Target is my new Gap.

I gave up on the Gap, that staple of malls across America, long ago. I've also abandoned higher-end Banana Republic with its air of business casual (what happened to the simple safari T-shirt?) and J. Crew (once a source for affordable chinos, it now sells wedding dresses). They're too fancy and too expensive, especially for basics. Besides, if I'm going to spend upward of $100 on something trendy, I don't want the same velvet blazer or baby alpaca poncho worn by every seventh person I pass on the street.

In Target, amid boxes of Swiffers and jumbo rolls of toilet paper, I like to imagine I've uncovered some great fashion secret. Of course, as America's second-largest discounter, Target is no secret. In fact, because of its success - women's apparel was one of the chain's strongest categories in the third quarter, according to a spokesperson - it has now become a target. Those footsteps you hear are from America's No. 1 retailer, Wal-Mart, trying to lure fashion- yet budget-conscious shoppers.

While Target has long branded itself as a big box with hip quotient, Wal-Mart has been singular in its desire to play the discount game - "always low prices." But in September, Wal-Mart unveiled a series of new ads in Vogue. That same month the retail giant made an appearance at New York Fashion Week - a first. And last month, in 500 of its stores, Wal-Mart launched Metro7, a house label geared toward a more "fashion forward" demographic.

Retail analysts say that the growing popularity of discount stores with frugal and fashion-savvy consumers is part of the larger democratization of fashion. For some, these stores make the latest styles accessible to those who can't afford designer labels. For others who may be able to splurge on a $190 pair of Habitual jeans at a trendy boutique - but only by pairing them with a $6 tank top - they put the higher-end items within reach.

"Trading down to trade up is something that's become readily acceptable with lots of consumers," says Wendy Liebmann, whose company puts out the report "How America Shops" every two years.

For women in households earning more than $100,000 a year, Target has a particular appeal. Once customers cross that threshold, they choose Target almost exclusively as their discount retailer, says Laura Rowley, author of "On Target: How the World's Hottest Retailer Hit A Bull's- Eye." A Salomon Smith Barney analyst once told Ms. Rowley: "You will see a person in a pair of Ferragamos in Target - you will not see that in Wal-Mart."

On a recent trip, no one in Ferragamo shoes was visible at either store. But at Target there was Meghan Cook, a marketer for a Boston bank, dressed in navy Saucony sneakers, jeans with a fashionably wide leg, and carrying a black Fendi handbag. As the analyst had predicted, no such shopper appeared at Wal-Mart.

Sharon Stone is widely credited with popularizing "cheap chic." At the 1995 Oscars she walked the red carpet in a Valentino skirt and Armani jacket over a Gap T-shirt.

It was five years later that Target brought in its first design partner, sportswearmaker Mossimo Giannulli, who created a line exclusively for the store.

"The designers that we partner with," says Lena Michaud, a spokeswoman for Target, "are part of our way of differentiating ourselves."

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