Sunday, March 13, 2011

My Review of Target's GO International Designer Collective


Target's new GO International Designer Collective - celebrating 5 years of designer collaborations - has hit stores and Target. com. Earlier today I was able to view the offerings up close and personal... and my reaction was "meh, OK, but nothing great". If you recall, I was really excited about this Jonathan Saunders polka dot shift dress, which I don't remember from his original collab with the Bullseye. So I did a quick web search, and lo and behold, The Budget Babe had actually reviewed this dress back in 2008, and had the same impression I had: the dress was cute, but the material was super-thin. So thin, in fact, that I could actually see my hand through the black when I held it up to the light. Not good! Needless to say, I put this back on the rack and didn't end up buying it.

As for the other dresses: they were fine, but nothing that I "had to have". The Thakoon, Libertine, Zac Posen and Tucker offerings looked most like their original offerings. Some of the others seemed almost identical to the original releases, but may have had slightly different cuts or fabrics. Perhaps my memory is failing me (as it did with the Saunders' dress) but some of the styles - especially this Erin Fetherston Bunny Print dress - I don't recall seeing before. I can tell you that the "hot seller" at my local Target was the striped Libertine t-shirt dress (shown here) as I saw 3 different gals swoop this up and add it to their cart.

How about you, dear readers? Did you buy anything today from Target's Designer Collective, or do you plan to?

11 comments:

Unknown said...

I agree with you --it was a big MEH...didn't buy a thing.

JsEverydayFashion said...

I totally agree. Lots of cute dresses, but every single one of them had something "wrong" with them, and the prices were too high for the quality.

Check out my blog post/review though. I took pictures of me in the dresses + provide tons of details on each one!

http://www.jseverydayfashion.com/2011/03/review-of-targets-designer-collective.html

SunnyDay said...

I had only one on my mind, the Rogan leopard print. It did not disappoint. It's silk cotton (unlike a lot of the dresses that are polyester which I hate) and seems quite well made. To be honest it's much too short for me to wear as a dress but will make a perfect tunic and I can tuck it into pencil skirts too. The leopard print is great, very pretty and subtle.

Kelly said...

I was surprised by how much I liked the Behnaz Sarafpour lace dress -- lovely quality and not as short as it appeared on the model on target.com. I also loved the Richard Chai satin tuxedo dress. The collabs are fun, and I enjoy stepping outside of my comfort zone a little when the prices are right... BTW, did you notice that there's a "bonus" Thakoon dress on the web site that doesn't appear in stores? Wonder what the story is there...

Lou said...

The collection didn't show up at my local Target. :( However, I have the bunny dress by Erin Fetherston, so I know it was in the original collection. Just FYI. :)

lori weitzel said...

http://loriweitzel.blogspot.com/2011/03/march-13-2011-target-go-international.html

my illustrated 2 cents

Target Addict said...

Kelly: no, I did not notice the "bonus" Thakoon dress on Target.com, but will look for it.

Desert Flower: you have a good point about the Rogan dress being made of silk/cotton... and now you have me thinking about picking it up as a tunic.

And Lou: thanks for the FYI on the Bunny Dress!

Marie said...

I am totally excited, but I think maybe only one since not all of the ones released were my faves the first time, I do like the black Alice Termperley though it is tres short.
Marie @ Lemondrop ViNtAge

camelia said...

i bought the alice temperly crepe dress in black, great design and material

NotoriousALG said...

I picked up two dresses for a co-worker, the Libertine tunic (which was sold-out in the store, but I found online) and the Temperley crepe. My sister got the other Temperley with the ruffle collar, which I loved. It is see-through, however. I tried on the Tracy Feith white ruffle dress (WAY too tight across the chest) and the Proenza Schouler palm print, which fit weird. Ended up with the Liberine black shift with the white at the collar.

mommydearest said...

Hmm, I wasn't interested until Desert Flower pointed out the Rogan dress is cotton/silk (hi, DF!) Might look for that one