Bardot on a Budget: J Crew X Altuzarra Collaboration

It should by now have become pretty apparent that the Mice are partial to a designer/high street collaboration.  We breathlessly counted down to the Mary Katrantzou X Topshop collaboration, we swooned about the DVF X Gap kids' wear collaboration and we were nothing short of manic over the Marni X H&M collaboration.

This week's delirious collab joy has been incited by the amazing photos that we spied on Vogue.com today of the new Altuzarra X J Crew collaboration.  The collection can apparently be pre-ordered over the phone tomorrow and will be available online and in store from Monday 23 April.  The collaboration is the result of this year's CDFA/ Vogue Fashion Fund competition which was won by Altuzarra.  Runners-up, Pamela Love and Creatures of the Wind will launch their J Crew collaborations later this month - collab excitement overload or what?!

The Mice are huge Altuzarra fans and the French designer didn't disappoint us with his aw12 collection which was one of our favourites of all the fashion weeks and which we'll very much be channeling come September.

Images via: www.style.com

The collection for J Crew takes a very different tack to the military tailoring and deep spice tones that we saw on the catwalk in February though.  Altuzarra has cited Brigitte Bardot and Jean Seberg as inspirations and we also see more than a hint of his 2012 Resort collection.  We can definitely see Bardot posing coquestishly on a St Tropez beach in the gingham tie front dress and the breton striped pieces look as though they've been borrowed straight from Seberg's wardrobe.

Altuzarra's J Crew collection is very clean and fresh; preppy basics peppered with gingham and breton stripes in a tricolore palette.  We're loving the navy and red jumper which has been specially knitted to make it look worn-in, perfect thrown over a pair of skinnies and some ballet flats for a relaxed but elegant weekend look.  Our favourite piece though, is the breton striped dress - crisp and clean, can be dressed up or down, a true wardrobe staple in the making.     

Images via: www.vogue.com (collage via www.fabsugar.com)

The collection retails from US$145 to US$345 which, while it isn't cheap, we still think represents amazing value for quality pieces which are timeless enough to have you dusting them off  each spring for many years to come.  And let's face it, for a slice of Altuzarra magic, it's pretty bargainous!