I succumbed to the hype about Target's Limited Edition Missoni designed line of clothes and home goods which hit stores yesterday (September 13), and crashed the company's website for the entire day.
However, I was not part of a stampede of shoppers who raided Target stores. On the contrary. When I arrived at my nearest store promptly at 8 AM I was shocked by what I saw.
Not a soul was near the neatly-arranged displays!
I had the store all to myself in South Bay in San Diego. Apparently, this area is not considered a high volume nor high-end shopping district, so most fashionistas headed to stores north of this one. It was glorious!
I had about 30 minutes of peaceful shopping and then … they came!
One after the other, they ran in with cell phones in hand calling others awaiting information about what items were available at this store.
By then, I had two cart loads (yes, I went overboard) of Missoni-designed merchandise, so I casually walked by the frantic shoppers who covetously stared at me. But they weren't looking at the amount of things rolling by them, they wanted to see WHAT zig-zagged stuff I had found.
Why? What is so special about this collection when Target has popular desingers like had Issac Mizrahi and Rodarte design collections without the same reaction from those in the fashion know?
Mizrahi suede jacket and Rodarte animal print dress with bows down the back. I own these pieces and love them!
The main reason is the distinct Missoni design. The designers and Target didn't cheapen the famous zig-zag, they gave us a lot of it! Not just the edges of sleeves or trim as I had expected to see; they have entire dresses and sweaters as well as skirts and scarves covered in the designers signiture print — just like the real thing!
One of the main differences between the designer boutique items and the Target apparel was the quality of fabrics. Instead of all natural fibers, we got a blend of mostly cotton and rayon. Besides this, and the tag stating “Missoni for Target,” there is hardly any noticeable difference. Oh, just the price, of course!
One thing I found out from the store manager, is that the high volume stores received different items than the lower end ones. Things like the bicycle, outdoor furniture and certain bedding and other home decor items will only be at the larger stores. Well, that's OK with me. Besides not having enough arms to push carts or space in the trunk of my cross over, I think I did rather well.
Nevertheless, the manager also told me most stores will be restocking at least one more time this week, so he advised me to just show up again later that day or this week. Which I did! Later that same day, I went back to the same store and they had brought out more accessories and the luggage.
Will I be going again today to see if there are new items in the Limited Edition Missoni collection at Target?
You'll have to come back here tomorrow to find out.
LOVE LOVE LOVE! Wear one of those for the next tweet-up?
Well, hello there San Diego Momma! I think I will do just that to please you! Did you go get any Missoni for yourself?
Update! I have gone back a couple of times to return many of the items I purchased. I realized the pattern was too repetitive. However, I also kept some and sold it on eBay!!! I may add a few more items to my new store on the auction-sytle site — just haven't made up my mind about what to sell yet.