Fabulous Letters From Lisbon: HM

Dear Letter Lovers,

The Marni for H&M collection was made available to the public this morning at 10 a.m.

Thanks to Miss Pu, from Fashion Rules, and a little green invitation, I managed to make my way into the Shopping Preview, at 8h30 a.m.

Of course being latin as I am, I arrived at 9h10 a.m, exactly 20 minutes before our shopping privileges were to be revoked.

This was not an intelligent move from my part.

"Catarina Valente", said Inês Fontoura, "move quickly"

Lesson to be Learnt:

Don't ever underestimate the punctuality of shoppers, even if they're Latin and known to disrespect time frames.

Why? Because when I waltzed in at 9h10, there was virtually

N-O-T-H-I-N-G left. And this was a P-R-E-V-I-E-W.

Well, of course there were still many items to be bought, but the ones I had had my eye on were making themselves incredibly scarce.

Accessories: "Forget it CLV."

And I really did have to forget about those Domino-Art-Deco Reminscent Marni Earrings that I hoped to call my own and fell in love with just last week at the showroom:

And that goes for the bracelets too:

!I did however, manage to lay my hands on this

Marni-plastic-rhinestone-bow pair!

...They were the last ones...

Reflections from the preview:

I was under the impression that Portugal was facing one of the worst financial crisis' the country has ever seen.

Especially after Moodys rated the nation's financial debt as "Trash".

In any effect, I thought we were in the Gutter.

And then I observed as the lady in front of me spent over €500 on items from the collection.

And she ventured to asked if I was going to take the earrings I had in my hand:

"If you had put them aside, I would have snapped them right up!"

Really?

I'm a believer of the epic quote stated in Sex and the City:

"I like my money right where I can see it, in my closet".

But just how deep is the Portuguese woman's love for Marni?

The strategic partnerships H&M has been benefiting from for over the past 6 years really are wonderful. They make luxury available to the masses.

And this really is commendable & profitable.

But one can only wonder how many consumers really appreciate the pieces and connect with luxury brand in question ?

And how many are pure and simply Fashion Victims aka Firm Followers of the Fads?

The collection Consuelo Castiglioni designed for Marni's partnership with H&M is an extremely difficult one.

It does not easily fit the body of the average woman.

Much less the average Portuguese woman.

Not to mention the fact that the prints are frightfully intimidating to the everyday consumer.

...Inês Fontoura, head of PR and Communication for H&M Portugal, confided she got her Marni outfit straight out of a lookbook...

Marni is a brand for the brave, the very brave.

You have to have an inherent confidence that 90% of consumers don't.

Final Conclusion

At the risk of sounding cynical, I can only conclude that shoppers who spent more than the national average minimum wage can only be classified as Fashion Victims who purchase purely for the purpose of "status".

Nonetheless, Hats Off to H&M and to Marni for the creation of a truly original collection, that makes the average fashionista think outside-of-the-box.

And a second Hats of to H&M for having understood that "quirky" & "weird" are in fashion and for making the most of the current Hipster Artsy trend.

Food for thought:

How many of you would like to bet that more than 50% of the Marni collection is going to be sported by fashion victims at Lisbon Fashion week over the next few days?