Jean Paul Gaultier for Target Off to a Confoundingly Good Start

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If ever there was a Target collaboration that we wanted to love, it was this one. Jean Paul Gaultier first entered our sartorial lexicon with the horizon-busting film, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (starring a super-gorgeous Helen Mirren). Although it's been many years since one would be able to properly call his designs cutting-edge, we love his playful sensibility and the imminent wearability of most of his designs.

Um, yeah. Well, maybe we'll love the Cynthia Vincent for Target shoes when they surface, but the JPG for Target collection was significantly?

We started off at the Glendale Target, to see what was what. It was a big non-event: at 8:10, clearly no one had been there or purchased any of it. As soon as we saw the yellow dress, our heart sank. Although it's meant to convey a youthful, sexy, playful vibe, it's?we don't want to use incendiary, inflammatory adjectives, so we'll say objectively that it looked and felt like it was made out of a disposable tablecloth that one might find at a picnic. The little black dress was similar. It pains us to say, but the tattoo-motif items did, in fact, remind us of Ed Hardy. And maybe it's just us, working in digital media, but we keep looking at the shirts with the big eyeball and the JPG in big letters and read it as "JPEG".

Just for kicks, we drove to the WeHo Target to check out the action there: it was a miniature scene. at 8:50 am, about 10 girls were circling the already-picked over racks, waiting for the Target crew to replenish them. As they fawned over the fuchsia lingerie-inspired dress and the leather motorcycle jacket with the maroon accents, we had one of those "Emperor's New Fugs" moments.

We GET the idea behind fast-fashion and collabs: it's a way for designers to reach out to a new audience; to do something very of-the-moment and different; and it's a low-impact way for consumers to up the ante on their style. But this stuff all seems so disposable and not even as well made as the other Target house labels. We're sure it will sell out anyway.
· Not Recommended for Adults: Jean Paul Gaultier for Target [Racked]
· All Collabs Coverage [Racked]