Marni x H&M

So yesterday, like many other bloggers and fashion lovers, I waited expectantly for the chance to grab a piece of designer fashion and a knockdown price, by way of the Marni x H&M collaboration. Now, I was under no illusions that there would be a scrimmage, after all, I remember the Stella x H&M collection from way back in 2005, not to mention the Kate Moss for Topshop launch in 2007, where I set my alarm for 4am to shop the collection online. 

I was disappointed to note that the stores actually carrying the Marni line were limited to the major cities, by which I mean London, Manchester, Birmingham, etc. The fact that Bristol has 2 central H&M stores and a store in Cribbs Causeway led me to assume that at least one of them may be stocking it-no chance unfortunately. However, I did think that by launching online at 9am I may be in with a chance of getting something. Ha! I should have known better! I logged onto the site at 9 to be met with a generic, "you have been placed in a queue" message. After about 40 minutes of refreshing, I gave up and went about my day (I know-clearly not that desperate!) At about 11.30 I tried again-same message. At this point I pretty much sacked off the idea of owning anything from the collection because I figured that by this time, most of the items would be gone.

When I checked again at around 3pm, I was finally able to log on to the site but, as predicted, everything was sold out :( I didn't mind that much because obviously some people had put in more effort to get their hands on a piece of fashion history than I; I mean I could have made a trip to a store, had I really wanted to. I thought, fair play to you all, and actually looked forward to hearing if my friends or any of the bloggers I love to follow had lucked out. And then I made the mistake of checking eBay. Before 9am, there were already 5 pages of listings, checking this morning it has now been reduced to 2 but I wonder whether this is due to auctions ending/people taking advantage of the "buy it now" feature on the website. I do feel a little ticked off when I see this happening, because ultimately, the collaboration is about being able to buy into a designer style at a lower price point. When I see the £19.99 tee shirt on sale at £99, I do feel there is a little bit of greed going on. I appreciate H&M were very strict with regard to what people could buy, i.e, no multiples, only one of each size/piece, etc, but it's a shame that for everyone who buys into the range to own a piece of history, there is someone buying into it to make a quick buck. I know, I know-that's life, and in this day and age, people need to make a bit of extra money here and there. I don't know if I should applaud their gumption (at the end of the day, if someone is willing to pay £100 for a t-shirt that cost £19.99, that's their choice) or snarl at their slightly greedy (and a little skewed) sense of business acumen. 

There is an upside to this tale; those who follow me on Twitter will have seen the little rant I had regarding this issue so I do apologise if this is a double whammy for some of you! Anyway, mournfully checking out the H&M website this morning led me to find the sandals I wanted initially were back in stock, whether they held back on some items or ended up selling less than expected, they are available in sizes 4-7 (I think the biggest and smallest sizes always carry the lowest stock levels so don't expect to find them) and also a jelly tote bag is available. I hummed and haaaed for ages as I couldn't afford both, and eventually decided on the sandals:

Nice aren't they? Mind you-anyone ever ordered from H&M before? I have ONCE and it was a right palaver-basically I don't even expect these sandals to arrive, as the estimated delivery date is 26th-30th March, and the last time I bought from H&M they cocked up my order royally and I ended up cancelling it. So, IF they ever come, these are the sandals I bought and you can see them (and shop them) on the H&M website which, thank God, no longer requires you to wait in a queue to access. Look here if you're interested.

I don't know if designer collaborations like this will ever be able to get around the hype they create-H&M should really have know that their website traffic would surely spike and as such, made appropriate plans so that people could all have a chance to get on and buy something if they wished to. Whilst it was better run than the infamous Outnet £1 sale (anyone remember that?!) it still proves that online retailers have a long way to go to be able to cope with the demands of a collection that everyone is going to want a piece of. 

Anyway! Were you lucky enough to get a piece of the collection? I'd love to know!

XO Amie