Designer discount diffusion lines are nothing new in this day and age. Mass-market collaborations are an important tactic for a high-profile designer to use to broaden his or her consumer base, especially during challenging economic times.
There’s Vera Wang’s Simply Vera collection at Khol’s, Target’s GO International offshoot, Donna Karan’s DKNY, H&M’s much sought-after designer capsule collections, and many more.
Today’s fashionistas still want high fashion, but they are not so keen on its price. It seems like designers are catching on, and are ready to reel customers back in with budget-friendly versions of their runway looks.
Still, these high fashion gone high street routes leave many shoppers leery. A lack of quality and a noticeable difference in original design aesthetic are the reasons why so many diffusion line pieces end up on the clearance rank.
However, downtown chic brand Vena Cava has us getting excited again for this budget-friendly fashion phenomenon.
Viva Vena is the name of Vena Cava designers’ Sophie Buhai and Lisa Mayock’s first exploration of their more commercially competitive side. Like Vena Cava, Viva Vena is edgy, street-ready, and able to easily be reinterpreted with a quick mix and matching of separates.
Buhai and Mayock did not downplay the fashion-forward aesthetic of their original brand when designing Viva Vena. Their signature ethnic graphic prints and sexy silhouettes reemerge in the form of jersey knit dresses, stretchy bandage skirts, and slouchy sweater tops that can fit into any girl’s wardrobe. It’s much more casual and laidback, but nearly a mirror reflection of the heart and soul of its mother brand.
When designers stick to what they believe in, and translate this into their mass-market collaborations, shoppers are happier and more readily able to receive them with open arms and devotion. With the direction that the Vena Cava designers have taken with their approach, it looks like they are doing things exactly right.
Photos courtesy of www.mamasarollingstone.com.
