Erin Fetherston burst onto the fashion scene in 2007 when she inked a deal with Target to design a designer collection for the quirky mass retailer. America fell in love with her femininely quirky designs.

At first glance, a high-low partnerships seems like a great deal for an emerging fashion designer. They get name brand recognition and a check that enables them to fund their eponymous collection; that’s the sweet end of the deal.

Now that we’ve had five years worth of these collaborations to look back on, we can reflect on the other outcomes of the deal. True, the designer is now “a name” but the customers who bought Erin Fetherston at Target were happy to do so – at Target prices. The real sales pitch comes in convincing them to buy Erin Fetherston at Contemporary Designer price-points at retails specialty stores such as Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue.

The problem young designers face is that Americans dig fast fashion and possess the attention span of a gnat. And, why wouldn’t they? You can blame technology for this one; it has made everything fast, faster, fastest, when it comes to getting new merchandise on the floor.  Designers have to produce at a dizzying pace and some fall off the carousel. Some never get back on, but some, like Erin Fetherston, regroup and come back stronger than they were in that first flush of popularity.

I hadn’t seen Erin’s designs in quite a few seasons so I entered the downtown showroom with Scott French of The Fashion List, not knowing what to expect.

 

 

Both Resort and Holiday hung on the racks. There were festive colors – popsicle pink orange and blue for daywear. For night, there was a black and nude bird print dress,  a sweet melon A-line dress with a lace overlay, and my favorite, an empire waist sheath dress with metallic pussycat bow, placed in the center of the empire seam.

I was smitten with the color, the metallics and the girly enthusiasm that these clothes gave-off. It was easy to imagine a group of young girls  giggling and chattering excitedly, dolled up in the flirty dresses accessorized with funky tiara-headbands and dark rimmed eyes dressed in ERIN, walking en masse into a party.

ERIN by Erin Fetherston is just the thing for young girls who want to put on a dress that will make them feel pretty, but a tiny bit edgy, at the same time.

After seeing Resort, I can’t wait to see the spring 2014 collection this September at NYFW.

- Vivian Kelly

*Images courtesy of LaForce & Stevens