Designer Zac Posen Busts a Budget Move in the US

Pictured: Its not the Hollywood Red Carpet, its Zac Posen for Target Australia. Photo courtesy of Fashionising.com website from the 2008 Melbourne Fashion Week runway show.

Designer Zac Posen is the latest designer in the US market to cross over to the budget brigade of designers looking to sell lower-priced fashions in today’s er, “challenging” economy. Recently it was announced that Zac would be the next designer for Target’s Go Line. He has also announced a new line called “Z Spoke” to be sold at Saks Fifth Ave this Spring. Needless to say, some of the pieces of the line sold at Target will probably be lower priced than the line sold at Saks. Just a hunch. This go round is not Zac’s first foray into the budget fashion ranks. I learned today from reading the intrepid Target Addict blog, that Zac had a line in 2008 for Target Australia. Naturally, I needed to consult with my good friend, and Australian Recessionista, Fiona about the quality of the Australian collection he did for Target. As you can see from the photo above, Zac’s Target Australian line was quite luxe. Some of the dresses were similar to items I’ve seen Demi Moore and Natalie Portman wear from his high-end line. Here is what The Recessionista’s down under correspondent, Fiona had to say, and you can judge for yourself by checking her comments against the photos below from his previous collection. I think she is “spot on” as they say.

“To be honest it didn’t really fly off the shelves, and wasn’t to my taste. However, the fabrics were beautiful and of very good quality, lovely colours, purples, oranges, and intricate prints and pleats. I think the designs and the range were a little too ‘over the top’ and a little complicated for this market, but it is always great to see our friends at Target bring new and exciting things to our shores – send more please”, notes Fiona Smith. “Check the photos of the Target Runway collection for Australia – not all items were available in all stores. The little orange dress with heavy embellishment around the neck was really cute.”

Pictured: Zac Posen for Target Australia Orange dress with jeweled collar. Photo courtesy of Fashionising.com website.

Pictured: More snaps from the Zac Posen for Target Australia

Looking at the pictures, the dresses are beautiful but they are replicas of his couture fashions (price range, $900 to $20,ooo USD) that many of us won’t have the opportunity to wear. I’ll be anxious to see if his Target US line will feature as many evening/special occasion looks. Readers, if you wanted a full-length evening gown, would you think of Target? We won’t know until April 25, 2010 when it hits the racks. The US line will be sized for juniors, whereas the Australian collection was in grown-up, women’s sizes.

Meanwhile, “Z Spoke” will definitely be a more casual look. Zac has noted it will be a 61 piece collection of ““chic sportswear.” The sportswear will hit the Saks floor in Spring 2010. Interesting, there will be “dueling” Zac lower priced fashions hitting the streets at about the same time. So many choices……