McQ = Confusing

I’m going to post tomorrow’s post today as I am in back-to-back meetings at work on Monday and will most likely not be able to break away to “blog”. Today I checked out the McQ for Target Collection (by Alexander McQueen) at my local store… which had put it out several days early, since the official debut date is not slated until March 4th. And frankly, what I saw was confusing at best. Yes, the line has a definitive “rocker” slant to it, which appeals to a certain personality of shopper. That I fully understand. I guess I was expecting more, though, from a designer who is supposed to be so “cutting edge”.

The printed t –shirts were pretty boring. Nothing new or anything I hadn’t already seen by Target’s in-house brands (like LOL Vintage, which has some great offerings for $10 and under). The dresses were, to be honest, fairly cheap looking for the price-point of $69.99. There was a very plain sleeveless, collared black button-down shirt that looked like it could have been churned out by Merona (at $26,99, I believe). And the one piece I actually liked – a black glazed-finish belted-trench with tab collar – was just ALL WRONG upon trying it on. For some reason, it was unexplainably boxy in shape, even when the belt was cinched. And the sleeves were just a really odd length; not full-length, and not ¾ length, either, while in a weird pegged-shape (narrowing at the wrist). Did they used to call that “bracelet length” back in the day? I’m not sure, and will need to check with my mom. All I know is that it was NOT flattering on.

There was also the smattering of tiny-weeny bikinis (just like Thakoon had) as well as several pairs of leggings (again, I’ll pass). I can totally see this line being a success with the VERY young set – the ones that shop at American Apparel. Or, then again, it might be considered as “trying to hard” and be a complete flop. Only time will tell, but over at Racked.com they reported that the McQ line hit NYC last week, and that so far the department was a ghost town.