Rodarte Misses the Mark for Target

The Mulleavy sisters of Rodarte are the newest design collaborators to offer a lower priced line for Target. Though the collection will not be appearing in stores until December 20th, images from the line have been all over the Internet, ripe with anticipation for the collection's release.

The Cut finally provided a slide show of the collection, and I must say that I was pretty underwhelmed in viewing it. The clothes looked more like Halloween costumes than the artistic, creative frocks we have come to expect from Rodarte. Lace seemed to be a big part of the collection, with the black lacy tights paired with each outfit. I'd much rather have the ripped Rodarte tights from runways of past than that pair! Then there were the mustard cardigans, leopard dresses and belts, lacy cardigans, the blue Swiss dot dress (???), and more leopard and lace. The only pieces that I am remotely interested in trying on are the tulle and lace navy skirt, which could be flattering, and the sequined rib cage dress, just for fun. With the exception of those pieces, I was really disappointed with the collection.

Then again, I've been disappointed with nearly every design collaboration for Target, with the few exceptions being Luella Bartley (back in 2006) and Thakoon. It's fun to wear something affordable from your favorite designer, but if the clothing is cheaply made and undermines the design integrity of the collaborator, what's the point? More than anything, the Go Collections and design collaborations for Target, H&M, Kohl's, etc. further cement that it's not necessarily just the name, but the quality of the craftsmanship behind the apparel that matters. Sure, you can slap the Chanel logo on a cheap black and white tote, but there's nothing even remotely close to Chanel about that bag. It's the same with the knock-offs at Central Park and, sadly, it's been the same story with the recent bridge lines.

When Rodarte was nominated for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund back in 2006 (they were runners-up to Thakoon that year), Kate and Laura dazzled with a vibrant collection of, yes, lace, ruffles, and organza. "In some ways I do feel like we design these dresses for ourselves, because they come from our imagination. And we always kinda live in our imagination," Kate Mulleavy was quoted by Jane Herman in the November 2006 issue of Vogue. The dresses from that collection were certainly dream-weavers- nothing at all like the dresses in the Target collaboration. The more I review their collection from 2006, the less I see of Rodarte in the Target collection.

A slide show pictorial of nine outfits is available on The Cut, so check it out and see what you think about the collection. I'd love to know if you believe the design integrity of Rodarte was upheld in this collection. Hopefully someone other than blogger-of-the-moment Tavi Gevinson is excited about this look book.

I remain skeptical.