Very Vera

Posted June 5th, 2007

While Tom Ford seeks just a few good men-hedge-fund managers and Saudi princes no doubt - to shop at his new, exclusive store on Madison Avenue, Vera Wang is opening her arms to millions of women in America.

I went to a preview of Simply Vera by Vera Wang the other night and I must say the collection is startlingly good. Exclusive to Kohl’s, it will be in stores in early September and it’s something to look forward to.

“I feel so privileged to work with these people,” Wang said, as she sipped on an emerald green martini and models posed in tableau in her poetic but sporty clothes.

Usually in massive, mass stores like Kohl’s, lingerie is black, and lavender is confined to bath robes. Wang flips the switch. There are black bathrobes worthy of a SoHo hotel and sheer, lacy underwear that would fit right in at Victoria’s Secret.

Well, let’s make that La Perla.

It remains to be seen if fashions in the store will be as smart-looking and well-made as the samples I saw.

If anything’s amiss, you’ll get a chance to personally bring it to Wang’s attention. She plans to do public appearances at select Kohl’s to introduce the line - just like designers do at posh stores like Neiman Marcus.

Much like the limited edition Proenza Schouler line for Target, Wang has managed to imbue the collection with enough signature designer touches to make a woman feel like she’s actually wearing something from Vera Wang and not a design staff in the Mid-West.

And she’s been given plenty of places to park her signature. In addition to the clothes, lingerie and bedding, there will be shoes, handbags, jewelry, sleepwear and sunglasses (checked out the black bedroom/kitchen pajamas in the gift bag. Nice.)

It’s no surprise that Simply Vera will be at the top end of Kohl’s prices which start at around $30 and go to about $170 at most. Yet, basketball grandmas and their soccer-mom daughters will love the special touches that scream designer (at a price!).

My best seller predictions:

Embellished ballet slippers
• Long, fingerless gloves
• Poetic satin tops
• Romantic bedding covered in tulle
• Big thirsty towels
• Plush, silky bathrobes - not really but I just love ‘em. And I must have a black one.

But who really wears bathrobes? I have about four, never wear them and can’t remember the last time I saw anyone, other than my mother, in one. Though my colleagues inform me that robes are indispensable garb while blow-drying in the morning. Personally, I go straight from bed to the shower or (on a really good day) into my gym clothes which, is about the only thing Wang hasn’t put her hand to yet.

MOSS GATHERING
Wang was much more in evidence at her shindig than model/designer Kate Moss was at the Barneys party for her line.

Little Kate wore the best piece in the collection - a black and white print chiffon tent dress that could be worn over leggings. Kate being a style icon, you’ll want to know how she wore it: belted, bare legs and high heels. But you, being a normal, boring person and not a jet-setting, Brit model, would put a slip under it.

Photographers waited outside to see if Moss would make an appearance in the shop window as she did in London where the line is carried at TopShop. Of course she didn’t.

Kate or maybe Barneys - doesn’t matter - brought in their own DJs from London, the very cool Queens of Noize.All the fab music, however, couldn’t divert attention from the fact that, even accounting for the exchange rate, the line is too expensive.