Zac Posen Lord and Taylor Collaboration Pictures

>> As far as Zac Posen is concerned, there's no reason his 12-piece Z Spoke collection for Lord & Taylor can't be as sensational as the gowns he creates for the red carpet.

"I don't believe that true trends actually come from high fashion down anymore," Posen said of his capsule collection of dresses, all of which are priced under $200. "I think that if you have the ability to create directly at that price point . . . that's really exciting because then you're addressing a much wider audience. And it makes it more fun."

For Posen, fun means colorful, straightforward dresses created with his core design principles in mind. "They're still flirty. They still have our signature construction in them," he said. "Sometimes we'll take out the lining of some of our couture gowns and even that on its own would just be an amazing dress."

But these dresses aren't just glorified crinolines — they're ways for new consumers to get more familiar with his work. Coco Rocha attended the capsule collection's launch party on Wednesday clad in a blazer from Posen's Target collaboration. She said the Lord & Taylor dresses were a smart move.

"For so long, no one could really relate to him," Rocha said. "It was all about really beautiful gowns and a romantic sort of fairy tale. I think this is appropriate, because now we all — even I! — can have a Zac Posen dress."