People get crazy as Lanvin Launches at H&M in Chicago

The highly anticipated Lanvin for H&M collaboration hit stores this Saturday. Naively, I thought showing up at the Chicago Michigan Avenue store at 8 am would at least get my foot in the door. I brought a book and envisioned standing in line for a couple of hours, trying on some frocks and maybe buying something.  I had no idea I would have had to show up in the pre-dawn hours to get my pick of the litter or wait in line all day and forage through the scraps.

That being said, this is about as close as I got the clothes.  But even from this distance the dresses look kind of flimsy. I wanted the short pink one based on the look book, but as you can see here, the bodice and skirt are not cut well and billow awkwardly.

The star of the collection may have been the packaging...

To be first in line you would have had to beat this woman. She showed up at 6 pm the night before and camped out in the cold. Looking weary after standing in line for over 24 hours she declined having her face photographed, but did allow me to snap her HUGE bags. She bought every piece in the womens collection for over $2000. Her plans are to sell almost all of it on Ebay.

Bracelets which allowed you to shop the collection for 15 minutes were distributed based on your place in line.

People brought camping supplies, which they discarded in the street as they shopped.

The mens collection was not restricted to bracelet holders, but had almost completely sold out by 8:30 am.

You can tell by the smile on this little lady's face that she got the dress she wanted.

This cute couple both scored the sunglasses, which retailed for 19.99. They are currently going on Ebay for five times that.

At 1 pm people who had not received bracelets lined up around the block for the opportunity to shop what was left of the collection.

All in all, my early morning trip turned out not to be a complete wash.  From what I saw from afar, I am not devastated that I did not grab any of the limited edition pieces.  I am also a little wiser in the ways of H&M designer launches. Plus, I didn't leave completely empty handed. I picked up this canvas tote which was available in the wider store. Pretty cute for $3.95!