H&M SELLS OUT STELLA McCARTNEY MERCHANDISE IN A FEW HOURS AT FIFTH AVENUE STORE

In case you didn’t have a chance to check out the fashion feeding frenzy at H&M last month, you missed a near collision course at the racks. There was deafening rock music and women fighting over who was going to take home saucy stuff created by design rock royalty, Stella McCartney. By the time I got to the store most everything was sold out, but the place was jumping. The wool blazers were divine, but sizes were sparse.

In a presale press release, McCartney said she wanted to offer "a wider female audience" a line that is "attractively priced yet offers high quality together with a superb fit and details." The McCartney collection sold out within hours.

McCartney's 40-piece collection for H&M was not restocked after the initial run sold out. The strategy had already proven successful: “Last year, bargain-hunters devoured a limited edition collection from Karl Lagerfeld the morning it hit the floor and the press covered the mayhem. H&M was clearly looking to re-create that frenzy.”