Rant: Dumbing it Down

As a continuation of my rant about "celebrity fashion lines" (see below), I would like to briefly mention how enraged I become at the sight of designer lines at Kohl's, Target, and H&M.

The best way I can describe my feelings are as follows: It's like Beethoven writing a jingle for toothpaste. Yes, it allows everyone to enjoy his music, but it's not really his music anymore. What made it beautiful and exceptional and unique was its opulence.

To me, Kate and Laura Mulleavy making shitty clothes for Target and calling them "Rodarte" is the same. Yes, it means that lower income (hell, average income people) can afford to wear Mulleavy designs. But in this case, what it really means is that you get a poorly sewn, shapeless dress made out of some of the most uncomfortable and unflattering fabric available. This is not Rodarte. Rodarte is magic. It is innovative and fresh. It involves strangely flattering cuts and perfectly draped fabrics. It is not a boxy dress made out of frizzy mesh. To me, it is a tragedy for these women to take their incredible talents and dumb them down, settling for imperfections in the name of accessibility.

I don't mean to harp on the Rodarte girls alone. Anyone who has tried on anything from Vera Wang's collection for Kohl's knows what I'm talking about. Roberto Cavalli did some pretty awful things for H&M too. Shame on you all.

That said, it's not all bad. I would like to give a big shout out to Zac Posen, who made some amazingly well-fitting dresses out of an affordable and comfortable jersey fabric for Target - one of which I happily purchased and flaunt in the summer. And from what I saw of Elber Albaz's Lanvin collection for H&M, he did his line and his talents justice. [Disclaimer: I didn't get to the store in time to sample the clothes myself before they sold out, so this opinion is solely based on a lookbook found on Fashionista. But man those clothes looked pretty!]

Thoughts? Have you ever bought a designer look for less and loved it?