Designers to watch: Toms Shoes

The phenomenon started with an ingeniously simple concept: For each pair of shoes purchased, another pair would be given to a child in need. The design was equally simple: a unisex canvas slip-on crafted with a folded toe, so the fabric didn't even need to be molded into shape. Based in easygoing Venice, CA, Toms Shoes spread like wildfire through the bleeding-heart San Francisco Bay Area, across the country, and abroad to places like Japan, Finland, and New Zealand.

At $44 for a basic style, the shoes won't break the bank, and unlike similarly priced Vans or Converse, it's a feel-good purchase, a no-brainer in an era of guilt-ridden shopping. This year, the company debuted its first shoe with — imagine — laces. And now, Toms is going high-end: their glittery holiday collection, priced at $78 to $125, will be sold at Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman. No word yet on whether the needy child also gets a pair of sparkly silver Toms for each pair of sparkly silver Toms sold!

Designers to watch: Rodarte

Many high-end designers seem to be on the same invisible wavelength, spontaneously creating nearly identical versions of a mutton-sleeve blazer or drape-front pants for the very same season's runway shows. Not so with Rodarte, designed by sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy, which marches to a beat all its own — inspired not by other designers, but by a fantasy world of fairies, Frankenstein, and Japanese cartoons.

Season after season, the sisters pull out yet another beautifully hued collection of dresses and tights patchworked from their usual repertoire of draped, diaphanous fabrics; spidery, irregular knits; and tough, shiny leather. And every time, the fashion world goes wild: most recently, the CFDA bestowed upon them its 2009 Womenswear Designer of the Year award; and at the end of this year, theirs will be the latest of Target's Go International designer collaborations, launching Dec. 20.

While the collabos have garnered plenty of column inches in the fashion media, it seems doubtful that Target's core shopper really appreciates the edgy young designers the budget department store chain has been featuring, including Luella, Jonathan Saunders, and Erin Fetherston. Previous collections have been marked down to almost nothing, and this spring's much-hyped Alexander McQueen for Target launch was a bust: even here in fashion-forward New York, the pop-up store was nearly empty after early shoppers picked off the best pieces, and we've seen a large quantity of apparently unsold collection pieces pop up in local thrift stores, albeit with their original tags removed. Rodarte-obsessed fashionistas will undoubtedly plunder the upcoming collection as it hits big-city stores, but can this ultra-luxury brand cross over to the mass market? We'll just have to wait and see.

Photos: A few of Rodarte's relatively marketable looks, via Style.com

Current/Elliott (Los Angeles)

Awkward is the new flattering, and the new denim line from stylists Emily Current and Meritt Elliott rocketed to cult status this summer when their destroyed boyfriend jeans rode a wave of celebrity appearances to slavishly devoted press coverage. Lest we forget, they do offer other, slightly offbeat styles, all based on the designers' collection of vintage denim from Levi's, Oshkosh, and Wranglers, among others. Those would include a boot cut version, a skinny slouch, a legging jean, an elephant bell, and - in a timely nod, the "Obama," a flared carpenter jean. (Why they've chosen that particular style is unclear - a straighter leg would make a better upgrade for the president-elect from his infamous mom jeans.)

Via Nylon

House of Cassette (Los Angeles)

A high-end streetwear label catering to guys and gals, Cassette brings its dark, Europe-meets-Stateside aesthetic to the grown-up skater generation. With a heavy emphasis on black wool, the line's gothic mood would seem to be at odds with designer Peter Lee's sunny, L.A. surfer boy background, but its alterna-classic pieces in skinny silhouettes would look at home anywhere from New York to Tokyo to Copenhagen.