Lineblogging

The Line for Margiela x H&M Started Yesterday Morning

By Izzy Grinspan Nov 15, 2012, 7:24am EST

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Today at 8am, H&Ms across the country will unleash their hotly anticipated collaboration with Maison Martin Margiela. Reporting live from the line outside H&M's flagship at Fifth Avenue and 51st Street is Talia Aroshes.

These two were first in line, having camped out since 9am yesterday.
Security
Note the H&M staffer at work inside.
Here's the back of the line around 7:15am.

7:05am: Good morning! There are about 90 people currently on line. The first ones got here at 9am yesterday morning. They're visiting from Korea.

7:10am: Staffers are prepping out front, and security is guarding the door.

7:12am: A few people down is a guy who got here at 3pm. He's from Queens and says he loves Margiela for the simple designs.

7:13am: His friend slept on the sidewalk. She looks tired.

7:18am: Two students from Baruch who live in Brooklyn had somebody hold their spot last night so they could sleep in the train station.

7:19am: The next collab they'd like to see is one with Jil Sander.

7:26am: H&M will be giving out shopping time slots at 15-minute intervals. Four items per person per style.

7:30am: People on their way to work keep asking what the line is for. They don't seem impressed.

7:32am: Nobody on this line has pets with them. Or children. Thank goodness.

That guy. There's always that guy.
Here's what the line looked like from across the street around 7:30.
One woman brought a chair with her.
Our friend who wishes he hadn't missed Versace shows off his warm jacket.
Another look at the back of the line.

7:35am: One guy says, "I got here around 6 because sleeping in line is crazy."

7:36am: He says he's not cold because he's wearing the greatest sweater on earth. He missed Versace x H&M but wishes he was there because he thinks that collab was better than this one.

7:37am: He wants to see H&M team up with Rick Owens.

7:45am: I thought I'd get a time slot for this afternoon, but I'm actually going to be able to shop at the 9:45am time slot. That might mean this crowd is a little smaller than the one for Versace x H&M, when people who arrived around 7 couldn't shop until 1pm or 2.

7:49am: The guy handing out the bracelets—which correspond to time slots—keeps telling people that they can go off, get coffee, have breakfast, whatever. But nobody wants to leave the line.

7:51am: A graphic designer tells me she called in sick from work. She's been waiting for this moment since August.

7:55am: I'm asking people why they haven't left the line now that they have their time slots. "Oh, we left to get coffee." But you came back. "Yeah." Why? "Um, I don't know."

7:59am: There's a second, much smaller line for men's forming.

8:00am: And they're off! The doors have opened, the line is moving, and—oh yes—the staffers are wearing lab coats.