I wasn’t planning on going to H&M to shop the Lanvin Line. I saw the whole Look Book already. While the things were cute, nothing really stood out for me as something I had to have. I was following the tweets all night. Folks were already starting to stand in line at various H&M locations through out the continent…even Canada. I was in bed and my girlfriend calls at 4am asking me if I was in line. I was in the bed….not even thinking about Lanvin. Well she had just left the club and was going to do a “drive by” at H&M in SoHo. Well of course I couldn’t go back to bed and my curiosity got the best of me. So I took a heaux bath, got dressed and made my way to 86th & Lex. Â (I’m an Uptown Girl and wasn’t trying to do SoHo.)
I get there and I was probably the 30th person in line. And later on it turned out that I was part of the 3rd group that H&M let in to shop. It was very cold outside. I don’t do well in the cold. I prepared myself by wearing a hat, down jacket and gloves. I ended up making friends with the folks around me. They were great. One of the ladies I was talking to is a Professor at Parsons and writes for their blog called Parsons 560. She was documenting her experience as well.
I must say, the H&M staff did a great job at making time go by fast. 1st they gave us our swag bags. The bag was made out of muslin and said “Lanvin heart H&M”. Here is a picture of myself holding up the bag. I know I look crazy. But I only had a few minutes to put myself together and go!
After they handed out the swag bags, someone else came around with color coded wristbands. The color of the wristband determined what time slot you were in to shop. And you only had 20 minutes to shop.
I took a picture as I was leaving of the color time chart.
Then a man wearing a “proton pack” came around the line and gave everyone coffee and croissants. I thought that was a very classy move by H&M. They were truly thinking about their customers. Here is a picture of him and his coffee tank.
The time went by so fast because H&M kept us busy with activities. At 8am they let everyone in the door in an organized fashion by wristband color. Which was great because we didn’t have to be out in the cold. But we were still in another line.
When I finally got a chance to shop, I ran to the shoes because they were the 1st things I saw and easy to pick out my size and keep it moving. I thought the shoes looked fabulous. Next, I picked up a couple of dresses. Although H&M goes up to a size 14 (sometime 16), Lanvin only went up to a size 10. So that was a bummer for many customers. I thought the dresses were cute for the club and the construction was very good. But it wasn’t anything you couldn’t find at Forever21 for $30. I ended up trying on a couple of pieces, but ended up with 2 pairs of shoes and 1 jacket.
All in all, I had a great shopping experience at H&M. The associates were very helpful. A little slow at ringing and bagging, but that seems to be a consistent issue when I shop at H&M. Will I do it again?? Hmmm…the jury is still out on that!
