A compendium of our favourite secondary lines from high-end fashion designers.

Oh Joy: 3.1 Philip Lim At Target In Canada Right Now!

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For the first time, Canadian fashionistas can indulge in Target’s fabulous designer diffusion collections right on their home turf—and oh joy: 3.1 Philip Lim is the introductory line.

3.1+PhillipLim forTarget

CHEAP & CHIC | Love the bags; love the scarves; love the lingerie, coats and dresses. I love almost everything about Philip Lim’s highly wearable diffusion collection for Target, which Racked.com so perfectly pointed out in pictures is pulled straight from the fashion designer’s award-winning 3.1 line. Most of all, though, I love the fact that I don’t need to drive over the border if I want first crack at the best of it. Read more

Holt Renfrew has teamed up Pal Smith to make some very classy mittens for a very good cause.

Paul Smith’s Charity Mitts For Movember

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Holt Renfrew has teamed up with Paul Smith to make some pretty classy mittens for a very good cause.

Holt Renfrew has teamed up Pal Smith to make some very classy mittens for a very good cause.

 

GET TO GIVE | Do real men wear mittens? I don’t know, but real women do. I could totally see myself mittening manfully (thanks Dylan Thomas) on all sorts of doors wearing these stripped hand warmers designed by—that’s right, you guessed it—Britain’s coolest menswear designer Paul Smith. Smith’s mittens, produced exclusively for Holt Renfrew as a Movember fundraiser to help support men’s health causes, come in three colour-ways and two sizes, the smaller one being most likely to fit my dainty lady hands. Read more

Now For Something Completely Different

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High-fashion rebel Martin Margiela moves down market with a wonderfully unconventional collection for H&M. (LOOKBOOK)

Martin Margiela for H&M

 

 

CULT FASHION ALERT | I’m a grown-up woman with grown-up kids and I can’t believe I just called my local mall to ask about the protocol for camping outside overnight. Because that’s exactly what I’ll need to do if I expect to acquire a single piece of the—“wonderfully weird and wearable,” to quote WWD—clothing from Maison Martin Margiela debuted at select H&M stores November 2012.

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Tory Burch + FEED bag - Holt Renfrew

Grab These Tory Burch + FEED Bags At Holts

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These totes amazing burlap bags designed by Tory Burch are priced to fly off the shelves.

Tory Burch + FEED bag - Holt Renfrew

 

LOOK GOOD/DO GOOD | As someone who considers herself (at least somewhat) socially conscious, fashion forward and value minded, I’m excited for Holt Renfrew’s April 30th launch of limited-edition totes by Tory Burch + FEED. Not only do these casual cross-body bags look good, but buying one of them will do some good too, for the Tory Burch Foundation, which supports the economic empowerment of women, and for FEED, American model Lauren Bush Lauren’s charity dedicated to eliminating world hunger—one child at a time. Read more

DVF Gap for Girls

DVF’s Fashions For Girls Are At The Gap

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Diane von Furstenberg’s new collection for wee-to-tween girls are now at two Gap locations in Metro Vancouver.

DVF Gap for Girls

 

NEW NOW NEXT | If the economic downturn in the U.S. has proven anything, it’s that diffusion collections, clothing lines by top fashion designers for less-expensive off-the-rack shops, are good for business. Witness the recent mad rush to purchase Marni’s collection at H&M or the near panic buying that ensued when Missoni for Target launched last September.

With all the advanced hype, Diane von Furstenberg’s cute-as-a-button collection for wee-to-tween girls, which launches North America-wide today—and will be available for purchase at 8 a.m.  (yes, that early—they promise coffee and sweets!) at the Gap in Park Royal and Oakridge Centre—will undoubtedly trigger a similar outbreak of shopping fever. Read more

Marni H&M

See Marni’s New Collection For H&M

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In a little over two weeks, women will be lining up at H&M around the world for a chance to snag Marni’s spectacular fashion at a bargain price.

Marni H&M

 

SAVE ON CHIC | With a lookbook that surfaced online only days ago, Marni’s new collection for H&M, which will be available in 260 stores worldwide on March 8, has the blogosphere buzzing, and it isn’t just because the international luxury brand, founded by Italian fashion designer Consuelo Castigilioni, has produced the next big high-style low-end line.

Marni’s diffusion collection is considered to be as sophisticated and idiosyncratic as the original fashion, clone clothing and accessories that mimic the Marni you see on the runway. All of which is died-and-gone-to-fashion-heaven news for the arty, discerning, Sofia Coppola types that make up the brand’s fan base. Read more

Versace for H&M

The Body Electric: H&M Collection By Versace

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Donatella Versace went into the company vault for H&M and came out with an homage to her late brother, Gianni: expressive, inexpensive body-con clothing that’s bullish on colour, print and glamour.

Versace for H&M

 

CHEAP & CHIC | One upside of the latest economic downturn is that in the past year high-end fashion designers have been courting low-end buyers with more ardor than ever before. Just last November, frugalistas everywhere were swooning over Lanvin’s diffusion line for H&M. Since then, Macy’s has served up two capsule collections: one from Karl Lagerfeld, the other Giambattista Valli. Last month, Target created a buying frenzy with the release of 400 different products from Missoni; and now H&M is poised to create an even bigger furor on November 17 when their Versace collection goes on sale. Read more

Jil Sander for Uniqlo autumn-winter 2011

How To Get Jil Sander For Uniqlo In Canada

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+J, Jil Sander’s hot fashion for Japanese megabrand Uniqlo, is low-end couture at its finest. Pity these pieces aren’t easily available to Canadians—or are they?

Jil Sander For Uniqlo autumn-winter 2011CHIC + CHEAP | Fashion icon Jil Sander, referred to as the queen of minimalist fashion for her single-minded focus on understated elegance—picture the perfectly tailored pant, the precisely cut coat, the impeccably executed white blouse—will end her three year collaboration with Uniqlo, Japan’s inexpensive high-style-basics chain and Asia’s largest clothing retailer, with the launch of a final (fall/winter) collection on September 7. Read more

Missoni Ballet Flats

Target + 400 Missoni Products = Good Stuff

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Premiering at Target in September, the Italian fashion house known for its knits puts its signature on everything from onesies to two wheelers.

Missoni Ballet FlatsSAVE ON CHIC | Not since Liberty London for Target launched in March 2010 has the big box emporium fallen so head over heals in a huge way for a luxury label—right now Target is madly in love with Missoni. Debuting September 13, Missoni for Target will include a mindboggling array of 400 products bearing the kaleidoscope of colours and unmistakable motifs—chevrons, zigzags, flame stitching and abstract florals—synonymous with the 58-year-old-Italian knitwear giant. Read more

Karl Lagerfeld’s Fashions For Macy’s

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He’s gone high-end with Chanel and low-end with H&M, but can Karl Lagerfeld produce a fashion collection that appeals to middle Americans? We’ll find out August 31.

SAVE ON CHIC | It’s kind of funny to think that Karl Lagerfeld, one of the most influential fashion designers in modern history, the face of Chanel, a man defined by his elitism and snobbery, most likely invented diffusion fashion—clothing lines by top fashion designers for inexpensive off-the-rack shops. Lagerfeld’s groundbreaking 2004 collection for low-end fashion house H&M, every piece of which sold out worldwide in under 60 minutes, unleashed an army of copycat courtiers itching to collaborate with mass-market retailers on low-cost apparel lines, starting a trend that continues unabated. Read more