The Most Excruciating Lines of the Year

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With only a few days left in the year, it's time to reminisce on 2012 with the annual (six years running!) Racked Recap. This time, we've added a new component: As you may have noticed, we've been consulting fashion industry experts on things like the best and worst trends of the year. Now, let's take a look back through our own archives as we list the Most Excruciating Lines.

This year saw its fair share of insane lines outside of sample sales, as well as gigantic queues at the launch sites of designer collabs, like Margiela and Marni, new Apple products, and sneakers designed by Kanye West. After the jump, we've rounded up the ten most excruciating lines of 2012, including one that was actually shut down by the city. Did you find yourself standing on any of them? Feel free to share your plight in the comments below.

10. Proenza Schouler: The line outside the Proenza sale in August was excruciating because, much to the dismay of the people on it, it actually switched locations at one point. The brand initially announced the sale would be held at 82 Mercer Street, but later changed it to 74 Mercer after a queue of over 100 people had already lined up. Fortunately, all of that was caught on video.

9. Opening Ceremony: The markdowns at the Opening Ceremony sale in December were up 90% off, so by the time it opened to the public at 11am, a humungous crowd had formed. We had the pleasure of meeting a few of the folks who spent their morning camped out in Soho.

8. The iPad Mini debut at Apple: A mega line outside the Apple store isn't outrageous, but this one gets a spot on our list because it formed just days after Hurricane Sandy hit. While most of the city waited in line for gas and shuttle buses, these people waited for iPads. However, unlike most Apple launches, the hysteria got a late start: only one person bothered to line up outside the Fifth Avenue store the day before.

7. YSL: One man at the YSL sale in June tried to capitalize on the epic line when he attempted to sell his spot for $400. We're almost surprised there were no takers, since it took our reporter three hours and fifteen minutes to get inside.

6. Alexander Wang: The first person to show up at the Alexander Wang sale this past November did so at 10:30pm the night before. For the record, it was absolutely freezing, and by around 8:30am the line was roughly 300 people deep.

5. Marni x H&M: The line outside the H&M on Fifth Avenue for the debut of the Marni collaboration was intense: Staffers told us that around 60 people camped out overnight, and we spoke with several people who lined up at 4am. However, the line itself wasn't that excruciating, thanks to H&M's wristband system. We showed up at 8:40am and got a shopping time-slot for 11:05am.

4. Margiela x H&M: As expected, the line for the Margiela launch outside of H&M began a full 24 hours in advance. But just like the Marni launch, things weren't as bad as they seemed. Our reporter arrived at 7:35am and was permitted to shop at 9:45am—all in all, the whole experience was roughly two hours.

3. The Nike Air Yeezy 2 launch at Foot Locker: The line for the Nike Air Yeezy 2 sneakers, which you've probably deduced by now are a collab with Kanye West, began on a Tuesday. (The sneakers themselves went on sale later that week on Friday.) Arguably, sneaker launches enter crazier territory than designer collab debuts, since most of the people the Post spoke to outside of Foot Locker didn't even plan to take theirs out of the box.

2. The iPad 3 launch: One of the first people lined up for the iPad 3 at the Apple store on Fifth Avenue got there on a Monday for a Friday lauch. The person next to him, however, didn't get there until Wednesday, and she brought her dog with her. Fortunately, the dog came prepared and was wearing a jacket.

1. Free vibrators at the Trojan carts: In August, Trojan announced that it would hand out 10,000 free vibrators at branded hot dog carts throughout the city, and the crowd got so intense at the Flatiron location that it was actually shut down by the city. Griped one source to the Post, "Bloomberg doesn't want anyone to have fun. You can't have a giant soda. You can't have a vibrator." Elsewhere, the line on Ninth Avenue spanned an entire block.

· All Racked 2012 Recaps [Racked NY]