Miley Cyrus Teams With Maz Azria for Juniors Fashion Line
Miley Cyrus is teaming up with Max Azria and Wal-Mart for a youthful, fashion forward line of clothing. The line will be called Miley Cyrus and Max Azria.
The trend-right collection will bow in all Wal-Mart stores and on walmart.com in early August, the sources said, adding the line will include tops, pants, graphic T-shirts and shoes, priced under $20.
A Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spokeswoman could not be reached for comment, while a spokesman for Max Azria declined comment. Cyrus has been a fan of Azria's designs for some time. She wore a short Herve Leger by Max Azria dress in April to the U.K. premiere of Hannah Montana: The Movie, and for the 2009 Grammy Awards, Cyrus donned a custom Herve Leger by Max Azria black gown.
Azria is said to have developed a rapport with Cyrus in the course of dressing her for events and eventually became acquainted with her parents — her father, country star Billy Ray Cyrus, who appears on the Hannah Montana series, and mother, Tish.
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The Wal-Mart deal marks Max Azria's second foray into mass market territory and gives him agreements with the world’s two largest retailers — Wal-Mart and Carrefour. In 2006, Azria signed a deal to design a women's ready-to-wear collection for the French retailer, which operates hypermarkets in France, Greece, Spain, Belgium, Italy and Portugal. The collection Tex by Max Azria launched for the fall-winter 2007 season. At the time, industry sources familiar with the arrangement said the deal, which ends Dec. 31, 2011, has a minimum guaranteed volume of 1 billion euros, or about $1.3 billion, over the course of the contract, plus escalations per season.
It's a very interesting venture for Max: we've never seen a deal quite like this one. It's mutually beneficial. Max gets a diffusion line at a major retailer with a celebrity that tweens and teens love and Miley gets her toe in the fashion business knowing that the designs will be well-executed. Of course, Miley gets top billing, but that's show biz.
