Fashion collaborations are just utterly threadbare. When Karl and Stella did H&M and Luella did Target, the idea of a high end designer teaming up with a lower end retail chain was positively novel. It democratized style in a superficial yet fun way and changed the merit scale in the world of fashion. No longer was it just a rack in Barneyâs, but a chintzy styrofoam rigged hanger in a supermart that was tantamount to industry cred.
Now you cannot open up any magazine without reading about another pair of increasingly un-strange bedfellows … Sophia Kokosalaki and Thakoon for Nine West, Proenza Schouler for Target, Roland Mouret for the Gap, Kate Moss for Top Shop (umm..sheâs not even a designer). Even Payless is doing it!
Yes, it translates into big bucks and the concept has wide consumer appeal. And when opening day for these collections looks more like L.A. after the Rodney King verdict than a respectable place of business; the trend clearly still has legs.
But in this fickle world in which we live, Iâm looking for the next big thing. Perhaps Bendelâs or Bergdorf should tap Sonny Payne, the beloved panhandler on the F train to design a line of fashion forward hosiery and handbags — high-end down and out.
It wouldnât be commercially viable, but it sure would be innovative. Until of course, Barneyâs hires the guy with the cats on the C train.
