Versace Madness at H&M

Today was the day.

After months of whispers, weeks of anticipation and yes even days of carefully mapping out strategies: the time has finally come. 

No I'm not a new Apple product or even The Breaking Dawn premiere.

It's the day that Versace arrives at H&M stores.

And let me just say that there's no better city to witness the madness than New York City.

With lines forming around the block and shoppers arriving as early as midnight last night, it hard to believe that the limited collection could draw such attention from consumers.

H&M is certainly no stranger to launching celebrity designer collections in their stores.  Graduates of the strategic collaboration include: Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, Roberto Cavalli, Jimmy Choo, Lanvin, and even the original Material Girl herself, Madonna.

Versace focused on its iconic dresses with vibrant colors and prints.

Versace's iconic dresses are the focus for the women's collection while sharp tailored suits can be found for the men.  The pieces are set in loud vibrant colours and prints that mirror its couture counterpart.  Donatella, Versace's creative director, stated in a recent interview with The New York Times that inspiration to collaborate with H&M was motivated by celebrities such as Lady Gaga, who have motivated her young audience to hunt edgy fashion looks and even vintage Versace pieces.  Capitalizing on this emerging re-interest, young fasionistas everywhere can now have a piece of Versace in her closet - that is if she manages to get past the lines and through the war zone in-stores.

Allow me to play fashion-psychic for a moment:  I predict that half of these pieces find its way on Ebay, at double or even triple the cost.  If Missoni for Target taught us something, it's that making high-fashion designs affordable doesn't necessarily mean we can get our hands on it.

Window display from an NYC H&M.
 

In an effort to control the chaos, H&M distributed color-coded bracelets that limited the time shoppers had in the Versace shop.

Shoppers fought for the best pieces.

A happy shopper leaves the Upper East Side H&M with a bag full of Versace.