Miley Cyrus and Max Azria take a fashion turn at Wal-Mart
Actress/singer Miley Cyrus arrives at the 20th anniversary Time for Heroes Celebrity Carnival to benefit the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation June 7, 2009, in Los Angeles.
Who would have thought that Max Azria’s name would be attached to anything related to Wal-Mart? But it is. The designer best known for his BCBG collection has teamed with teen singing sensation Miley Cyrus to create a line of clothing for Wal-Mart.
The new line will be in stores in August, just in time for back-to-school shopping.
Wal-Mart has been trying to up its fashion quotient for years in an attempt to attract the customer who heads to Target for trendy tops, skinny jeans and stylish shoes. The chain has had limited success snagging and discontinued its trendy Metro 7 line and a collection designed by Mark Eisen.
The retailer has traditionally had better success with clothing for younger women, according to the Wall Street Journal, and last year bolstered its teen merchandise by stocking several exclusive brands, including the surfer-inspired Op and jeans by L.e.i.
The Wall Street Journal said a recent survey of teenagers’ shopping preferences by the consulting firm Kurt Salmon Associates found that Wal-Mart scored only a few percentage points below Target Corp., which is well-known for its cheap-chic merchandise. But Wal-Mart lagged further behind specialty teen retailers such as American Eagle Outfitters Inc. and Gap Inc.’s Old Navy and Forever 21.
The Miley Cyrus and Max Azria clothing will be sold along with a CD. Cyrus made exclusively for the retailer. Wal-Mart is also the sole sponsor of Cyrus’ upcoming U.S. and European tour.
Top 18 stores where high-end consumers say they shop
It seems the recession is affecting most of us, even consumers with annual incomes of $250,000 or more.
Unity marketing, a luxury consumer research firm based in Stevens, Pa., provided WWD with a look at the top, mid-tier and discount stores where high-end consumers were shopping. “The stigma attached with shopping down-market is gone,” said Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing.
Here’s the Top 18:
1. Target (46.2 percent)
2. Costco (39.5)
3. Macy’s (48.6)
4. Nordstrom (31.9)
5. Wal-Mart (25.9)
6. Kohl’s (20.6)
7. Bloomingdale’s (19.3)
8. T.J. Maxx (18.6)
9. Sam’s Club (18.2)
10. Neiman Marcus (16.4)
11. J.C. Penney (14.2)
12. Lord & Taylor (12.5)
13. Saks Fifth Avenue (12.3)
14. Dillard’s (11.5)
15. Sears (11.5)
16. Barney’s New York (7.2)
17. Kmart (6.9)
18. Bergdorf Goodman (5.8)
Shade your eyes with Christie Brinkley sunglasses
One link at a time, Wal-Mart continues to move up the fashion chain. In stores now are Christie Brinkley sunglasses.
Christie by Christie Brinkley Eyewear includes several different styles. Each pair is $30. The styles include:
· Daytona: Tortoise with dark brown lenses and a rectangular end piece design.
· Destin: Sleek black frames, pictured here, with lavender floral design on two-tone temples for feminine flair.
· Gainesville: Tiny scattered colorful crystals on stems and a Jackie O. eye shape.
· Tampa: Wrap style with crystal brown temples and bronze end pieces; lens are gradient fading from dark brown at the top.
· Sanibel: Glamorous, classic movie star eye shape in rich tortoise.
The sunglasss feature 100 percent UV protected lenses.
Taylor Swift’s new dress collection lands in Wal-mart this month
This year is starting out great for young country singer Taylor Swift. She’s scheduled to appear on an episode of CSI this season and her new dress collection will be on Wal-mart racks this month.
She joined with l.e.i. to create the collection of $14 dresses. Seems like a shrewd move considering this country’s economic doldrums.
“Sundresses are my favorite things to wear,” Swift told New York magazine. “In the summer, I automatically want to look bohemian.”
