Maclaren's got a thing for fashion, which makes me a little skeptical about the coming Philippe Starck models. The Kate Spade Mac is only the best known of its style-over-substance collection, where fabric from top-of-the-line designers is wrapped around middle-of-the-road strollers. [The Spade option is only available on the Quest, for example, which costs as much as a Techno.]
The Burberry Maclaren's even more extreme: it's a Triumph with a Burberry check seat/footmuff. For $628. Granted, it's also painted matte black, which is AWESOME--we should all go somewhere and get our Mac frames painted black--but something about the raw, status symbolism combined with what I know to be a $150 stroller just rubs me the wrong way.
Me, who has Jil Sander t-shirts and Helmut Lang flip flops. [Come back, Jil & Helmut, come back...] I just need something more, and for the most part, I need something more substantial and with more subtlety.
Although Mac's also done the limited edition thing with limited success--only 500 of the titanium-and-saddle-leather Ti Techno rigs came to the US in 2001, and they were still spotted for sale as late as last Summer--they must figure the market's sweet spot is with the fashion victims.
A Starck Maclaren could break either way. It could be like his adaptations for the classic aluminum chair company, Emeco, which actually moved the design ball forward; or it could blow, a half-chromed Volo with a white slipcover. I hope someone sends some pictures soon...
Buy your trophy wife a Burberry Maclaren at Neiman Marcus [neimanmarcus.com]
where will i get a maclaren burberry pram? x
I cannot wait to grab one for my kid, and reuse it for the second. I feel like running and grabbing a mac burberry now!!!