Speaking of Marc J.....

The Chicago Tribune has an article on him today.....

Marc's over it -- Designer Marc Jacobs emerges from tabloid fires hotter than ever


All his personal issues aside, I think that he and his business partner Robert Duffy are a couple of the smartest and more far-sighted minds in the fashion business today. They have seen clearly what Isaac M. saw many years ago - that there is a desire for good design across the economic strata if only it can be made available at the right price point.

The only difference seems to be that at the time Isaac took it on the chin (and to a certain extent still does - just see some of the responses to his just cut deal with Liz Claiborne)for daring to make a deal with Target to bring his clothes to what the fashion intelligentsia obvious felt at the time - and many probably still feel -- are the undeserving un-washed masses.

Marc J., thankfully, seems to be escaping that for now -- probably because the idea of designing up and down the price scale is just old news now.

Still I don't see a lot of designers approaching this strategy with the kind of clear, unapologetic intent that Jacobs and Duffy are. I would suggest, in a world where dollars are becoming tighter and tighter, that could prove to be a major mistake.