Department store chic

To those in the know, this news will be a few days old, but I am still excited by the fact that Stella McCartney has designed a winter range for Target, and yes, for Australian stores (in selected stores from March 12)! "I wanted the collection for Target to reinterpret all the 'best ofs' and 'must-haves' of Stella McCartney for winter and make my designs more accessible to a wider audience in Australia," she said in a statement. I personally can't wait to get my hands on one of her swing coats. Stella is no stranger to designing for other labels, last year launching a range for Adidas and H&M.

When the Designers for Target program launched last season, Sydney stores were immediately bombarded by fashionistas desperate to bag themselves a designer bargain. I myself, went to purchase two of the beautiful Alice McCall dresses but alas, the Bondi Junction store had sold out of all designs almost the day they arrived! Feeling somewhat depleted that I'd missed out on adding some of her lovely dresses to my wardrobe for a third of the price, I returned home.

But being the little investigator I am, I thought "no, I'm not going to stop there!". My editor was searching Ebay to find herself one of the dresses, but they had all been marked up by clever girls who saw a chance to make some money! I needed to find somewhere out of the city, somewhere where the girls weren't so switched on about these things, and also somewhere where people still knew Target to be a regular department store. I knew I could rely on good 'ol Sunshine Plaza at Maroochydore.

So I sent my wonderful mother up to the shops with specific instructions about the designs, colours and size I was after (and also orders from my colleagues, just on the off chance they would still have size eights left). Luckily for me, there was indeed one each of the dresses I wanted, and both in size 12 - it was fate! When that package arrived at work two days later, I was very pleased with myself. But also sorry for my colleagues who had missed out!

It started with chain store chic - with Madonna's range for H&M, Viktor & Rolf for H&M, Kit Willow for Portmans in Oz, and Kate Moss currently designing a range for Topshop in the UK. Now it's all about department store chic. Target in the USA has been upmarket for a while now, including ranges from designers such as Luella Bartley, for oh so cheap. Now it seems, the trend is coming here, and I couldn't be happier. Big W even has a glossy lift out in this month's Cosmopolitan with designs in all the top trends for the Autumn/Winter season.

So get the look for less!

Notes on Glossy Paper