Missoni Madness

My sister and I had been working ourselves into a tizzy over the Missoni madness the last few days as we counted down the minutes to the launching (today) of this latest designer collaboration with Target. When I landed in LA just after 9pm local time last night, my sister IM’d me that the online release was pushed back till 8am eastern time on Tuesday. Which meant a 5am wake up call. Insanity. By the time I got to bed around midnight, I set the alarm for 6.30am, thinking that would give me enough time to surf a bit before heading out to the store. Do not know how it happened, but at exactly 5am my time, my internal alarm clock woke me up. I booted up my laptop and saw that my sister had already found a few things online. It took about ten minutes to get into the Target website. And then it crashed. I saw another email from a dear friend in NY who’d also had some luck online. Around 5:30am I gave up and went back to bed.

An hour later I woke up, immediately debating which of the two stores I should hit first. There’s one that’s closer to me, about 7 minutes away, though the voice inside my head reasoned that I should drive to the one 25 minutes from here since it’s not located in a particularly fashionable area. But the traffic going there could be tricky and it could easily take an hour. So I take the easy way out.

There’s already a small crowd at both main entrances at 15 minutes before opening time. As the lights turn on in the store, my crowd has built to 75-100 people strong. I’m wondering if I can outrun that poor woman who’s here with her baby stroller. As we’re all standing outside looking in, we can see the salespeople milling around the Missoni displays, laughing. I desperately want the black/white zigzag sundress one of them is holding up in the air. It looks like an XS. Hands off my dress, lady! Finally, a brave employee comes out to the door to face the restless crowd. And off we go!

Within ten minutes all the shelves look like this:

I have to say, short of last year’s Black Friday experience, I’ve never been so emotionally and physically wiped out in such a short time before. The crowd is like a tornado blowing through the store. One second your eye spots something Missoni and the next it is gone. People seem to grow extra arms and hands in front of my eyes. I am fast to grab the things I want, but others are definitely faster. I never find any of the beddings on the top of my list. Sigh. I’d like to know why some people need to have five of the same blanket in their carts. But heck, speed is the name of the game at these sales. No one likes a whiny sore loser.

So I head out to the next Target…the one I tell myself I should have gone to first…and hit lovely LA traffic:

But I manage to find a few more items here. Based on what I see here now an hour and a half into the sale, I know I definitely made a tactical error. I should have come to this location first, traffic and all. But still no Missoni luggage in sight. So I hit the third store on my way home. I’m beat and I could really use a peach bellini right now. But here’s my loot:

Here are a few clothing items that will look really cute as layering pieces:

I’ll post modeling pics of the clothing I managed to score in the next entry, which I hope to post later tonight. I think I need a nap first :D.

10 Comments

  1. Anonymous

    Thank you so much for the info! You look great in all! Can’t wait til they restock …. If they are really going to 🙂
    Luv your blog!!

  2. larkie

    anonymous: i posted pics of the clothes in the next entry…i think sizing is pretty true to size with the exception of the dresses, which run big imo. hth!

  3. larkie

    Schol/EW: that cube you see in my pics is actually a duvet set!! the pouf/ottoman i was able to find online and so i’ve no idea how big it will be. can’t wait till the package gets here!

  4. larkie

    April: next time i should just book a flight to Oregon instead of driving all over town and hitting all the local targets lol!

  5. SL

    *sigh* now I want more items from this collection. I have been going back and forth between the eBay screen and my work screen! Lol. Still can’t get thru to the online site 🙁

  6. EW

    Just wondering how large/heavy the pouff is? 🙂

  7. scholastican

    Hey, MissL! Good to know you scored bigtime =) I am loving that upholstered cube! idk if I got any premium pieces, but people were pawing my stuff in my cart just to see and touch what Missoni there was, if at all, in my neighborhood Tarjaaayy. LOL! Thought of ya when I saw some of the girls stuff, can’t wait to see what you scored!

  8. April

    Oh, forgot to say, that tomorrow am picking up my Karl Lagerfeld pcs. from Macy’s pre-sale. Hey they aren’t Chanel quality, but neither are the prices. I look at it as a score, although more costly than Target’s Missoni’s pricing.
    And BTW, did you happen to see the new Rebecca Minkoff black quilted studded flap (very Chanel-esque) for $395? Here’s the link: http://rebeccaminkoff.com/ available for pre-order and ships Oct. 1st. Nice size, nice bag, and best of all in this economy, nice price!It’s going to be a charmer.

  9. Anonymous

    wow such lovely colorful zigzaggie goodies! my target ran out of everything so ill have to stop in when they restock. hope you find your luggage!! and get good rest before the hunt!
    also just wondering did you find the clothes to run true to size? i remember the tucker for target line had skirts that ran SO small – i usually wear 1 in target but had to get the 5 for that. Anyway just wondering!

  10. April

    My Target had 5, count ’em,5 people (inc. me) who even knew what Missoni was. So I and the others waltzed our way through the Target in Bend, OR, grabbing everything/anything I wanted. I got all the clothes, shoes, clutch (not wild about that one), blanket, pillow for my guest room, and tableware (serving platters and glasses.) I didn’t care about the luggage as I don’t travel like you do. I did get the black and white zig-zag top, no dress to be found as not all Targets got all 400 pcs in the collection. I went back and forth on the top, but decided just get it and don’t worry about it. I’m wearing it right now, looks great. My hair stylist, who was supposed to meet me there, had a minor ER come up so couldn’t make it at 8 AM. She went back after my hair (around 11:30 AM, and of course ALL SOLD OUT. There may be more on Wed., according to the manager. We shall see………
    Overall, good hunting today, chickie. Keep it going, there’s more out there, I can feel the zig zag vibe a happen’. 🙂

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