Worthwhile Escapism - Missoni for Target

The plan was to meet up at 9 am today at our local Target.  Shelly and Miranda were my co-conspirators and partners in crime.  After watching a stream of tweets way past midnight last night, I realized that 9 am may be too late.  I sent the girls a message that we may have to reevaluate the plan and meet up right at store opening.  Miranda entered at 8:04 am and I got there at 8:07.  In those 3 minutes Miranda managed to grab an armful of clothes in our size to try on and we made it to the shoe and accessories section just in the nick of time.  By the time Shelly arrived at 8:20 we were way, way too late to snag any home accessories.  We hear those were the very first to go.  After the excitement of the morning Miranda declared that she needed a nap.

All in all I scored what I loved the most, but most of these items are going back (I was pressed for time and couldn't make a decision).  As a girl that worked for St. John Knits, the second most famous knit house in the world next to Missoni, I've always had a personal fascination with the brand.  A quality knit like Missoni is truly a work of art and I spent so many hours touring the knit factories that I truly appreciate the workmanship.  No doubt the quality of this capsule line holds no comparison to a true Missoni knit, but each piece does carry the classic Missoni graphic elements which are beautiful. 

I am definitely keeping the chevron skirt and the beautiful lurex cardigan.  The skirt's fit is amazing and is the perfect length, and I can imagine wearing that cardigan for years; such a classic.  And both perfectly embody the iconic chevron pattern that is Missoni.  I think I'll take both dresses back though as they are very, very short, as well as the shoes for Taylor pictured above.  The little chevron dress is adorable for her though and she'll wear it for Thanksgiving.  I'm still undecided about the heels and the tights though.  They don't seem that soft or that comfortable.  If you're local and are interested in anything, let me know.  I'd rather a friend get these items than return them to the store for them to land up on ebay, which I think is absolutely ridiculous. 

I saw a bevy of tweets and facebook posts showing a mixture of excitement for the launch and utter dismay and even disgust over the frenzy that was made today.  Target's site crashed almost immediately at 6 am when the items launched online, and as I'm typing this, still seems to be down.  I personally loved the excitement and exhilaration that the launch caused and I genuinely thought it was fun to get so caught up in something.  We are 35 year old woman raising young children, for goodness sake, we deserve a little escape from the mundane that is motherhood for even just an hour. 

The excitement today represented to me all that can be fun about fashion.  I love that a designer collection is suddenly very attainable to the masses.  I love the appreciation for the heritage of a brand.  And I love seeing women looking for opportunities to feel beautiful, and finding it in a simple chevron graphic.  I know a lot of people think it's completely silly and even superficial to get so caught up in fashion, and perhaps it is.  But all this dismay over the importance of fashion and style and clothes and such always makes me think of one of my favorite quotes from The Devil Wears Prada.  It's when Andy scoffs at the Vogue editors agonizing over the choice of a leather belt when to her they all look the same.  Miranda looks down the frames of her Chanel lenses and says this to her:

"This... stuff'? Oh. Okay. I see. You think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select... I don't know... that lumpy blue sweater, for instance because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise. It's not lapis. It's actually cerulean. And you're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves Saint Laurent... wasn't it who showed cerulean military jackets? And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. And then it, uh, filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic Casual Corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room from a pile of stuff."     

So what say you?  Inconsequential silliness, or fun escapism?  How did you view today's madness, or did you even care?  And what should I do about the shoes? :)