Mizrahi tries to get Liz Claiborne’s groove back
Liz before Mizrahi
Liz After Mizrahi
Issac Mizrahi has said that the iconic Liz Claiborne brand is an example of how a good fashion line can go “granny.”
And in his tenacious colorful style, Mizrahi (the new creative director for the company) is trying to single-handedly revamp that image for the Liz customer who is “perpetually 35,” all this according to a story in Women’s Wear Daily this week.
So we can wonder about how the middle market will respond to the wunderkind who helped make low-priced Target (pronounced tar-jay) one of the hippest places to shop with youthful, vibrant colors and quirky designs that gave ho-hum mass market clothing a hint of boutique chic.
Liz before Mizrahi
Liz After Mizrahi
He specialized in low-priced items that were excellent compliments to high-end lines. In many cases, casual observes couldn’t tell the high from the low pieces in a well-selected ensemble. Mizrahi kept his foot in both fashion worlds with his own luxe line of clothing that he continues to mastermind.
But I’m just not sure that I’m lovin’ the new focus for Liz. It’s definitely not a rehash of the Target line, but it’s not exactly what I’d expect for the Liz customer.
Liz After Mizrahi
Liz After Mizrahi
Mizrahi says that it’s for grown-ups, but it looks a little “needs to grow up” to me.
On the left and one piece on the right are selections of the new Mizrahi line for Liz’s spring 2009 collection.
Two of the looks above on the right are the current Liz Claiborne line for winter. I show the pre-Mizrahi looks just for contrast, you can tell that the line needed some serious help.
I guess my biggest problem is that I don’t know where this new Liz Lady is going. In the recent past, it was meant to be the boring don’t look at me, respect my work ethic business wear. It screamed, look I’m a professional, I wear sensible shoes. Now, Mizrahi is shaking it all loose with attire that looks beach, resort, taking-a-vacation from work type wear. And let’s face it that first number in yellow at the top is just downright u-g-l-y.
So what do you think?
A wayward soul from Las Vegas, Nevada, who now calls St. Louis home and believes that fashion is relative and capricious, but style is always in favor. 
What? No shoes?
If I am paying Liz Claiborne prices, I don’t want Target looks. He may have taken it a little too casual. There could be a better middle ground between the two. Don’t you think?
Not just ugly but laughable. The yellow and orange item reminds me of The Dude in The Big Lebowski, sloppy and juvenile. And the peachy-orange dress has a collar that rivals Big Bird’s comb. I do not ascribe to the notion that every woman wants to look like a kid, which is what these Mizrahi designs appear to go for - dressing a working woman like she’s still in high school. It’s all about the J’s - Liz before Mizrahi = job, Liz after Mizrahi = joke.
They’re just clothes people, get over it. Why you would pay Liz Claiborne prices for any piece of clothing at any time is really the question.
If you truly believe “it’s just clothes, get over it,” then STOP TROLLING THIS BLOG, for heaven’s sake. We like fashion. We have opinions about style. We enjoy discussing trends. What’s the deal with your pathetic need to scold us every time?
Better yet, as the airline attendants on SNL used to say, Buh-bye!
I generally prefer the “before”.
Well, looks like a nerve was struck with Karen. Apparently thinking fashion debates are useless wastes of time is an opinion that she doesn’t want to hear about. I think she meant to write “We enjoy discussing trends, as long as you mindlessly fall in line with the rest of the fashion zombies and drool over Liz Claiborne”.
New book idea for Karen: The Claiborne Supremacy…