Nanette Lepore, JC Penney Launching L’Amour Juniors Collaboration
Oh, Nanette, you shouldn't have ... but we're glad you did.
In what has become a most excellent day for high-street high fashion (see the Net-a-Porter launch of Lagerfeld's Karl line), Lepore and JC Penney have announced that they are teaming up on a series of juniors shops for early 2013, Women's Wear Daily reports.
Dubbed L'Amour, the selection of affordable and "sophisticated" prom dresses, silk-screen tees, sportswear, and denim will target 12-20 year olds, with in-store shops planned for 600 JC Penney locations nationwide.
Part of CEO Ron Johnson's sweeping plan to revamp the retailer, the Lepore collaboration will be a long-term venture with 10 to 12 new styles delivered each month.
"This will not be a capsule collection,” the retailer's president, Michael Francis, tells WWD. “This is a meaningful, multi-year relationship.”
Though JC Penney has already worked with the likes of Nicole Miller, Olsenboye, and Charlotte Ronson, L'Amour marks a new dawn as the brand moves to align itself with other household names. (And let's not forget its union with Martha Stewart ... )
"This is the first of our new designer partnerships,” Francis adds. “We will bring in the right designers."
Exciting! In the meantime, young ladies have an ultra-feminine spin on juniors' apparel to look forward to, with Lepore teasing that everything will be "very specific and flirty."
For now, the line is still in the sketch stage, but if we know Nanette Lepore, it's gonna be good.
In other designer-retail collaboration news, check out Jason Wu's Target commercial.
