Vera Wang Jumps on the El Cheapo Bandwagon! (And Possibly Jumps the Shark?)

Vera Wang is the next in a now-long line of celebresigners to go down market (NOT that there's anything necessarily wrong with that, as I LOVE my Paul and Joe for Target polo top!)



... As she just announced her partnership with Kohl's, where she'll bring her goodies to the huddled masses.

But, possibly due to lack of direct interactive experience, I don't have much love for Kohl's. All I really know about it is if you rearrange the letters, you get "Shlock" (minus the C, but still). And Vera Wang's goods don't really strike me as the type of stuff that the public NEEDS! Of course, I'm willing to be proven wrong.

Yet check out this quote from Ms. Wang herself:

"Wang said that 'it has troubled' her for quite a while not to be able to offer her designs to all women. 'We have been quite elitist in terms of price points,' she said. (Word -- ed.)

The designer added that she doesn't believe expanding her designs to a midprice retailer such as Kohl's will taint her reputation as a designer, citing names like Ralph Lauren and Giorgio Armani, both of whom have developed fashion empires that have appealed to a broad base of shoppers.

'In all honesty, I have weighed everything,' she said. But what's important is that there's good quality, trust and value at all levels of merchandise, she said."

Uh... Armani may have created a line of department store jeans, but he also created an entire brand of more affordable, accessible apparel. Vera's simply hocking her crap at the nearest Gold Circle! Something tells me the woman hasn't lost much sleep over the fact that the unwashed can't afford her froufy gowns. I smell a rat. And by rat, I mean BLATANT e-zee revenue opportunity!