All stories about "Roberto Cavalli"

It's been a big year for New York City retail (and not just because Racked was born in March). This week, we'll relive the glorious highlights and gruesome lowlights, beginning today, with the Year in Lines. Other things we'll recap: The most notable closing, biggest openings, lamest openings and the most important retail stretches the city has to offer. So, let's begin.

Waiting to get their hands on Kate Moss for Topshop at Barneys

On line, in line—whichever expression you choose, New Yorkers have done a whole lot of waiting this year. Here, the top five massive and ridiculous queues:

5) Kate Moss for Topshop at Barneys: You waited out of love for Kate, love for Topshop, or love of eBaying. When the doors to Barneys opened, everyone rushed in to find...a pitiful display of overpriced tank tops, dresses and skinny jeans. Now that the hype's died down, prices on the clothing have been slashed at Barneys and Opening Ceremony. Guess that was a waste of time.

4) Phillip Lim at Uniqlo: Members of the press got first dibs on designer Phillip Lim's collection for Uniqlo. The public was left to fight over the few cute plaid dresses and slouchy shirts left on the racks. All was gone in a matter of hours.

Looking back at the events of yesterday, a few things become clear. First, Roberto Cavalli has somewhat of a following. Second, people will undergo efforts of herculean proportions to get their hands on almost anything that is heavily advertised as "limited edition," especially if there is some sort of celebrity tie-in. The fact that women were whacking each other with hangers in order to be able to pay good money for junk such as what you see above is a testament to the skill of Cavalli's and H&M's marketing team. Because if you encountered such an item while on a stroll through the retailer's stores any other day, it would probably be hanging forlornly on a rack with about 30 more just like it, untouched.

It's been a few hours since our trip to the H&M flagship this morning for the Roberto Cavalli launch and we're finally coming down from the adrenaline rush. We'll never forget the frantic atmosphere inside the store, where we tried to avoid being trampled by hundreds of aggro shoppers who were behaving as if they were completely off their rockers while Cavalli, the leathery man responsible for all the mayhem, looked on from above like a puppet master. It seems as if all of the stores were mobbed today, as a Racked reader reports that the retailer's 34th Street location was also chaotic:

Thought you might enjoy a snapshot of what went down at the 34th St HM this morning. Not unlike the 51st St shop (except for an appearance by the man himself) the 34th St store was a madhouse. The doors opened promptly at 10 followed by: (1) if not more women punched in the face; multiple people tackled to the ground; grab everything and go, by all; and the women's department purged of everything (minus underwear and a few accessories) in 6 minutes flat. By the way, the men's department was the eye of the storm. No grabbing, no physical contact and even the ability to analyze tags for size and price. As of 10:30 men's department was not fully depleted. P.S. Overheard in line the strategy to "take-all and return-most" was most popular.

The Roberto Cavalli collection for H&M was perhaps the most overhyped "masstige" launch yet. We've finally managed to stagger out of the H&M flagship store at 51st Street and Fifth Avenue, dazed, a bit bruised and still in utter shock over the behaviors we witnessed inside. Namely, women and men physically fighting over tacky scraps of animal-print fabric.

Just before they opened the doors, the man himself posed for photos with his adoring female fanbase (cigar in hand, natch).