Target released a first look at plus-size line Ava & Viv's fall collection, which will release Aug. 15 in stores and on Target.com.
The company created Ava & Viv's first installment with advice from fashion bloggers Nicolette Mason, Garner Style’s Chastity Garner-Valentine and Gabi Fresh’s Gabi Gregg in January 2014.
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The three bloggers modeled the clothes, too.
A photo posted by nicolette mason (@nicolettemason) on Jul 13, 2015 at 5:47am PDT
A photo posted by Chastity Garner-Valentine (@garnerstyle) on Aug 3, 2015 at 11:34am PDT
In a behind-the-scenes video, the bloggers discussed their favorite pieces from the collection as well as what they thought was missing.
"I wanted more dresses, more wrap dresses, things that are easy for, like, a variety of body types, and they took a lot of the bold prints that we chose," Garner-Valentine said.
Customers chimed in on social with mixed reactions to the line, ranging from hate to support.
Just checked out the new #avaandviv collection at @Target! It's gorgeous, I'm thrilled!!
— Katie O (@KaitlinAzalea) February 1, 2015
The new #AvaAndViv line @TargetStyle blows. Tried on just about everything. And it was all way too big + sloppy looking. Super disappointed.
— Jessica B (@voguelagalere) March 8, 2015
Although Mason clarified that the bloggers didn't have any part in designing the collection, she did say the three had more of an input.
FYI - @gabifresh @GarnerStyle & I did NOT design any part of #AVAandVIV; we gave tons of feedback but were not part of the initial design.
— nicolette mason (@nicolettemason) January 22, 2015
Mason explained:
Last spring Target invited myself, Gabi, and Chastity, to the Target Headquarters in Minneapolis to get a first look at the spring-summer collection and model in their first ever look book; what I couldn't quite share at the time was that we also got to share our feedback on the following collections (by that point spring was already in production), and have the design team integrate our thoughts, loves, and dislikes into AVA & VIV for fall and winter. We gave wish lists of things we wanted to see, gave our own personal insight on how individual styles could be improved, and shared fit and production notes from the spring collection - and of course, we also had the opportunity to share all the feedback we received from you, our community. Now that we've seen some of the physical samples from the fall collection, I am so thrilled that our feedback was taken into consideration and that what I've seen so far looks legitimately awesome.
"The first AVA & VIV collection for Spring 2015 was a good start, ranging in opinions across the board, from happy to disappointed," Garner-Valentine wrote on her blog. "I have a list of suggested improvements that I've been keeping on my own and from consistent critiques from you guys as well, which I’m looking forward to chatting about with Target’s internal design team later this summer when I visit HQ again. Thank you guys for your full range of honest critiques."
Check out the behind-the-scenes video below along with pieces from the line:
[img src="http://admin.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/1+GabiGregg_2.jpg" caption="" credit="Target" alt="1+GabiGregg_2"]
[img src="http://admin.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/3+ChastityGarner_3.jpg" caption="" credit="" alt="3+ChastityGarner_3"]
[img src="http://admin.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/3+ChastityGarner_2.jpg" caption="" credit="" alt="3+ChastityGarner_2"]
[img src="http://admin.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/1+GabiGregg_9.jpg" caption="" credit="Target" alt="1+GabiGregg_9"]
[img src="http://admin.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/2+NicoletteMason_3.jpg" caption="" credit="" alt="2+NicoletteMason_3"]
[img src="http://admin.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/2+NicoletteMason_6.jpg" caption="" credit="Target" alt="2+NicoletteMason_6"]