She’s not pretending to be the designer, either. She’s leaving that to the professionals, but she’ll have some say in the collection.
“I don’t look at it like I’m branching out as a designer. It’s not the Taylor Swift designer line or whatever,” she says of the line.
“I like people who have worked their entire lives to become designers. I think that they have their place as designers and I have my place as a musician, and I’m going to pretty much stick to that.”
Smart girl.
Wal-Mart Battlefield
Although Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant were the first to fight on land located in Locus Grove, Virginia, during the civil war, there is a new battle taking place in the same area between Wal-Mart and preservationists.
Wal-Mart wants to build a Supercenter within gunshot range of where Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant first fought at the Battlefield of the Wilderness.
According to an article from a writer for The Associated Press, this 2009 battle over land is heating up quickly.
Check it out:
A who’s who of historians including filmmaker Ken Burns and Pulitzer Prize winner David McCullough sent a letter last month to H. Lee Scott, president and CEO of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., urging the company to build somewhere farther from the Wilderness Battlefield.
“The Wilderness is an indelible part of our history, its very ground hallowed by the American blood spilled there, and it cannot be moved,” said the letter from 253 scholars and others.
Wal-Mart and its supporters point out that the new 138,000-square-foot store would be right behind a bank and a small strip mall. This location is a mile from entrance to the site of the 1864 clash that left thousands dead and hastened the war’s end.
Local leaders also want the $500,000 in tax revenue they estimate the big box store will generate for rural Orange County, a gradually growing area about 60 miles southwest of Washington.
“In these economic times, the fact that Wal-Mart wants to come into the county is an economic plus,” said R. Mark Johnson, a tire shop owner and chairman of the county’s board of supervisors. “This is hardly pristine wilderness we’re talking about.”
Grant’s Union troops were headed to Richmond on May 4, 1864, when they confronted Lee’s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. The Battle of the Wilderness involved more than 100,000 Union troops and 61,000 Confederates. The fighting, according to National Park Service estimates, left more than 4,000 dead and 20,000 wounded.
Some 2,700 acres of the Wilderness Battlefield are protected as part of the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.
Preservationists regularly square off against developers in Virginia, where much of the Civil War was fought.
This dispute, however, has stirred an outcry similar to the one in 1994 over The Walt Disney Co.’s plans to build a $650 million theme park within miles of the Manassas Battlefield. The entertainment giant bowed to public pressure and abandoned the project.
Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart, which opened nearly 200 stores in the U.S. in 2007, said it studied a lengthy list of sites in Orange County before settling on the spot near the battlefield and its gentle hills dissected by neat footpaths.
“We recognize the significance of the Wilderness Battlefield, but we are not building on the battlefield,” said Keith Morris, a spokesman for the world’s largest retailer.
Preservationists argue the store site is still significant because it was used as a staging area by Union troops.
“Is it blood-soaked ground? No, but it is a part of the battlefield,” said Jim Campi, a spokesman for the Civil War Preservation Trust, which lists the Wilderness Battlefield as endangered.
Supervisors will have the final say, after county planners decide if the retailer should be granted a zoning variance. Hearings likely will be scheduled in February and March.
Supervisor Teri Pace said there are “more appropriate places” in the county for Wal-Mart to build. She envisions an economic development plan that taps the county’s history — including President James Madison’s restored home, Montpelier — and its agricultural heritage, which now includes several popular wineries.
“If we define ourselves and promote ourselves as something different, with tourism and agriculture, we really have huge opportunities here,” Pace said.
Do you think Wal-Mart should look elsewhere to build?
-Crystal VanZandt (fashion intern)
Is Walmart becoming the new “in” place to shop?
Kathryn Finney’s The Budget Fashionista certainly stirred up a debate when she said Walmart is the ”hot new thing.”
Blame it on the economy, a move away from reckless consumerism, a return to one-stop shopping and a more fashionable Walmart, she says.
Read her blog and the comments, then post your comments here. Agree, disagree? Share your thoughts.
