I'd been looking forward to Alber Elbaz, the designer for Lanvin doing his H &M collection for months, ever since I first heard about it. My husband, my glam BF and I have been planning for almost all of those months just how to make it work. My BF said-5 am, we have to arrive at 5! Ok. My husband refused to wait on a line outside a store in the middle of the night but my BF and I made plans to do just that! Friday he said, 4:30. I said, Ok.
Friday after I got home from work I went to the supermarket, bought cheap cheese, nuts, crackers, coffee and a thermos and let me just say that Chock Full o' Nuts is surprisingly good coffee. I got up at 2:15, got dressed in many layers of cashmere and wool sweaters and tanks in varying weights, shoes I could get on and off easily, a winter coat, scarf, cashmere headband, and gloves. I left the house at 3:20, running 5 minutes late. I zoomed across highways and arrived at my glam BF's apartment at 3:48 am. We walked to the train and arrived at the most important H & M in the country (it was the first in the US and remains the largest) at 4:35 am. I had packed the snacks the night before but made the coffee this morning. We arrived to unfold the nylon chairs-in-a-bag he brought. We were not the first to arrive but about the 60th and well within the first 320 cutoff for wristbands. The first 320 people got time stamped wristbands and for the women's collection that was your time slot! Not before and not after. For the men's collection you did not need a wristband but could go in once the doors opened at 8. The line, the wristbands everything was quite civilized and our wrist band was for 9:20-each group of 16 was given 15 minutes to shop in the roped off women's department.
We had no restrictions on men's it was now 7:30 so we just waited until 8 when the store opened. We had fun, peeking in the windows, seeing the women's pieces, picking out what I wanted, chatting with newly made acquaintances. People off the street kept trying to get on the line assuming this was "it". They seemed to take pleasure in getting on line 5 minutes before the store opened, thinking they were "in the know" in not having to wait hours in the middle of the night. We took more pleasure in deflating them and explaining the wrist bands that were now long gone. The order and civility had gone with the wrist bands once the store began to open the doors. There are normally 4 doors in this store but they only opened 1. Scary. I promised my BF that I would keep up with him in his flight to the 2nd floor men's and as I danced and wiggled through the stampede I was right there with him (it was rather diffi-my toes were frozen solid). There so many grabbing people in such a small space, I saw the coat my husband wanted and took it!!! Then I tried to grab the suit my glam BF wanted. What slowed us both down was the sizes were only on the double tags at the end of the sleeves!?!?!? They should have been in the back of the necks! You had to grab a sleeve then ticket then separate that one from the one on top of it announcing it was Lanvin to find the size. My BF was trying to find the shoes he wanted, but a monster kept bashing him in the head, meanwhile the monster's vicious friend was running his hands up my legs to find some shoe he wanted (and not mine!). Each of us had to take the time to have words with these people. We got separated. I found him, thankfully he's tall so easy to spot. We regrouped in the madness and it became my job to guard the loot (frankly a relief). He came over to try things on and make decisions...then went back into the fray. I was guarding and chatting with one of the other guarding women. We paid and left, I texted my husband to tell him I got the coat but couldn't reach him. Yet.
When we went inside the store we had left the chairs and snacks on the sidewalk, as did other customers. They were still there, as we left them. We went over to Rockefeller Center to regroup mentally and emotionally again and finally, in the nick of time my husband called me. We asked him to drive over to us, take the chairs, the snacks, and our bags home in the car and boy were we glad we did and he got there in time. He told me he got the coat so I returned it when it came time to pay for my things.
We waited at the gated entrance to women's about 5 minutes for our time slot. We spent our waiting time wisely in me pointing out to him the pieces I wanted and we made a plan of attack which I promptly ignored as I saw one of the dresses I coveted- I just grabbed it. A salesperson from HM came over and asked me if I needed help!!??!!? The women's experience was such a delight! I had my BF grabbing accessories for me and this lovely salesperson finding clothes in my size. My BF scored the last necklace of the one I really really wanted. I got the gloves, the skirt, and one of the dresses I wanted. Then he started to talk me into the shoes. I had decided I didn't want them as I was really skeptical and nervous about buying shoes from H & M. There's a big difference between cheap shoes and expensive shoes-the quality of the leather and the workmanship goes a long way into their comfort and longevity nor is the comparison the same between inexpensive shoes and inexpensive clothes. But he made me try them on and I was immediatly seduced-they are incredibly sexy and they seemed comfortable. More salespeople helped-a charming young lady got him the size 6 for me and didn't realize that we were together once he disappeared to find other things and I had to convince her to give them up-it was very sweet, actually. We paid...we called my husband to tell him were safely removed from the store and we were going to my BF's store to regroup and eat lunch. And of course, play with my stuff!!
I was nervous about the sizes and he wouldn't let me try things on in the store-not that I wanted to wait on such a line anyway but...I was nervous. But everything fit perfectly although the skirt is so VERY short. The one shouldered dress, though spectacular and I love it it is going to be impossible. I cannot zip it myself and will always need someone to help me. It's a side zip dress with an elastic belt over the waistband which only helps to pull the two unzipped sides apart. I wasn't wearing a bra so didn't want to catch my breast in the zipper (ya think!?). I have long desired to be the Indian Goddess with 4 arms on each side and here was one more reason why! I folded myself into the dress as best I could and let him help me. He had to fight with that elastic too. If it were strapless it would be fine, I could zip it up the front and then shimmy inside the dress to turn the zipper where it needed to be. But in this dress, when it's zipped I can't get my arm into the one sleeve. Once I was settled in it and had on one of the shoes-this dress is so Glamorous and made me look thin so difficulties aside I adore it and that's what matters.
Yesterday I wore the black shoes and the necklace (I got hundreds of compliments on that necklace all day and now I'm sorry I never bought it at Bergdorf's when it was full price!), today I am wearing the animal print shoes. I'm working out an outfit for Thursday that invloves my red necklace and black shoes too, but this time with jeans. The terrifying mass of seeking bodies of that dreadful men's department is a long distant memory.
This is the (difficult) dress I bought but not in this dreadful yellow. Black!!! I would have been satisfied with it in purple, though alas it was not meant to be.
I bought the beige skirt but also in black and the black shoes. My husband bought the jacket but not the pants.
I bought this amazinv necklace but in red! My glam BF bought the jacket and the vest that matches it, the bowtie in purple and the shoes in purple.
I bought the animal print shoes (a better picture beneath this one), my husband and my Glam BF bought the coat and there's my ultra short skirt again!
My necklace...
My new shoes...
More new shoes...
It's great to see both men's and women's line on the same window. It's very rare that I get to see such. It actually looks more appealing, for it sometimes lets you create a story. Not only that you are drawn by the clothes but your imagination is also working creatively.
Posted by: Cliff Spears | 05/17/2011 at 05:44 AM