Mass-Clusivity: Designers Weigh In on Fashion's Final Frontier

Now that Karl Lagerfeld has done H&M, and with no plans to extend his collection or attempt another foray into the new world of what fashion people like to call "mass-clusivity," who will be next? It's clear that there is a real level of excitement in the retail arena for name designers to make their mark on wares that theoretically reach larger audiences and extend their brand. And in-the-know shoppers and street fashionistas clearly love the high-low combination. But are other designers jumping?

According to WWD, the reaction from many other designers regarding the Lagerfeld/H&M partnership has been positive. Vivienne Westwood is up for the challenge of blending design with economy, and according to her people, is "in talks" with an unspecified company to produce a line. Norma Kamali is currently working on a deal, and Jean-Paul Gautier has already designed a spring collection for catalog giant La Redoute. But most exciting of all for regular readers of this blog: “I would do it,” Marc Jacobs said Friday. “To be completely blunt about it, I understand Karl was paid a great deal of money to do it and that would be a great incentive.”

(A Marc Jacobs/"fast fashion" partnership would be magic, I think, not to mention incredibly exciting to his devoted following, who have long had a proclivity for mixing luxury with cheerful thrift-store chic. It's almost a better fit than Lagerfeld, I think, whose design sense has always had a certain rarefied elegance that may have been dulled slightly by the compromises of mass production. But Jacobs's magpie, vintage-inspired aesthetic would suit the disposability of the clothes, especially since one of his gifts is taking offhand, throwaway-seeming clothes and making them into statements all their own. Someone give that man a pile of cash and get him started!)

However, not all designers seemed eager to participate in the new arena. From WWD:

Plenty of designers seemed downright uncomfortable even talking about the topic, with the likes of Nicolas Ghesquière, Rei Kawakubo, Miuccia Prada and Angela Missoni all declining to comment on the prospect of an H&M stint. Via a spokesman, Giorgio Armani said he harbors “no point of view” on the subject.

Highly ironic, considering that Armani is probably the most massive design brand of them all.

Posted by Kat in Shopping
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