Kelly indulges in a bit of Missoni Madness!
By Kelly Hockenberry, Columnist, UnionvilleTimes.com
As an investigative fashion reporter for the Unionville Times, I put myself in harm’s way to cover the biggest story to hit the East Coast in YEARS.
The earthquake?
No.
The hurricane, subsequent flooding and unfortunate school closings?
No.
I’m talking about MISSONI MADNESS, baby!
The date: Tuesday, September 13th, 2011
The location: Target, DE
The subjects: three sassy girlfriends plus a store full of crazed women on a mission.
While we were not decked out in camo, we did come prepared in easily removable outfits, sensible (yet fashionable) footwear and strapless bras.
I’m sorry to say that showing up at 9am after seeing children safely on the bus (a mistake that will NEVER happen again) we were horrified to discover a hoard of hussies with shopping carts filled to the brim.
At that point, we resorted to grabbing anything remotely close to our size. I am not ashamed to admit that we sprinted over to the children’s section to pull every XL we could get our grubby paws on. It was down and dirty.
The Target dressing room was buzzing like a bee hive with women of all ages, shapes and sizes. I felt sorry for the one lone man who wandered in to try on a pair of sweatpants only to see the hysteria and turn away in disgust. I’m devastated that I did not have the presence of mind to capture his expression on camera.
Now, I am a HUGE fan of the Missoni print. But, many of you are very concerned about being overwhelmed by the bright colors and bold pattern. If this describes your feelings, let me give some advice:
1. If you are going to buy a piece of Missoni, have it be easily identifiable as Missoni…otherwise, what is the point? In other words, they feature many black sweaters. Yawn. You could find a black sweater in a ba-zillion other stores.
2. If you can’t bring yourself to wearing a tunic or sweater just yet, try a scarf!
3. Carry one of the signature print accessories like a tote bag or clutch.
Of course, we used the long hallway of the dressing room as our own personal runway to “model” our favorite ensembles. It was not awkward AT ALL. Such is the life of an investigative reporter. Do whatever it takes to secure the scoop.
I must say that I was impressed with the quality of the merchandise. All of the tunics have a built in slip and the fabrications were soft yet weighty. I felt that they ran a little big in size, but, they were also a bit short in the hemline.
I plan on wearing my purchases with opaque tights and boots. I am SO excited about my infinity scarf which I scored totally by accident and to the horror of the girl working the dressing room clean-up who was trying to hide it! She clearly had NO idea who she was dealing with.
Target has featured other designer collections in the past, but, none previous ever resulting in this level of pandemonium. The website crashed and stock in stores across the country sold out in a mere few hours.
The line will only be around until October 22nd, so, stop by and grab something while you can!
Let me make it perfectly clear that if Gucci or Prada decide to do a line, this investigative fashionista will be in a tent out front. Working the front line of fashion, that’s me.
Happy SHOPPING! J
And, a big THANK YOU to my gal pals: Jennifer, Andrea & Angie for getting into the trenches with me! XOXO
