Limited ain't so fun

In Asia, Japan dictates a lot of trends, one of them being fanaticism for limited edition fashion goods, more like a fashion habit than a trend and it’s something that is part and parcel of the shopping scene in Hong Kong. Limited edition Bape trainers out? Sold out in days. One off Evisu jeans? Gone before you can even say ‘How much?’. More so in Hong Kong because of the limited stock of certain European labels, things will sell out fast if you’re not careful. Fashion hysteria is just the norm

I have been observing this same mentality in the past few years in London with the increasing number of limited edition designer collaborations and especially the ones with high street chains.  Tracy Boyd for Etam, Celia Birtwerll for Topshop and of course the *groans* H&M ones with Karl Largerfeld and Stella McCartney.  Only in London, the hype is built up on a super large scale, utilising national press and not just fashion press – tabloids like Evening Standard, Metro and all the major newspapers.  The result is that labels that people might not have heard of before are suddenly touted as ‘must-haves’.  People could care less about Celia Birtwell’s rich history with Ossie Clark but there they are tripping over to buy a blouse at Topshop which might I add is a shoddier quality than normal Topshop clothes! 

Then there’s the question of sticking the tag ‘limited’ on things that aren’t so limited.  According to this week’s Time Out London which looks into the limited edition craze that’s happening in London, Topshop made 5000 of those Celia Birtwell garments and Karen Walker‘s new ‘limited’ range of make-up at Boots will be stocked in tens of thousands across Boots stores.  Yet, the press seem to love sending us subliminal messages, urging us to buy these things at haste.  And guess what?  It works!  I am one of those fooligans who feel a sense of urgency when I read about a designer collaboration I’m interested in or a limited edition something or another. 

Case in point, I read about Peter Jensen’s shoe range for Topshop and as soon as they floated the word ‘limited’ somewhere in the text, alarm bells were ringing in my head.  I was sitting at work.  It was 10 o’clock and those three hours until lunchhour were excruciatingly painful.  I think I may have broke out in a hot sweat.  So 1 o’clock rolls on and I zoomed off to Topshop, willing the 98 bus to go just that little bit faster.  I barge my way into Topshop and scuttle downstairs to the shoe department and there they were in abundance.  The hot sweat, the nervous clock watching all seemed stupidly in vain. 

Lesson to be learnt?  Take this word with a pinch of salt.  Reap the rewards of designer democratisation if it’s really something that you genuinely want and not what the press tells you to want.