Ashish for Topshop
I was thinking about collaborations between designers and high street labels, and wondering if maybe one day these products will be worth more because of the designer label attached to them. There has been many of these collaborations lately, like: Sonia Rykial and Jimmy Choo both for H&M, Alexander Wang and Jill Sanders for Uniqlo (2009), and now Isabel Toledo for Payless Shoes. All these various collaborations bring each designer statement pieces to the masses at lower affordable prices. For many of us, that cannot afford the prices for the pieces from our desired fashion house, just need to sit back and wait for all the collaborations to come in 2010. This year Topshop has teamed up with many talented designers, the one I am waiting for is Jonathan Saunders, who will showcase trends inspired from his runway show. Other designers like Ashish are showcasing Rihana inspired styles, such as spikey motorbike jackets and harem pants.
What we need to think about concerning these collaborations are wether the quality of the clothing is better due to the fact they are linked to a designer. Will these pieces ever become as valuable as a real Sonia Rykiel or Jimmy Choo piece? Probably not. I am sure many collaborations pieces from Target/Proenza Schouler , just to name one, give you a quick designer fix, but there is nothing like the real thing. We should maybe try to focus on buying quality products from stores we trust, more than simply buying the item for the name and that simply dissapears after its first wash cycle.
