Who's Target's next guest designer? No one you've ever heard of...

Is the high-profile designer collab a thing of the past? Maybe, considering that Target's current collab is with the little known Peter Pilotto brand, and their next partnership is even more obscure. This time around, Target is turning to Pinterest for design inspiration. The retailer announced today that it's working on party-planning collections with a trio of "top pinners" on Pinterest — Joy Cho of Oh Joy!, Jan Halverson of Poppytalk and Kate Arends of Wit & Delight. The limited-edition products - to launch throughout 2014 - will include party décor, paper products and serving pieces.

“Pinterest is such a popular destination for entertaining inspiration, so we’re partnering with the platform’s top tastemakers to bring their inspiration to life through beautifully designed party collections,” stated Rick Gomez, Target's senior vice president of marketing.  “We are proud of Target’s pioneering efforts in the design space and this collaboration is the first-of-its-kind in retail.”

Cho's collection, inspired by a modern garden party, will debut online and in stores March 16. It will include everything from whimsical banners and sparkly party hats to gold-rimmed cups that range in price from $3 to $25. Halverson's collection will launch in June, followed by Arends' collection in September.

My short review of Peter Pilotto...

As mentioned yesterday, I didn't set my alarm to be first in line to buy Peter Pilotto for Target. I did, however, make my way to my local Target store later in the day, and snapped a pic of the collab (shown here). As you will see, the racks (at least while I was there) were fully stocked and organized. I did see a few women circling the racks and picking stuff up to try on, but they seemed hesitant; perhaps the loud patterns and mixed-prints might be a turn-off for some shoppers.

As for the sizing: I didn't personally try anything on, but the rash guards in size XS and S seemed so tiny that they looked like child sizes, whereas some of the dresses seemed more generously sized. Regarding quality: the soldout strapless dress is made of a substantial jacquard fabric, as is the moto jacket, and both look more expensive in person. Some of the tops, however - like the purple floral and red print - are made of a flimsy cotton/rayon/spandex mix that don't look like they'll hold up after multiple washings.

The best of the bunch, IMO, are the beach bags. They're big, colorful and functional. My store only had one one left, so this might end up being one of the more popular items. And a quick check of Target.com shows that the black/white print one is already soldout online.

Goodwill hunting...

Looking for Nate Berkus for Target home decor that's sold out of your local store? Try hunting for it at your local Goodwill. This rattan lamp (shown here - sold minus the lamp shade) seems sold out of most Target stores, although it's still available online for $27.48 (which is 50% off of the regular price of $54.99). But I saw several at my local Goodwill store this weekend for just $13.99.  I also saw plenty of these black & gold throw pillows (still full-priced at $19.99 online) for just $4 each! I also spied other Nate Berkus items at deep discounts. The caveat is that not all Goodwill stores seem to get Target merchandise - and some stores get more inventory than others - so you really have to shop around.

Peter Pilotto not an "instant sellout" like past Target collabs...

Until I logged onto Target.com this morning (to check out their Weekly Ad) I actually forgot that Peter Pilotto for Target was debuting today. As previously mentioned, I'll be sitting this one out, but Racked.com reports that two items from the collab are already sold out: the strapless dress and the moto jacket (shown here). My quick check of Target.com also shows the colorblock blazer as sold out. But other than that, most (if not all) other items seem to still be available in an array of sizes.

Throwback Thursday: Proenza Schouler vs. Peter Pilotto

I've written before how some of Target's guest designers end up mimicking each other's designs. For instance: last year's Prabal Gurung line featured a shirtdress that closely copied the stylings of the previous season's Kirna Zabete one. So here's another example in honor of "Throwback Thursday": on the left is the Proenza Schouler for Target bustier top from 2009, and on the right is the Peter Pilotto for Target version for 2014. Both are similar with their mixed prints/colors and contrast piping, except that the upcoming Pilotto version is cropped and is actually a bikini top.

Target to transition to chip-enabled smart cards...

Target announced this week that they are accelerating plans to implement smart card technology designed to dramatically reduce the threat of credit and debit card fraud. Target will equip its proprietary REDcards and all of its store card readers in the U.S. with chip-enabled (EMV) smart-card technology by early 2015, more than six months ahead of previous plans. The accelerated effort is part of a $100 million project to put in place chip-enabled technology in all of Target’s U.S. Stores.

Chip-enabled smart cards contain a tiny microprocessor chip that encrypts transaction data shared with sales terminals used by merchants. As a result, even if the card number is stolen in a data breach, the thieves cannot counterfeit the card. Similar technology already use in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia has drastically reduced the incidence of fraud for consumers at physical store locations.

The United States is one of the last industrialized countries to migrate to EMV, but this is about to change, as American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa have all unveiled their plans to migrate the U.S. to EMV by October 2015.

Prepping for Peter Pilotto...

Racked.com has posted a helpful guide to shopping the Peter Pilotto for Target collab (which, as a reminder, debuts on Feb. 9th). It contains the usual tips of mapping out what you want ahead of time (by scoping out the lookbook) and shopping online as soon as the collab hits Target.com (which - in the wake of Target's recent security breach - some folks may think twice about). As an alternative, you can shop in store... although not all Target stores will be carrying the line, so it's best to check beforehand whether your local outlet will stock it. Or you can try Net-A-Porter, which will be carrying some - but not all - of the collab.

As for me: I'll be skipping this collab, as the styles look a bit too young (and the prints are a bit too wild) for my tastes.