped for this one!