LONDON — How long would you wait in line on a damp November sidewalk to get your hands on a jacket? Five hours? Overnight? Two full days after taking a cross-continental flight?
Or perhaps you would not be willing to wait at all, but would bull your way to the front of the queue.
It all added up to early morning chaos on Regent Street here on Thursday, as 3,000 desperate and exhausted fashion fans clamored to get through the doors of the H&M; flagship store.
The big draws were pieces from the fast-fashion retailer’s latest designer collaboration: the Balmain x H&M; collection masterminded by Olivier Rousteing, creative director of the French fashion house Balmain.
A social media maestro and the selfie-made star of Paris fashion with 1.6 million followers on Instagram, Mr. Rousteing had whipped up an online frenzy in the weeks preceding the unveiling with the help of celebrities such as Rihanna, Kylie Jenner and Gigi Hadid. #Balmania, he posted on Twitter, was set to ensue.
Full of his signature beaded blazers with exaggerated shoulders, flesh-baring sequined cocktail gowns and leather biker jackets — all with lashings of gold, satin and sparkle — the collection was expected to sell out in minutes, the reason hundreds of shoppers were happy to line up for hours. At least 500 had slept outside the store overnight.
“I have traveled from Bulgaria, been here since 9 p.m. last night, and I just want a single piece — that jacket — my heart is set on it,” said Darina Stefanova, shivering in the early morning fog along with fellow hopeful shoppers, many of whom had pillows and blankets. She was waiting for a colored wristband, which would determine her 10-minute opportunity to shop.
“But with the madness that’s started unfolding, I’m not sure I’ll get my wish. It’s the fault of these men,” she whispered, pointing at a group of hooded 20-something men jostling for positions at the entrance. “Things are starting to get dangerous.”
She was right. At 8 a.m., roughly an hour before the doors were supposed to open, about two dozen men swarmed to the front of the line, overwhelming security and dismaying the waiting crowd.
“They are professional gangs, you know, and this is a strategy they have preplanned,” said Ryan Fong, a dejected-looking student at City University London from China who said he had been pushed out of the line by the mayhem. “I’ve seen it before, but never as bad as this.”
“They get in first, buy up all the product, then flog it for five times the price on eBay,” he said. “They are scary men, and I don’t want to get in their way.”
Nerves started to fray, and insults were traded as staff members created two lines, one for men and the other for women. Tears streaked some of the ashen and unwashed faces, to the bemusement and occasional disgust of commuters and bewildered passers-by. The hooded men brandishing duffel bags refused to leave, pushing and shoving until the police eventually arrived, blue lights flashing like the metallic chintz in the store windows.
As 9 a.m. came and went, the store doors stayed firmly closed. People used their smartphones to try to log on to the H&M; website to try their luck there, only for it to crash.
“It’s just outrageous; this has been so badly managed it is absolutely disgusting,” shouted one woman sitting on an empty suitcase, adding that she had taken the day off work to shop. An H&M; staff member tried to appease her with a perfume sample, emphasizing that, safety concerns aside, they were unable to open the doors given the mass of people outside.
The police eventually removed about a dozen of the gang members from the front of the line, although many lingered defiantly. Eventually the doors opened, to muted whoops and cheers.
Later in the day, an H&M; spokeswoman, who could not be identified by name as a matter of policy, said the company had decided not to open the Regent Street Store “until we were certain we could ensure the safety of our staff and customers, which is always our priority.”
Even before the Regent Street store opened, just a couple of blocks away, at the Oxford Circus store, some shoppers were already leaving, triumphantly clutching enormous black-and-gold shopping bags. One well-dressed girl in fur said she had paid someone 50 pounds — about $77 — to wait in line for her. “What a bargain that was,” she said, Instagramming her loot to followers before disappearing into the crowd.
Similar scenes were chronicled on Twitter and Instagram on Thursdayfrom H&M; stores in other cities like Sydney, Australia, and Manchester, England. At the flagship stores on Fifth Avenue and in Times Square in New York, the lines of shoppers were brought indoors, snaking around the shop floors as quickly as the staff could restock them. In Seoul, South Korea, one fashion journalist said on twitter that fans had started lining up a week ago.
In Paris, the collection sold out in less than three hours, and items were already up for resale online.
Even a stone’s throw from the Oxford Circus store’s exit, some shoppers had set up a real-time roaring trade on the sidewalk.
Many hid their faces and refused to give their names but said they could sell the clothes for two to three times the price they had paid in store. “I really shouldn’t be here,” one woman said with a nervous giggle. She had spent £900 on four items.
Amid a group of fashion students at Oxford Circus, the collection waiting inside had met some expectations but dashed others. “I feel a bit sick, there were so few sizes and so much of what I wanted they didn’t have in stock,” Tumisola Ladega said, as beside him, two friends whooped with delight.
“I got everything I wanted, and I couldn’t be happier,” Chloe Yates said. “I haven’t slept, but it has all been worth it, and I got everything I had pre-chosen to go for online. I’ve never done this before, but I really believe Balmain is the brand of our generation.”
An earlier version of a headline with this article misstated the name of the Balmain collection for H&M. It is Balmain x H&M, not H&M x Balmain.