Advertising Works

Coloribus

Recently the Peter Pilotto x Target lookbook images emerged throughout the inter-webs, this being the latest round of Target's designer collaborations. I found myself being sucked into the images, while mentally adding up a pending total. I wasn't anywhere near as excited as Phillip Lim for Target or Isabel Marant for H&M, however I'll likely still be at Target come February 9th despite my better judgement.

Designer collaborations elicit a range of emotions, making me feel as if I suffer from dissociative identity disorder. From avid excitement, disgust, and overall emptiness - one trip to Target could really run the gamut. Angry women emoting with carts overfilled and racks that have been completely ransacked, as I would stand empty handed in utter disbelief. These women are a rare breed that only come out of hibernation come any designer collaboration, they are all about their eBay markup. They are there every time, any city. (varying dramatization) I put myself through this feeling every time, as if these ladies were singlehandedly eradicating every spec of excitement I had expressed prior.

 There are only three places to go after feeling this shocked emptiness: a. to order online b. another store of the same variety c. the grocery store. After Phillip Lim for Target, I went online, as well as instructed my mother to go to a less aware thus less hectic target. During Missoni for Target I went to not one but four different Targets within the span of a few hours. After I left H&M empty handed during the Isabel Marant launch, I went to the grocery store. I wanted nothing but to sulk, wander the aisles and remind myself that the average shopper is still some what cordial.

Thinking back on my various designer collaborations, most pieces land in the never been worn category, with few exceptions. Dresses, tops, shoes, bathing suit, scarf - the list is lengthy yet in the moment these were all items I deemed necessary to feel fulfilled. While I don't wear these things, I can't  get rid of them. They are materialistic physical memories from moments in time.

I don't know why it took me so long to notice that I volunteer myself for this same trap every time, ultimately the advertising works - every time. These collaborations act as the psychological climax of high-low dressing. Physically you are wearing mass manufactured quality garments plastered with a name insiders are familiar with, but mentally you're initiated into fashion, you belong. Thus mass retailers will continue to prove value in their collaborations, as human nature craves acceptance - and that style will never fade.