While America waits with bated breath on the big bail out bill; it’s clear we’re entering a new era. I’ve always been a secret Target addict and am so excited about the line Anya Hindmarch designed for them- I’ve never purchased any bags there but look how cute these are! The bags look similar to her designer collection, but at a tiny, I mean eensy beensy, fraction of the price. Love the Shirley but can’t fork out the dough? Check out the Target version for $44.95!
See the preview now on Anya’s site. The collection launches on October 12th– I have a nice, new and shiny Target near me and I’ll be grabbing some of these to send to my friends overseas who are Target obsessed!
Anya Hindmarch’s collection for Target seems very well done! I wasn’t too crazy about the Target Botkier bags or the Gryson ones, but this seems very promising. I am so getting the Shirley a la Target!
I feel the same! I would not have featured it here otherwise… this is a first for us– Target bags on Bag Snob– but only because Anya didn’t waver from her usual design aesthetics!
These look nice…..
Tina~~~Have you seen the new Chloe~~(Paraty bag?)
what do you think about it?? I think I might like the white python version…
Thx…
B.xo
If the faux patent looks good then this is a definitely a good back to have for days when you wouldn’t to put one of your favorites or an investment back at risk. I will definitely be stopping by Target in October to take a look for myself!
I got one of the bags in the preview for online customers today but there are none left now. I will let you know what it’s like when it arrives tomorrow.
You know, this is the perfect rainy day bag!
This is what I wanted for Target. Designer bags that look like the premier line, but for less. Hopefully the craftmanship will be up to par. I was so disappointed with the Gryson line because they were so atrocious (shoddy work and STIFF leather). So disappointed that I won’t even buy the actual label.
I’m like that. Transference. Sorry.
Guess I’ll be in the major minority when I express my disappointment in a luxury brand selling out to lower price segments. I just don’t understand how creating $45 handbags (which probably cost $5 in materials, without the traditional mark-up) is considered luxury.
I simply adore Anya’s designs, but now am saddened by mortalizing the bags to everyone. But, I guess we all need to make a buck…or a thousand of them.
I appreciate your point, but this happens all the time in a variety of ways and it just comes down to the economics of doing business. If a brand is going to do it, I don’t see why going for a limited range in Target is a bad idea if the brand says true to its design aesthetic and also manages to convince its customers (including its core customers) that not only have its brand values not been compromised, but look, you’re getting a bargain! You have to admit; it’s one hell of a sell.
It’s certainly better than trying to do the same thing by tolerating a certain amount of counterfeiting because it’s seen as a form of brand promotion. (You know the sort of thinking that goes on – you can tell our brand is successful because everyone wants to rip it off?) People are happy to buy those bags, despite the fact that counterfeits finance crime (or worse), so that they can have the look of a major brand that they often can not afford.
Or what about the luxe brands who run diffusion lines which apparently solely consist of their names or most recognisable motif stamped across fabric or transparent plastic bags? How is that any different?
In the end, sometimes people just want the look without the major investment. If a bag costs more than your monthly mortgage or rent payment, then I have to wonder why you’re buying it unless you have major savings to cover the cost and for some people a mainstream Anya bag at $1000 a go would fall into that category. So, if you ran a major luxe brand, would you be thinking, “I’ll just kiss goodbye to ever getting any of their money” or would you be thinking about a limited diffusion range? Frankly, in the current economic climate, wouldn’t you just be thanking your lucky stars that you can parlay some of your brand equity into some actual cash without it costing you too much?
I would also like to point out that buying a line from a designer at Target is much better than buying a knock off!
Fashion belongs to everyone, at every price point. Now people can afford Anya’s great styles at low prices.
I think it’s brilliant!
Wow–love how this post spurred such an interesting debate. I agree that a little bit of well-placed discount product does no mortal harm to the brand–and Target has proven itself a good venue for such things. Also, I wonder what aesthetic, conceptual effects the economic situation will breed along these lines. The very fact that we’re discussing what defines “luxury” begs the question….
Yes, I guess the definition of luxury differs for all. For me, it is wanting, having & enjoying things not available to all. Price, style, colour aren’t as relevant as pedigree, exclusivity, and privy. I’m guess I’m an old-fashioned, anti-mass production type of gal.
My thoughts exactly Tina, I would rather buy Anya’s bags from shay-tarjay (target) then buy a knock-off, I think its nice for peeps that cant afford high end bags to be able to buy something like this at a lower price, everyone deserves to be Chic after all…
I totally agree with Tina about not buying knock-offs. In Italy, they now fine the people who buy the fakes rather than the street vendors who sell them in an effort to stop the trade. Good thing too, I say.
Anyway, the fact that an item is expensive or that it has a limited circulation doesn’t always make it fabulous. I’d rather have an Anya Target bag than the bleedin’ awful Chanel tee-peepee tent or the “I sat on my lap dog” bag that Kelly featured this morning. Apologies if anyone else liked them, but I didn’t.
