Target Brings Back 20 Years of Designer Collaborations including Missoni and Rodarte

This September will mark the 20th anniversary of Target’s first designer collaboration.   In 1999, Target kicked off it’s series of designer collaborations with architect Michael Graves.  Since then, their collaborations have been either hit or miss, with some chic and cheap collections like Missioni for Target, Altuzzara & Target 3.1 Philip Lim and some misses like Hunter and Marimekko.

Prediction: This Missoni for Target knit dress and tote will sell out all over again.

Some of you may remember that this is not the first time that Target has re-released some of their designer collaborations. In 2011, they bought back some previous designer dresses from Go Collections with mixed results. Some of the dresses contained the same flaws that the original pieces had like poor zippers, uneven sizing and cheap fabrication.  I hope this time, Target pays attention to previous customer reviews and shopper feedback and improves the quality of the pieces.

Some of the designers that will be featured in Targets Design Anniversary Collection this September.

On Sept. 14th, Target is bringing back nearly 300 original, iconic items from 20 past designer partnerships. The limited-edition collection spans apparel, accessories, home décor and kitchen necessities. The Anniversary Collection will be available, while supplies last, Sept. 14 at all Target stores and Target.com, with prices ranging from $7 to $160.

These pieces from the Jason Wu for Target collaboration will hit the racks for a reboot in September. The cat tote is on my shopping list.

Designer collections and items will vary by store and guests may purchase up to five items per size and color. Guests can visit Target.com to preview the offerings and to plan their shopping in advance. Underscoring Target’s commitment to inclusivity, all women’s apparel will include extended sizing.  This is a first for some of the older designer collaborations that Target did as they didn’t feature women’s plus sizing and many of them were sized only for Juniors (i.e. The Target Go Collections like Zac Posen and Rodarte.)

Images from Target’s Designer collection reboot featuring Anna Sui, Jason Wu, Lilly Pulitzer, Phillip Lim and more.

If you’ve seen the Target ads in the Vogue September issue, models of all ages and sizes are featured in the fold-out ad along with some of Target’s greatest hits from previous collaborations. Most of the previous collaborations were sell-outs for Target, so I think we can expect to see some of that same shopping frenzy, hoarding and of course the inevitable eBay resales.  Some of the pieces from the original collections are still for sale on eBay. It will be interesting to see if those sell when the new designer retrospective launches from Target.

This “Gossip Girl” inspired Anna Sui dress is coming back to Target Sept. 14th.

So what can you expect on September 14th?  The design partners featured in the Anniversary Collection are listed below along with links to my previous reviews of the collaborations to help you pick wisely from the offerings:

• Michael Graves (1999-2013)
• Philippe Starck (2002)
• Stephen Sprouse (2002)
• Isaac Mizrahi (2003-2009)
• Erin Fetherston (2007)
• Proenza Schouler (2007)
• Thakoon (2008)
• John Derian (2008, 2010)
• Anna Sui (2009)
• Rodarte (2009)
• Stephen Burrows (2010)
• Zac Posen (2010)
• Harajuku Mini (2011-2012)
• Missoni (2011)
• Jason Wu (2012)
• Phillip Lim (2013)
• Altuzarra (2014)
• Lilly Pulitzer (2015)
• Marimekko (2016)
• Hunter (2018)

What do you think readers, will you stay up all night to buy these items from Target before their website crashes (which is inevitable I think) or before the stores sell-out?  Below are a few of my favorites from Target’s Designer Anniversary Collection.