Celebrity Designers Round 2: Pop Stars

Music and fashion have pretty much always gone hand-in-hand. I guess that's why so many musicians decide to make the jump to designer. Much like the rappers, some do it well, others, not so much!

Celebrity: Jennifer Lopez
Line: JLO, Sweetface, and Just Sweet
Established: 2003
Rating: 3

You would think by pairing up with Andy Hilfiger (brother of Tommy), Jennifer Lopez would have created a better brand. However, riding the coattails of then boyfriend, P. Diddy (or Puffy as he was being called back then) didn't pan out so well. The clothes were tacky and cheap looking with little style and no unique place in the market. Both lines have stalled production and although there are mixed reports, it seems that Just Sweet and Sweetface are no longer, while JLO is reportedly just on hiatus. Either way, it seems her clothing venture was about as successful as Gigli...c'mon you remember that overpriced, under appreciated, terrible mess of a movie from Bennifer. J. Lo should stick to what she does best (although I have no idea what that is), and leave fashion to the pros!
***I gave her extra points for attempting to create a brand for the big-booty girls. The effort was decent, the brand was not.***

Celebrity: Justin Timberlake w/ Trace Ayala

Line: William Rast - high-end denim

Established: 2006 

Rating: 9

Justin has the highest rating thus far! I do not personally own a pair of William Rast jeans, but I have friends that absolutely LOVE them. They are stylish without being overly pretentious (and overly gaudy or covered in logos). Justin teamed up with his friend Trace Ayala to develop the brand. Instead of using the celebrity's name as the brand name, they instead used monikers of each of their grandfathers' - nice touch! I really like that it started high-end denim and has stayed true to that since its launch. As far as I'm concerned, William Rast knocked Rock & Republic off their edgy pedestals and outed them as the sell-outs they are. Now that we've determined that Justin knows jeans, I just wish he'd start wearing them instead of those dumb tuxes with ruffled shirts. 

Celebrity: Avril Lavigne

Line: Abbey Dawn for Kohl's 

Established: 2007 or 2008 (Estimate)

Rating: 1

I've already expressed my opinion on this tragic brand in a previous post, so I won't go into it again. However, I will state that I really, really, really, can't stand this brand! Not even the wanna-be goth/punk kids that follow Avril around should be caught dead in this crap! It's just really ugly!

Celebrity: Miley Cyrus

Line: Miley Cyrus with Max Azria for Wal-Mart 

Established: 2009

Rating: 0

Going from bad to worse. Yes, I said this was a scale of 1-10, but given the circumstances, I couldn't even bring myself to rate this on the scale. The second I heard this was happening, I immediately boycotted everything Max Azria has a hand in - not that I really wore any of it anyway, but now I absolutely won't buy it on principle alone! I can't stand Miley with that ridiculous white-trash twang and especially can't stand Wal-mart with their destructive and exploitive practices around the world. The combination of the two is just that much more depressing. First of all, any clothing sold in Wal-Mart is inevitably mass produced by under-paid, over-worked laborers in Asia. Second, Miley is a walking, talking, representative of all things wrong with the current state of pop culture. She's tacky, she's a terrible role model, and has zero talent in any field I've seen her in (acting, singing, modeling). Now, onto the actual subject matter here, the clothes. They are terrible! That's all...just an absolute blazin' wreck! It's so bad, that apparently Miley is the only one who is willing to wear it, since she's in every picture I could find of the clothing.  

Celebrity: Jessica Simpson

Line: Jessica Simpson Collection

Established: Unknown

Rating: 8

Those of you who know me are probably surprised at the high rating I've given Ms. Simpson. However, I have actually come around to liking the shoes. When they first came out, I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that this seemingly moronic girl was able to successfully put out a line of anything, much less cute shoes. The first couple years they were pretty unattractive. As time went on, and the more high-end stores that picked up the brand, the better the line became. There are several pairs out right now that I would totally buy! Even though I'm not a fan of Jessica Simpson the celebrity, I kinda like what she's done with her brand. There are now accessories, outerwear, lingerie, swimwear, and luggage in the collection. All are surprisingly decent. (I really want the shoes below left.)

Celebrity: Beyonce

Line: House of Dereon 

Established: 2004

Rating: 2

Beyonce is a talented girl who seems to have a good head on her shoulders, but this brand is a big FAIL as far as I'm concerned. The brand is always involved in some kind of controversy, whether it be for use of real fur or oversexualizing little girls in ads for the kids line (see below). This line didn't have much of a chance in my mind. I absolutely despised everything Tina Knowles (Beyonce's mother and partner in this venture), designed for the girls in Destiny's Child. She designed their tour wardrobe as well as their matchy-matchy red carpet outfits. Nothing was ever cute and always reminded me of the crap I had to wear in dance recitals as a kid. The actual clothing line is no better. It's really gaudy and horribly tasteless. I'm not sure why a girl who only seems to own leotards would start a clothing line anyway...

Celebrity: Gwen Stefani

Line: L.A.M.B. and Harajuku Lovers 

Established: 2004 (L.A.M.B.) and 2005 (Harajuku Lovers)

Rating: 10 (L.A.M.B.) and 8 (Harajuku Lovers)

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Gwen Stefani! In my book, she can do no wrong! She knows fashion, and she does it very well. Her L.A.M.B. line is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G, which is why it earned the highest possible rating! High quality, super cute, not-too-trendy clothing for young women! Even though I can't afford most of it, I still love it! Harajuku Lovers is a lower budget lifestyle brand that totally works for the customer it is designed for. The only reason this line doesn't get a 10 also, is that the patterns can be a little goofy and ultra busy at times. Gwen Stefani really knows who her customer is and how to dress them. She could have easily been a successful designer without the celebrity name to sell the brand (that's really unusual in the world of celeb designers). Not that you couldn't figure it out for yourselves, but L.A.M.B is on the left and Harajuku Lovers is on the right. 

***Just a totally irrelevant side note, the only boy my daughter is allowed to date before she's 40 is Gwen's son Kingston. He's so stinking cute and they're only 3 months apart in age!***

Celebrity: Travis Barker

Line: Famous Stars and Straps 

Established: 1999

Rating: 6

From one celebrity who I love (Gwen Stefani) to another (Travis Barker)! I was a huge fan of Famous Stars and Straps (more often just called Famous) when it first came out. It's mostly tee shirts and hoodies, but it worked because that's what Travis Barker wears and that's what his fans wear. However, I lost interest when they started selling it at Hot Topic and Pacific Sunwear. There are WAY too many logos for me. I just can't deal with looking like a scene kid every day or shopping where they shop. The difference here though, and the reason the rating is higher than others, is that Travis Barker isn't trying to be high-end or even sell to the masses. He's just putting out a line that represents his own style. Even though I don't like the brand in particular, it does still sell well to the core audience of Blink 182, so therefore it is a success as far as celebrity clothing lines go.

***One more thing - WHY, oh WHY do these celebs feel the need to model their own lines? Almost all of them do it, and it's SOOOO annoying! You never saw Coco Chanel or Giorgio Armani modeling their latest Cruise collection. How can I take a brand seriously when the designer is also the model? It's just weird!***

Stay tuned for the next round of Celebrity Designers. Next up: Athletes.