Karl Lagerfeld to Design for Macy's as Part of New Designer Project

It's been confirmed: Karl Lagerfeld will create a capsule collection for Macy's in September, as part of the department store's new guest designer initiative.

Taking a page from the Target and H&M playbooks, Macy's will introduce a series of one-off designer collaborations in a two-month rotation beginning in February. The formal announcement came on the heels of an almost unbelievable leak that Karl Lagerfeld -- who helms Chanel and Fendi and is a self-cultivated legend in his own right -- would be just one of the guest designers.

Lagerfeld first created a lower-price collection back in 2004 for H&M, and, as WWD points out, has been quite candid in the past about the intrigue of today's high-low, or "masstige" collaborations between designers and mass retailers. In a recent interview with WWD, he said: "It's funny for a person who has money to buy something inexpensive, and it's great for a person with not so much money to be able to get something by a designer. It's the new snobbism."

In addition to Lagerfeld, Macy's new designer initiative will feature one-off collections from Calvin Klein, Vivienne Westwood, John Galliano, Costume National, Paul Smith, and Versace. The line will roll out to about 250 stores, as well as online, starting next year.

Macy's has already made a big push in the collaboration department in working with everyone from Rachel Roy to Madonna and Lourdes. This latest foray seems proof positive that the new strategy has been working for the new brand, and ups the ante against both its department store and fast fashion competitors.

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