I don’t think that the aesthetic will change that much, unless everyone embraces eco-beige miserabilism as a counter-reaction to the sins of indulgent consumption. If anything it will be more sumptuous.
Look at the last Great Depression (which btw, since the failure of the US bail-out plan is what some of tomorrow’s UK newspapers are now calling the credit crunch – gotta sell those papers).
People may not have been able to afford much but they went to the pictures and watched debonair men and slinky women in long, silky, highly impractical dresses lounge about, which must have been about as far from their everyday reality as you could imagine.
And after the war, when most of Europe was still on rationing and wearing the dullest, most utilitarian clothes imaginable, Dior released the fantastical New Look. How women must have yearned for it!
Waugh wrote Brideshead Revisited in 1945 and set it in (what appeared in retrospect to be) the gilded, halcyon 20’s. Years later he complained that having written it during rationing, he had described the food and atmosphere too richly so that re-reading it made him like he was cramming himself on a full stomach (although of course, he put it far more elegantly).
When times are hard, people dream.
I hope that Anya’s bags are better quality than Gryson or Devi Kroell. Those were incredibly disappointing. I am a huge Target fan and excited to see Anya’s version. In pictures they look very chic…
xoxo
I have been meaning to write about that bag. I like it! The black python is fab but in white will be amaaaaaaazing!
“Fashion belongs to everyone, at every price point.”
Thank you. Sometimes I read these blogs and really feel like I’m never going to be able to have the fashion that I want. This kind of sentiment reminds me taht doing what I can with the means that I have is still valid. I still save up (over years) for big bag purchases, but having a cheap thrill like these acknowledged as acceptable means a lot to me. So, thanks.
I saw these bags at the Target “Bullsye Bodega” in NYC. A lot of people were buying them, but they looked like cheap plastic to me, not even worth 40 bucks. The smaller clutches were less tacky, but the big bags screamed “plastic!” So much for “I’m not a plastic bag”….
this is a first for the bag snobs! i’m going to check this out once it hits my target. but i’m not promising that i will buy one, though, i might =P
hi…really really need someone to reserved or purchased the target bag for me,coz i’m unlucky to get the bag through online yesterday..the bag it’s really cheap and somehow not available in malaysia,plz anyone reply my emel asap..tq
linda,malaysia
+60122448701
Hi,
I work at Target PartTime as a supplement to my income…anyhoo to my great surprise, I was putting away those items that people place anywhere but where it is supposed to be and ran across a bag that I loved. Repeat, LOVED, before I even saw the designer name!!!! LOL, (I hve the midas touch by the way) It was the “look nine” listed on her site, or the all black on the bottom row under the blk clutch! It is a wonderfully cute bag in person, and I was literally thinking of what outfits I could pair it up with.
Than to my surprise I saw it was a design by ANYA!!! I almost fell over. This was news to me, and I was completely and happily surprised!!! Not to mention I will be using my discount to buy it also.
Anyhoo, I love the bag, I love the design, and I love the fact that she stayed true to her own unique style and did not compromise design.
Thanks Anya!!!
P.S., those Botkier bags are GAWFUL!!!! just hideous.
hi,i leave my comment regarding the target bag,plz plz plz could anyone can reserved or buy it for me,plz emel me at adnil_2210@yahoo.com so i can transfer ur money back,plz plz again coz the target bag not available in malaysia !!!
plz anyone,somebody give me some sympathy !!!
linda -+60122448701
I just bought the clutch today on a whim. Been disappointed so many times but Anya’s was more decent than Gryson or Botkier and especially Hollywould (the worst IMO).
The clutch seemed the most decent out of the entire collection (plus I needed one). Almost got the a la Shirley shoulder bag but I want to wait for the brown and black version. I would have gotten the slim shoulder bag too (a la Lautner?) but the straps won’t stay flat with the hardware so they looked flimsy. The bag itself wasn’t bad though.
I think this should be given a chance as it is better than its predecessors. 🙂
Linda,
Just saw your comment here. In case you haven’t found a way to get the bag yet, you can check these websites out:
http://del14.blogspot.com
http://www.mytrueoriginal.com
They can help get you the bag, although at a higher price. Alternatively, you can always check out ebay.
I love the quote “Fashion belongs to everybody at every price” is it yours Tina? It sums up what my store is about because we carry $50 handbags as well as $1,200 handbags. We believe a woman can be stylish on any budget. I might like to use it with your permission of course.
I purchased the “Look Nine” bag last year, just because it was stylish. Had never heard of Anya and her collections. To my surprise I received countless compliments on it. I LOVE, LOVE this bag, I have carried it so much that’s it’s now beginning to tear along the handles, but I admit that’s through my own fault. I have small kids and carry EVERYTHING in my purse/bag. But because it has held up so well, I would like to buy another one. (or two…one for my sister)I have tried a number of Target’s in the Chicagoland area, but NO ONE has this bag. I have even tried TARGET.COM, and to no avail. Does anyone know what Target’s may have this bag??? I am willing to travel to get it.