In the entire history of H&M collaborations with designers and celebrities, Marni was the very first one who got me really (REALLY) excited. Of course, I loved the idea of Lanvin for H&M, too, but it just wasn’t THAT tempting for me, especially after my darling friend kindly reminded me of the real Lanvin hanging in my wardrobe. “Why would you bother”, she said. “You’ve already got your Lanvin.”
Marni was different. My ultimate Marni love has always been their statement jewellery, but I’ve never allowed myself to buy any because, ultimately, it was too expensive for what it was. H&M made it affordable to the point of stocking up like there’s no tomorrow. If only it was that easy…
For days I browsed and browsed the Marni for H&M lookbook, dreaming until the day has finally come. I got up in the morning, fed my lovely pupster, made myself breakfast and a cup of green tea and sat in front of my computer ready to shop. I must admit, I would give it a miss if I had to go to the actual shop. Having spent most of my childhood and adult life queuing, I wasn’t prepared to do it again. More over, I didn’t want to get up at a crack of dawn (I’ve heard of people camping by H&M entrance at 3:30am!) and drag myself to the shops. It’s too early, too crowded, too much of a pain and not so very much me. I am a dedicated online shopper, particularly when it comes to collaborations and very much intend to keep it that way.
And there I was… Browsing the pieces beautifully displayed on my screen, carefully judging every magnified pixel. Of course, I wanted the necklaces and a couple of bracelets before anything else, but the cream patterned skirt and colour block dress were also on my wish list just in case I get lucky.
At exactly 9:00 I pressed the “buy” button, the screen blinked and the shiny silver picture was replaced by a heart-breaking “you are placed in a queue” message. I got up, made myself another cup of tea and decided to do some paperwork while waiting and periodically pressing the “try again” button. Cool as a cucumber.
30 minutes later I was granted the access. The necklaces were still there, and so were the dresses, skirts and bracelets, waiting to be mine. I quickly placed the white necklace, chunky cuff and a colour-block dress in my basket and went through the checkout. By the time I was done with my credit card details, the necklace was gone forever. The good news was that I managed to get the cuff and the blue and orange silk dress. I was happy.
Just for fun, I returned to the website, managed to log in straight away and 2 minutes later emerged with a cream skirt, blue patterned dress and a pair of orange plastic earrings.
There was still plenty of everything left (apart from the necklaces), but it was a lovely morning and pupster needed his walk and so off we went.
It was a good experience to remember and certainly a brilliant way to acquire some beautiful pieces for a lot less of their full-blown Marni equivalents. Once the whole over the top excitement faded away, I decided to return the blue dress and earrings, so will only keep the dress, bracelet and skirt.
I did develop a few rules and I guess, they helped me to get what I wanted, so here is a list just in case you may find it useful:
1. Be prepared in advance: browse the lookbook, select what you like and stick with the list.
2. Register your details before the sale. If you don’t you will definitely lose precious minutes and some of your purchases. If you can add and save your card details, it will make your life even better.
3. Make sure that you are logged in on the day.
4. Know your sizes. If unsure, go for everything in two sizes and return the ones that don’t fit.
5. Check out several times if necessary as it may increase your chances of getting every single item you want. You will have to pay extra delivery charge, but it really is worth it.
6. Sometimes you are only allowed one item from each category, so if you really want to have a pair or simply increase your chances of success, team up with a friend, lovely neighbour or relative and shop from two computers with two credit cards.
7. Shopping on-line makes it easier to return the items because you are protected by consumer right policy for on-line shopping and can return everything you didn’t like without any problems within a timing period that often differs from the one in a regular shop.
8. Have fun! I always remind myself that if something is no longer there, it wasn’t meant to be mine and isn’t worth my time and emotions.
P.S. Still wish I got the white necklaces, though…
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