Following the internet leak of the Anna Sui for Target lookbook last month, Target execs have been quick to backpedal on any suggestion that the range has been inspired by Gossip Girl.
“One of Target’s top executives got nervous about being that closely associated with the show, given the [debauchery] its characters get into,” a source told the New York Daily News.
An episode of Gossip Girl was scheduled to shoot inside Anna Sui’s SoHo flagship store last Thursday. Models dressed in the designer’s Target range were going to be used as extras in the background, and even Sui herself was rumoured to make a cameo appearance. However, Target pulled out of the shoot at the last minute, leaving everyone on the Gossip Girl set furious.
“The crew was thrown into a frenzy because they had to scrap everything they had planned,” says an insider. “They can’t believe Target would bail on them, especially after publicly announcing the collaboration. It’s Target’s loss, because the line would have sold better if it had played a part in the show.”
Regardless of the fall-out, the Anna Sui for Target collection will go on sale in September as planned.
I don’t think it would have sold any better just because it was on Gossip Girls. Because target sells other merchandise, people usually go there on a regular basis anyway.