After over a year on hiatus, Vera Wang is bringing back her Lavender label. This time the collection will shift its focus as a capsule evening dress collection, which was how the line started in 2005. “This is very focused,” Wang told WWD. “There will be dresses that are evening-ish and some that will go into full evening. The definition of evening is so open now."
The Lavender label was one of the many that was struck hard by the changing economic times. Wang first launched Lavender for spring 2005 as a line of cocktail and evening dresses for dress departments, but repositioned it for spring 2007 as a contemporary business replete with separates.
“We closed Lavender because it got a little out of control,” explained Mario Grauso, president of the Vera Wang Group, who wasn’t with the company at the time. “The assortment was too large, and I think we were trying to be too many things. We relaunched it exclusively in Neiman Marcus as a specialty dress collection in the way that it started, but it’s very pointed and very specific.”
The new capsule dress line is priced from $395 to $595 at suggested retail and by contrast, Lavender’s previous incarnation carried retail price points from about $200 to $800. The new Lavender launched exclusively at Neiman Marcus last month.
– Taneisha Jordan
Source; Photos: WWD
