Animal-Friendly Alternatives Update: Te Casan S/S + Botkier- Target

So I keep putting this off for some reason, but finally I'm staying up so I can make a quickie post about some updates on animal-friendly labels [aka not real cow skin etc].

Before, I had talked about Natalie Portman's very refined-looking vegan shoe line for Te Casan. However that was her F/W collection. Now that I'm sure probably 50% of you are religious Project Runway watchers, there might be some interest in seeing her Spring Summer collection... some styles are on sale, but keep in mind these are considerably pricey: $100 range. just like the cost of any other well-crafted shoe.

So if you're well, in the zone for a new pair of shoes (and who isn't), maybe this is a good time to try out Natalie's collection... To be honest, when most people gripe about non-leather shoes, half of them probably haven't tried them, and the other half probably have only tried cheaply made ones. And what else do you expect? If it's cheaply made of course it's not going to feel good. If some unknowing stranger slipped these Te Casan beauties, I bet they couldn't even tell it's *shh* not leather. To see what the big deal is about leather, see this past post. Go ahead, click it. don't be scared..



Te Casan actually recently updated their site, so now you get really good close-ups of the shoes. And I have to say that I am really really impressed. Not only do they look like real skins-- although it personally wouldn't matter to me whether it would-- but the workmanship really really looks divine.









The second item of note is considerably more affordable, yet by a famous famous handbag designer: Botkier for Target. I myself haven't been to Target since it came out a week or so ago, but they don't look bad from the photos.

Some of them aren't quite to my taste, but some of them actually look like a decent piece of work and actually...pretty attractive. I think most of the time, when people just think "target" design collab they think it's so so much worse that what the main line actually is. But I think Botkier's Target line is pretty true to the Botkier sort of image and design aesthetic, and with the quality of Rogan's Target line, I think these cheaper designer collabs have quality that really is improving [at least from Erin Fetherston's Target collection... worst quality ever].

Come on, face it...if I had just said Botkier, and not Target, you know you would covet half these bags. And if you found on sale for the Target prices, you wouldn't take a moment to pull out the bills. The psychological shopping mind is very intriguing sometimes...

For some reason, I'm really taken to the first raspberry colored one, and almost all the shiny shiny metallic ones. And somehow the metallic bags don't look cheap. Which is quite a feat in itself. Especially that round duffel-shaped one... it looks very very scrumptious...

Update: Actually I dropped by my Target this morning. The bags were as I expected-- they all looked pretty good, but especially the ones I mentioned beforehand (esp. the raspberry one). However, the "croc-print" bags, though they look good a foot away, if you touch them, they obviously don't feel like leather-- if that's what you're going for. Also, the duffel one is a pinker in real life than in the photo. And I loved the look of the small crackled gold wristlet. Quite tasteful!

all photos: property of Target

...this is when I wish my summer internship was paid.