H&M VIP Night at SM Fashion Hall

SM Fashion Hall is my favorite mall of all!

All the brands I like have a store there, plus all the new restaurants there make dining out so much more interesting - Tim Ho Wan, Ippudo, Tuan Tuan, 8 Cuts Burgers, and so on. But wait, with Gino's Brick Oven Pizza now open in Podium, and Juju Eats opening across Wildflour, I feel a bit of my heart is torn. Teehee.

Ok, back to my story.

The day before H&M Manila opened, I happened to be in the mall because I had already started on my Christmas shopping list. With me popping in December, I needed a head start on getting gifts for all the kids on our list. 

While on my way down to the lobby to meet our driver, my heart skipped a beat when I saw that the store was pretty much ready to open, with guys cleaning the store display windows.

The red carpet was laid out in front of the entrance, complete with velvet ropes and a step & repeat backdrop. Bongga!

On launch day itself, it looked like all of Manila was equally as excited about the opening, because people sure came in droves for VIP opening night. Many were dressed to the nines, in heels and full makeup.

I learned my lesson from attending H&M Singapore's VIP Opening Night, where I ended up hobbling in heels after hours of shopping and decided this time, I would dress to shop. 

I went to to the launch wearing a comfy top from Elin, skinny jeans and flats, teehee.

Photo taken by Jackie Go

Honestly, I did not get to take too many photos because I was really there to shop and take advantage of the 20% discount on everything. Every time I ran into a friend, I would say, "No more chika, let's shop before the line to pay gets long!" Haha.

A quick photo before our H&M shopping marathon, c/o my friend Terry Dy

Yes, I wanted to make sure that we did our shopping fast, before the lines to the cash register got crazy long. No more fitting the clothes na din, because they have a 30 day return policy naman.

Lessons I learned, again from my H&M Singapore experience. Heehee.

But of course, here are the highlights from my H&M Manila shopping experience, which I think you should take note of.

1. The active wear section is all sorts of amazing.

If there's a section that you must constantly check out at H&M, it's the women's active wear section on the second floor.

The designs are fantastic, and the quality, for the price you pay, is not bad at all! 

Then again, I am not a hardcore athlete so I may not be the best resource person for this haha. But for my pilates and yoga needs, this section floats my boat.

If you are not so much into active wear, then at least consider these active wear inspired sweat pants which I found close to the denim section. I convinced Jackie to get this pair because this is a closet must have.

You can dress it up with heels and a crisp tailored shirt, or dress it down with a tank and wedge sneakers or booties. Very Isabel Marant.

2. I just love the kids section. 

While most of the guests were concentrating on the women's and men's sections, Jackie and I headed for the kids section on the top most floor. There were hardly any shoppers here, and we had the cuteness almost all to ourselves!

There were dresses, tops and sweet sweatshirts for baby girls...

Patchwork skinny jeans. They have skinny jeans for baby boys too, and I couldn't resist getting one for our baby boy coming soon!

I hoarded packs of underwear and organic cotton tank tops for my kids (Buy 2, get 1 Free - plus an additional 20% OFF!), cute accessories for Berry that she can wear for dress up play, and some bibs for our new baby boy. I was one happy mama because I scored on such great deals!

3. The best styles for women are at the ground floor. 

Back at the women's section, I suggest you spend the most time combing the section on the ground floor. The more fashion forward pieces are here, as opposed to mostly basics at the second floor.

Jackie spotted this jumpsuit on the ground floor as well, yes, this exact same one worn by Liya Kebede for H&M's Fall 2014 lookbook, and a piece highlighted in Refinery29 because it supposedly resembles the uniform worn by Kurdish women fighters - which I think is just absurd.

Of course, Jackie and I bought this jumpsuit. At Php1190, less 20%, it would be crazy not to.

I almost caved in and bought these shorts. Almost.



Adorable in real life, and on Natasha Poly as well.

Maybe I'll come back for it. If H&M still has it in my size. I can just imagine that with the pandemonium on opening day itself, and excited shoppers coming to the store days after the opening, I may have to battle it out for these lace trimmed shorts.

Talk about military-inspired.

H&M Megamall

G/F to 3/F SM Fashion Hall

SM Megamall Bldg D

EDSA, Mandaluyong City