Does my Long Tail look big in this outfit?

Last month Fashionista was distracted from her meticulous preparations for her New Year Sales battle plan by a headline, "Barbie Dons Floral Design By Comme Des Garçons". This headline belonged to a BrandChannel article by Sara Zucker (here). According to Ms Zucker,

"After being declared an “It Girl” on the fashion circuit by the New York Times, Barbie has been busy with collaborations ...

Barbie is being dressed by the best: Rei Kawakubo, part of the label Comme des Garçons, has designed a dress to perfectly fit the plastic princess. It is part of Kawakubo's Jingle Flowers collection ...

This limited edition Barbie constitutes part of the Barbie Collector Platinum Label Collection. The doll, complete with new packaging, features the Jingle Flowers photo-style floral graphic on a sleeveless silk-lined dress that flares out into a full asymmetric-cut skirt.

Barbie by Comme des Garçons .. is being stocked in all other Comme des Garçons stores including London's Dover Street Market, with a price tag of around $368.

The floral pattern will continue to be branded on to limited-edition products, including wallets, tees, perfume, Artek chairs, and even snow globes".

It occurred to Fashionista that, while the market for fashion items is ever-evolving and that what's in today is out tomorrow, the secondary market for collectables such as Barbie Platinum Label products is dependent on factors such as availability and rarity value rather than on in-vogue aesthetics. In respect of each fashion line Comme des Garçons probably has only a short window of opportunity for harvesting the licensing opportunities of co-branding or co-design ventures with others, while collectables can reap the benefits of the long tail. Modeliste giggles: for her, 'long tail' suggests Lacoste which, she suspects, is the longest tail in fashion.