This was the window diplay at Eaton Centre at 715am.
These are the people who were in front of me at 715am.
These are the people who were behind me at 9am.
These are the bitches who cut in front by 9am.
This was the state of the window display on Bloor St at noon.
Thursday November 9, 2006, the lauch of the Viktor & Rolf collection for H&M. I woke up at 630am, quickly ate breakfast, chatted a bit with Cam about the laughable Bush administration and the crazies who I predicted would already be standing in line at H&M. I told him that I refused to leave the house before sunrise because I didn't want to be one of those people I made fun of last year. In keeping with that belief, I left at about 705 and got to the H&M line at 715am with 15 people ahead of me. I quickly scanned the store to stake out where each of the desired items were kept and got back in line, took some pictures, began to strategize and then waited patiently for Cat to arrive.
For about 45 min people were mostly civil, giving everyone space to step about and stretch to keep warm. That civility quickly went to hell as the line started to lengthen at about 830am. Generally speaking I think that I was in a good position to get most of the things I wanted but I didn't anticpate the free-loaders. Who are the free-loaders you ask? Those are the people who sent one friend to line up early and the whole wolf-pack of them show up later in the morning and squeeze in front of you. For the most part, I wasn't upset with 2 maybe 3 people cutting the line since Cat also joined me at the front when she arrived. However, there was this pack of people (who worked for H&M) who talked up some chick in front of us and then stepped in front. Not just one, not 2, not 3, not 4, but five! I witnessed those exact 5 people arrive at H&M at 8:00 or later. So as the squeezing and pushing proceeded, Cat and I managed to reassert our position but those bitches just pulled their "new-friend-connection" and got ahead again. I was pissed. As a firm believer in shopping karma, I just let them go and hoped that bad karma would bite them in the ass.
By 9:00 the line had extended around the corner onto to Dundas Street. The press were present taking pictures and interviews - even Fashion Television was there! The H&M staff on duty were kind and courteous, offering us bottled water and Lindt chocolate (70% cocoa). During the remaining hour, Cat and I simply chatted about American Express, LOST, boyfriends, etc. Others had more pressing things on their minds. The girl behind us said to her friend, "I can't speak about my strategy. It's a whole secret legal plan." We just laughed quietly to ourselves.
The doors opened at 10am sharp. Once I got inside the store, I just grabbed the first 4-5 hangers of the items both me and Cat wanted and quickly headed for the wedding dress. Getting the wedding dress was relatively painless. The sales lady (bless her soul) was very nice and very accomdating. I paid for the dress up front and reunited with Cat to sort out the items we wanted to keep, and the items we wanted to trade. We headed for the fitting room shortly after and we eliminated some items there. Sadly, Cat left her Coach bag in the fitting room and by the time she went back to get it, some bitch had taken it already. Luckily she left behind all of the important things like wallet, keys, cell phone. Everything of importance was recovered but the Coach bag was lost.
Most of the stuff I grabbed was just too big. I was surprised because they were a size 6 but after trying them on, I would say that the cut was meant for someone size 10 or larger. I kept them for trading and managed to get a few itmes that we wanted from other people. After the crowd subsided (only a little), I managed to catch a glimpse of the things that were coming back to the floor; only the lingerie, tshirts, and socks. The shopping frenzy ended at 11:30am.
I wish I had more time to look at the men's collection because I think that the quality, well-designed items lay there. I managed to grab a trench coat for Tony but I'm not sure he will see the value of it.
My opinion of the collection stands as it was. I think the concept had potential but the execution was flawed and resulted in a mostly tacky women's collection. The tuxedo shirts were not tasteful and the dresses were cut poorly. The tuxedos was hideous. The wool used for the sweaters was soft but the giant bow at the front made you look like nothing short of a dog with a collar. I have to admit that the fabrics were of higher quality than the Lagerfeld collection. There were many pieces that I didn't think anyone would buy but I suppose when you're caught in that kind of a fire storm there is no time to think about bad fashion decisions. My prediction is that over the course of the next week or more, many returns will flood in and I hope that the jeans and the raspberry skirt will be among them. More importantly, I hope that I will be there to snatch them up.
As an aside, Cat and I also trekked over to the Bloor Street location but the stuff left there was minimal at best.
So what does this teach you girls and boys? If you want to get the limited items from these designer collaborations with H&M, you have to get in line well before sunrise. That doesn't explain how I got the wedding dress though. I attribute that to my truly awesome shopping karma!
