Thakoon [1], who moved to Omaha, NE
from Thailand when he was 11, is known for his playful prints and
sporty, youthful designs. Taught to sew by his grandmother, he was a
fashion writer first before deciding to try designing himself and going
to Parsons School of Design. With a CFDA award under his belt (that's
Council of Fashion Designers of America), and a shout-out as one of
America's up-and-coming designers in Vanity Fair's September issue [2](the magazine featured six Asian Americans [3] in that story), he's already
been a fashion darling for a while. But the Target collection will
probably help make him more of a household name for those of us who
don't do our shopping at Barney's and Bergdorf Goodman.

I have to admit that Target has put a lot of designers on my radar,
including a few Asian Americans. Past Asian Americans designers who
have collaborated with Target include another designer featured in that
Vanity Fair story, Richard Chai [4], and handbag designers Joy Gryson [5] and Rafe Totengco [6]. Richard Chai's collection came out over the summer and has been by far one of
my favorites from the GO International line. What can I say? The man got me to wear loud prints that I normally wouldn't touch because the cuts were well-constructed and surprisingly flattering.

Anyhoo, here's a short video [7] of Thakoon talking about his collection. The GO International collections have been kind of hit or miss quality-wise, so I hope this one is well-made. I'm also hoping there's a Phillip Lim for Target line somewhere in the works.