Zac Posen for Target

The new Zac Posen for Target women’s clothing line launched this past weekend. Yes, it was marked on my calendar. It’s not every day that a swanky New York designer whips up a collection of dresses, swimwear, tops, and bottoms for Price Conscious Middle America.

Overall, I found the Posen frocks hanging in my nearest Target to be sweetly intriguing. They were frisky with unexpected spurts of sass, like a cutout here or an exposed zipper there. But unlike Isaac Mizrahi’s classic and safely elegant Target creations, several of these getups weren’t 100% wearable, meaning that eating, drinking, sitting, walking, bending, or playing Charades wouldn’t be feasible. Perhaps we should think of them as standing-still dresses.

The polka-dotted v-neck dress was undoubtedly the assortment’s signature piece. The floral brocade dress was also quite lovely and would be a stunning choice for a bright-eyed prom-goer. My only real gripe, which applies to every diet couture label, is that this line doesn’t solely rely on soft, comfortable fabrics. If cotton is the only fabric that these bigwigs can afford en masse, it’s the only one they should source. Because the polyester of the snap tape top felt as appealing as sandpaper négligée. Either way, most of the dresses sold out immediately online and were probably purchased by big city gals who’ve never even seen the inside of a Target. Now that’s what I call beautiful irony.