Mizrahi on wedding dresses

Isaac Mizrahi took questions via e-mail from News & Observer reporter Samantha Thompson Smith about his new line of wedding dresses sold at Target. Here's what he had to say about the collection:

Q Did Target come to you about designing wedding/bridesmaid dresses or was this your idea?

A I'm unclear who thought of what. It's been so long in development I've forgotten. Regardless, I love and embrace the idea as my own.

Q How were you/Target able to price the dresses so low? From the descriptions, these dresses sound like they are make from silk and other quality fabrics.

A The development of the excellent Target production and marketing teams are responsible for the excellent quality of the product. I'm now convinced that given the right amount of time, they can develop anything I want to make. Between the experts who know exactly where to go to get things made and the sheer volume they produce at Target they're able to command the highest quality for the money. Some fabrics are silk, some are very respectable synthetics.

Q Who is the target market for these dresses?

A I'm hoping these dresses will inspire brides who are stylish but who might not be able to afford very expensive dresses. Even though we might consider $150 very inexpensive for a wedding dress, there might be people out there who aspire to pay for a dress of that price. For those people, I want this dress to be as memorable as brides who pay a lot of money for a dress. I want these dresses to be heirlooms. Hence the beautiful boxes that the dresses are shipped in. I'm dreaming that a bride might store the dress in that box for her daughter.

Q The wedding dresses seem very classic in design, with something for everyone in most sizes. Did you have a certain type of bride in mind when you were designing the dresses?

A I purposely kept the dresses simple to accommodate all the accessorizing that goes on one's wedding day. More than just shoes and jewelry. There's usually bigger hair and makeup. A veil. Flowers. It's a lot for a bride to think about so the dress has to be simple. I designed archetypes, wedding dresses that little girls dream of growing up and wearing. I tried to vary the dresses so that everyone would find something, or two things, to think about and ultimately buy.

Q It seems as if there is a trend emerging for brides finding dresses in nontraditional locations, such as Target and J.Crew. What do you think is behind this trend? Why was it important for Target to start selling wedding dresses?

A I think the paradigm of design and designer merchandise has been shifting for a long while. I started making inexpensive clothes for Target in 2003 and this bridal thing is a natural extension of that. There are all sorts of categories we're exploring because of the success of the master brand.