The Best and Buzziest Fashion Collaborations Ever

The wait is finally over: After months of anticipation, Rodarte & Other Stories hits stores today — a date we’ve had marked in our calendars since October when the collaboration was announced. We’re getting major déjà vu: Since fashion collaborations became “a thing” over a decade ago, it seems they’ve gotten — improbably — both buzzier and more commonplace. Last year alone saw the inauguration of Kanye West for Adidas, Rihanna for Puma, and Lemaire for Uniqlo, to name a few.

But what exactly makes a fashion collaboration good? According to Brian Sozzi, a retail analyst and correspondent for TheStreet, a successful collaboration has three components: “It has to be a buzzy designer that people know and can identify with. It has to be at a compelling price point — and it has to be damn cool,” he said.

It’s not always an easy balance to strike. Camille Charrière, of Camille Over the Rainbow, explains it this way: “For a high/low collaboration to be successful, the “higher” brand is going to have to make the price tag attractive enough to justify the customer not just saving for the real deal, and the “lower” brand is going to have to take extra care when it comes to fabrics and cuts, or the result is not worth spending money on, no matter how much cheaper.”

It’s nearly impossible to say conclusively which collaborations were the best or worst, but with the help of a few of our fashion industry friends, we’ve narrowed them down to this list of superlatives.

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