Jason Wu for Target

In all the years that high-end designers have been doing collaborations with mass-market chains, I had never lined up for opening day of any of them. I never felt it was justified to miss work just to buy clothes. But when the Jason Wu for Target collaboration came, and I found out the launch date was on a Sunday, I decided this would be my first time. I got up even earlier than I do for work, went on an early coffee run, and got to Target by 7:15 am. There were about 6 women already waiting outside. I sat in between and struck up a conversation with a mom-daughter combo who were super-sweet. The mom even held some of my clothes while I was in the fitting room. There were a couple of hard-core followers, one wearing a zigzag Missoni for Target beanie. One red-haired girl rambled about the items she wanted and her efforts to buy them (without any success) on target.com. At about 7:30, a large middle-aged Black man pulled up and got out of his car, holding papers. He immediately, in his loud and deep voice, stated that he was embarrassed to be there, but did so on behalf of his wife, whom he loved enough to do this, and on Super Bowl Sunday, too (I later helped him pick up the cat scarf, which he dropped on the floor and physically couldn't pick up).

7:45 am, and the ladies (and man) crowded around the front entrance. We joked and talked, and though everyone had been nice while we were seated minutes earlier, there were a few people who turned. 3 people stepped in front of me (there was no formal line), and the red-haired girl made comments best kept to herself. She seemed polite before this time, but when I tried to make polite conversation about certain pieces, she snarled and refused to tell me which ones she wanted (although she was happy to talk about it minutes earlier). The doors opened, and we all made a run for it. I decided to go against the grain by opting for the stairs instead of the escalator. My legs may be short, but I earned a bronze medal for the hurdle/sprint event while I was on the track team in high school, so I was able to go up them 2 at a time. It worked cuz I and the only other person who opted for the stairs were the first 2 to the racks. I even got there ahead of red-haired girl and the cutters! Anyway...

I ended up getting what I wanted from there, but there were a couple of items not even in the store, for which I will look in the coming weeks (at least Target is close enough to my work that I go there for lunch often anyway). I'm bummed I missed out on most of the accessories, but managed to snag a bag and a cat scarf. I'm so glad I opted for the stairs cuz within 5 minutes, all the dresses in size 2/XS were gone, and many ladies complained that this was the size they needed, but could find only L/12 and up. My final haul is pictured on the right.

What we do for fashion and exclusivity! And when it's exclusive fashion, it's total madness!