Today’s WSJ brings both tired and shocking news:
The boring news is the Thom Browne for Brooks Brothers collaboration, Black Fleece, will finally hit stores this fall.
The long-awaited alliance has been brewing for over a year, so we know what to expect upon its arrival. Fashionable males will surely snap up Browne’s trademark tight, short suits– just as stylish girls snatched Proenza for Target dresses.
The shocker?
Browne’s Black Fleece line offers dozens of items for women as well, and we’re afraid these pieces will sell slower than Kevin Federline CDs.
Why?
Women are used to seeing designers collaborate for cheaper- than-usual prices (Vera Wang for Kohls, Libertine for Target).
But Browne’s Black Fleece items retail for aristocratic prices. Especially considering what they are.
Maybe we’re being too harsh. But how many women do you know would buy a $4,500 dress made out of gray flannel? Or consider it a wise investment to drop $ 10,000 on a fur cape from Brooks Brothers?
We’re suspect that if you suddenly found thousands of dollars for menswear-inspired fashion, you’d turn to Alexander McQueen or Paul Smith.
Do you agree, or will you covet these Black Fleece pieces like you would the new Harry Potter ?
–NATALIE MATTHEWS