Fashion or Whatever: Designer collaborations still too costly for students

In all honesty, I’m embarrassingly more frugal than the average college student.

I use coupons at Ralphs to the point that my groceries cost nothing, I amble toward free samples at Costco and I often find myself using spare change to pay for most purchases. Even my own mother is embarrassed by my uncouth ways.

However, my frugality is broken at the mere mention of designer collaborations.
Designer collaborations are collections that the most talented designers in the fashion industry create for a mass retailer to be sold in the retailer’s stores for a fraction of their normal cost. Using the retailer’s selected fabrics and style guidelines, designers create mass-market versions of their clothes to tempt young simpletons like me into haphazardly handing over credit cards.

Mass-market designers have ranged from design duo Proenza Schouler for Target to Chanel genius Karl Lagerfeld for H&M. With retailers such as Target, H&M, Topshop and even Walmart snatching up designers to collect for them left and right, even broke college students can afford something that has been created by a great designer.

My closet is indicative of my being able to afford mass-market designer fashion, and it is a seven-layer nacho dive into designer collaboration deals in the past.

There’s the black Proenza Schouler dress from Target that I snatched off the rack at half-off, the Viktor & Rolf for H&M top that I bought without thinking that it was essentially an overpriced T-shirt and then there’s the Rodarte for Target dress that I subtly and cunningly hinted to my friend that I wanted for my birthday.

I lost interest in purchasing designer collaborations for a while, which was a relief on my wallet. With celebrities getting in on the collaboration bandwagon, such as Madonna”˜s line for H&M and her unforgiving white tracksuits, and the overdone Kardashians for Bebe line, the shock of discovering that a designer has agreed to do a mass-market collection has simmered down from wild giddy yelps to a monotone exclamation of “Oh, really?” from me.

Those giddy yelps are coming back, though. With the upcoming Lanvin for H&M collection coming later this November and Target’s announcement of an all-star 34-piece collection, called “Designer Collective” with designers they have collaborated with in the past, my eyes have glazed over with disturbing visions of the designers’ names flashing in my eyes, from Rodarte to Proenza Schouler to Lanvin and Luella Bartley. In the words of celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe, “I die.” (Not literally, figuratively.)

While I sound like a broken record that plays nothing but noise remixed with some annoying keyboard interludes of fashion euphoria, I do acknowledge the pitfalls of cheap designer clothes, most notably to the college student’s bank account. When you’re buying that cute Zac Posen for Target red ruffle dress that looks like Elmo instead of paying for URSA, $79.99 adds up.

It’s the question of necessity versus frivolity. When it comes to having your URSA account frozen and classes dropped versus, say, getting that leopard print lace dress from Rodarte for Target, the choice should be obvious, even when that very dress is selling out like steaming hotcakes.

As I mulled over the latest designer collaboration this past weekend at the Target in West Hollywood, I decided to pass over the adorable Mulberry bags at a sliver of the actual cost of the real deal. Because when it comes to it, my inherent frugality wins over.

However, when those prices drop to half-off, I’m totally going to buy those Mulberry bags by the bulk.

If you love designer collaborations but have gone broke over them, e-mail Jue at [email protected].

“Fashion or Whatever” runs every Wednesday.