H&M Singapore

September 2: A good 16 hours before the opening and the evening of the launch party. Press and guests to the right, H&M diehards and devotees on the left. Yes, those on the left, they slept there. They all seemed to be armed with essentials and stacks of reading materials.

September 7: 5 days later and there's still a line outside. Good thing the return policy is 30 days. I'll wait it out.

Luckily, I was able to shop during the launch party last September 2 and at 20% off too. Woohoo! But before you can say, "How lucky!", well, I still had to fight it out with hundreds of people!

All the floors were packed!

Naomi and I decided we were only going to shop for the kids, which was a good idea since everyone went straight for the men's and women's sections. We pretty much had the place to ourselves. For a good ten minutes. Here's the accessories area for the little girls, lots of Hello Kitty ha:

I found a cute Hello Kitty umbrella for Berry. Only S$12.50. Plus 20% off. It's a buy!

Ooops! I forgot to take a photo of the boys section. I must have been a bit buzzed because of these:

Nothing beats shopping while sipping champagne and eating canapes the whole evening. Stores should seriously make this a regular feature. I think the strategy worked too. When we were lining up to pay, people ahead of us were seriously drunk. They were paying anywhere from S$400 to S$800 per transaction. At H&M. I am not that drunk. Hee!

Anyway, on to the Trend section. The men's area had this street collegiate vibe going on:

The girls had this colorful look which is more hipster than preppy:

The main men's line had a lot of clothes for work, like button downs, chinos, the usual. For more dapper dudes, there are snazzy blazers and bow ties that would make Chuck Bass proud. Not that he would shop here. But you get the idea.

Of course, there are tons of cheap accessories. Hoops, feathers, dangly chains, they've got it.

As for shoes, well, there are plenty to choose from. Not my thing though, because I'd rather spend on classics. Save for canvas sneakers, TOMS and espadrilles, I prefer real leather for footwear.  Sorry PETA. But if cheap is your thang, by all means, indulge!

A lot of the stuff I liked I found in the women's section on the ground floor. I got a pretty tie-neck blouse for $17.90, another pair of pajama pants and a skirt that I've decided to return because I realized they were too small. Too bad. It was in a gorgeous shade of Shala Monroque yellow (yes, I am referring to that famous skirt paired with a chambray top). I would have bought more but seriously, I've got way too many things I don't even get to wear these days. So anyway, yay, Singapore has a new place to shop at! And if you haven't been to the store yet, don't worry. They will keep on restocking each week, bringing in new designs each time.

As for Manila? Well, no official word is out yet. The latest announcement was for H&M Bulgaria which will open by March 2012. H&M usually makes an official announcement 6 months before opening in a new market. Now, that's for sure.

H&M Singapore
Orchard Building
1 Grange Road cor Orchard Road