Thursday 17 November 2011

Versace for H&M verdict: Singapore men rule!

It's official: Men in Singapore are fierce!

Our fair island state is probably the only place in the world where the menswear from an H&M designer collaboration was flying off the shelves first.

Yes that’s right. The fairer sex was left in the shade by Singapore’s peacock males as the opening hours of the big Versace/H&M event saw the guys’ collection close to selling out especially the accessories.

The only rack of menswear left at 4:30

That’s not to say that women weren’t buying anything, but it was certainly a role reversal from the bunfights I’ve witnessed in London and Dubai for previous collaborations.

Even after the initial burst of activity (I won’t call it a scrum because it was so well organised and polite there wasn’t any danger of rough stuff) it was apparent what was popular.

So much so, that when going back to H&M at around 4:30, there was no queue, but there was still some of the ladies collection (especially shoes) on sale.

Padded leather jackets in Singapore... Seriously?

Few more items to go...

The one-in one-out policy that seemed so strict in the morning was abandoned just before noon so everyone was let in afterwards. Naturally most of the stuff were sold out shortly after.

The only items that were on display when I went back in the afternoon were silver and black sandals, a couple of the particularly unflattering purple figure-hugging dresses and a few odd mens items.

I don't think this dress was made for anyone with any hint of curves... I
normally wear a size UK6 and this dress looked so unflattering on me
and not so well-structured for its SG$249 price tag.

These silver shoes looked gorgeous in the box and from the front...

Trying them on, you can see they ran a bit small to size and not
having adjustable straps meant they were quite ill-fitting and
uncomfortable (at least for my narrow feet).

As an aside, there were still racks of padded leather jackets and men’s coats left as the day drew to a close. These jackets retail for close to S$600, so why did they think people here would be interested in paying huge sums of money for heavy winter clothing? Note to the buyers. You don’t have to bring every single item from the collaboration over.

However, it has to be a positive that so much of the womenswear was eventually snapped up. Does this mean that we will soon see lots of colourfully-dressed women on Singapore’s streets? Let’s hope so but I wouldn’t hold my breath


* For those who are wondering what's the fuss about, check out my earlier guides to what to buy in the menswear and womenswear collections.