My trip to Wien this week was the best break I could've had. We arrived late on Wednesday evening, and headed right to the hotel, via the new speed train Cat, that connects the airport to city center.
We stayed at the delightful Sacher hotel, one of the most important historical hotels in Wien, the birth place of the famous Sacher chocolate cake. Of course, we tasted some of their sweets before going to bed to be ready for the Tuesday morning Comme des Garcons launch at H&M.
Being in Wien, I expected the line not to be as long as in other more fashiony cities like NY or Paris. And I was right. We had our breakfast (with lots of delicious sweets, for energy of course) at eight o'clock. And at around 9AM there were only 2 persons queuing in front of the H&M we choose. So we decided we have time for a Starbucks Christmas flavored coffee. At the time we returned, there were around 4-5 persons around the H&M windows, so we were practically in front line.
We've waited for around 40 minutes for the opening of the doors at 10 AM, and by that time the queue was quite big and scary. But definitely not big comparing to the ones I saw in pictures from LA, NY, Milan or Paris. There were around 70 shoppers, but I was confident that being in front I will get what I wanted. The H&M staff took pictures of us waiting, and we took pictures of the H&M staff inside. All through glass doors, of course.
My plan was to grab first a wallet (cute, really!) and then to head over to the jackets (only one version of deconstructed jacket was available at that store in Wien). I managed to grab the wallet, but it was harder than I imagined, because everyone had the exact same plan as me: Wallet, then jacket :). By the time I arrived near the rack with the boiled wool jackets, a lady had the entire lot in her arms. But one of the jackets (she had around 10 of them in her arms, crazy!) slipped a little, so I was lucky enough to be there to grab it.
Then I went near the shirts, because I really wanted the pink one, being the pink fanatic that I am. There I had more luck; everyone else seemed to be more focused on the dots, so the pink shirts lasted the longest.
Oh ya! And I got also what it seems it was a highly coveted piece of the collection: the polka dotted scarf. They were put in a hidden corner, and when I arrived near them, all of them were still on the rack. Later, all the scarves seemed to disappear though.
I got also a plain black long-sleeve t-shirt and a polka dot cardigan.
My husband on the other hand had a more calm atmosphere in the men’s department. Although he fought with an old man for a pair of sneakers (and won of course, I teached him well how to shop), he managed to get his hands on several shirts that he likes very much. He tried one the white buttoned suit, but it didn't fit him quite right.
All in all, a great shopping experience, calmer then last year Cavalli. By 10:40 AM, our shopping ended, we carried the 2 large bags back to our hotel. Because we had some time to kill, we decided to take a long walk, to visit some more shops and eat some Maronies. That's when we discovered a second central H&M, which carried as well the Comme des Garcons collection. And among the leftovers: the shirts with the diagonal line on their chest that weren't available at the first H&M. My husband is saying that he has shirts now for at least 2 years to come. I can't really agree, because I know that next year it will be another designer collaboration, and I am sure there will be shirts in it too...
By the way, who do you think (or want) to be the next designer to collaborate with H&M?
