Jimmy Choo!

(for H&M)...

So today I went in to the city for a haircut (sadly, Misin is no longer with Frederic Fekkai... so I had to use a new stylist, who shall remain nameless-- it's okay, but when I asked her to make it shorter I got push back... last time I checked it was my $$$, not hers, so why, pray-tell are you telling me no???) ANYWAY... I also had an appointment for a facial at Bliss (shout out to Melanie-- thank you again for the wonderful birthday gift certificate-- YAY!!!), and I also met up with 410e9th for lunch at of all places the Burger Joint at Le Parker Meridian.

After all of these festivities, I was left to wander the city, aimless (as I had called the fam and they weren't at home). I walked through Bendel's (fab accessories these days, by the way), I toyed with going to Saks (our happy place), and then thought: "I'll go to H&M", it was a block closer to me than Saks and right around the corner from where I'd parked the wagon. I'm guessing somewhere in the back of my subconscious I had recalled that Jimmy Choo was doing a guest line there, but at the time I had no idea.

I walk in and it's a mad house. There's a DJ in the corner and women everywhere. This was a lot like when they had a Stella McCartney line a few years back (except then they didn't have enough clothes and it was a total madhouse... this time they did have TONS of clothes, but there were even more people...)

Let's just start by saying the line is very sequin and bedazzle heavy. But who doesn't like a little bling? There are leather one shoulder dresses, suede dresses, lots of black sequined evening wear, pants, lots of leather handbags, two different kinds of belts, a really cool lucite (read: PLASTIC) evening clutch and a really cool fur vest (very Sonny and Cher). Sadly, the fur vest is faux fur. I would be okay with it were there not leather pieces in the line, but if you're going to have leather, then use real fur. But that's just me.

I'm walking around and all of a sudden I see a roped off area with: SHOES! Turns out you have to get in line to go to the shoe area and basically they will let 40 people at a time in to try on shoes and you only have 15 minutes to pick out the shoes, try them on and pay.

WOWZERS! Luckily, waiting in line went pretty quickly, but then again so did the 15 minutes of try-on time. There are tons of stacked heel/stilletto shoes, two different kinds of flats and one amazing pair of faux-cowboy boots. The faux cowboy boots are just the bottom part of a boot-- so they're more like booties. They're snakeskin print with studs and jewels on them. They are so completely over-the-top gaudy that they are FABULOUS. They are also real leather. I would have bought a pair (despite the $149 price tag) but who wants a bootie? I want a full boot. I'm sorry, and no offense to gay men or lesbians, but booties can only be properly pulled off by gay men and lesbians, as I am neither, the booties had to stay behind. As for the rest of the shoes? The leather wasn't up to the same standard of quality you would expect from Jimmy Choo and unfortunately neither was the fit.

There was one pair of stilleto heels with cool cutouts and an ankle strap thingie, but the ankle strap was too big for my ankles and just didn't sit right. None of the sizing was right either-- size 7s all ran very big but size 6 was way too small. There's also no half-sizing. I think I could have gotten past the quality issues if the price point were better, but really you can still find a real pair of Jimmy Choos on sale for $149 and up if you go to Off Fifth or the Neiman Marcus outlet on a good day, so who wants to pay that at H&M?

Sadly, I kind of felt the same way about the clothes. Though the Husband liked one sequined baby doll dress, (and I loved that it was made of modal-- super comfy), the cut of it was a little bit Golden-Girls-on-a-Cruise. The leather one shouldered number? Didn't fit right on top and the quality of the leather used didn't match up with the $249 price tag. The belt? Couldn't get it off once it was on... I actually had to get it off over my head (for some reason, I couldn't get it unbuckled).

I am keeping a really nice midnight blue scarf. After all, one can never have too many scarves. So that's my review in a nutshell--- let me know your thoughts!

BTW, I also have to say, I really like the Stella McCartney for Gap Kids line that's currently in stores. The quality of those items is great, but again the price point could be a little better. The kids stuff is more expensive than her women's wear line was at H&M! But, what can you do. I guess it's inflation, even in the toddler clothes market.