Missoni Madness at Target

So, I’d read the Yahoo! News report and the Huffington Post blog and I knew the basic lowdown: Italian luxury brand Missoni’s special collection for mass-market retailer Target, which debuted on Tuesday, Sept. 13, had sold out within minutes all over the country.

The signature zigzag print clothing—women’s dresses, sweaters, skirts, makeup cases, girls’ rain boots, trench coats, backpacks, scarves, matching home accessories, poufs, sweater boxes, pillows, frames and rugs—had been specially created by the Varese-based company to blow out at cut-rate prices.

Instead of paying $795 for a Missoni sweater (crafted from the finest cashmere or wool) at a boutique or Saks Fifth Avenue, you could scoop up a rayon-cotton look-alike with the all-important “Missoni for Target” label for a much gentler $49.99.

Who wouldn’t want a piece of that? Missoni Mayhem was so all-encompassing that Target’s hardy website crashed several times throughout the first day. Once the site came back up, most of the pieces in the Missoni collection were labeled with a big fat “SOLD OUT.”

Off to Eagle Rock Plaza

So, yes, I knew the hype—but frankly I didn’t quite believe it; surely the store at would still have some stuff left, I reasoned. As cool as this neighborhood is, the ER isn’t the BH. We’ve got mortgages, car payments and kids in public school who need sneakers and backpacks. Just how many of us would blow our modest stash of disposable cash on highly discretionary items such as zigzag print votives, zigzag print media boxes and zigzag print bicycles?

A day after the Missoni collection launched, I hit the Target on Colorado Boulevard. As I walked in, I caught sight of a sign that displayed a photograph of Margherita Missoni, the glamorous, young granddaughter of the fashion house’s founder Ottavio Missoni. The bolded words “Missoni for Target” beckoned me to the women’s section—and I quickly pushed my shopping cart through the aisles toward the Missoni racks.

'Worse Than Any Black Friday'

Once there, all I found under the sign were sparse racks filled with Mossimo floral blouses instead—ugh.

“It’s all gone,” said a Target employee, who asked that I not identify her by name. Her eyes were glassy, and her body language read “beaten down.” It was as if she had just witnessed—and survived—a tsunami.

“It was worse than any Black Friday I’ve ever seen,” she said. “Dozens of people were lined up outside the store at 7:30 yesterday morning. They all ran in and scooped up whatever they could—it didn’t matter what it was or what size it was.”

Did the scene get ugly? “Oh, yes,” she said, shaking her head slowly. “People shoving, pulling things out of each other’s hands. Lots of name-calling.”

Craving Missoni

A few other forlorn-looking female shoppers wandered past the Missoni-labeled racks, looking like mourners at a wake.

“Ohhhh, I want some,” wailed Betsy Carlson, a junior at . She whipped out her iPhone and showed me a photograph her sister’s friend emailed to her—Missoni maxi dresses, skirts, scarves and make up bags, all arranged lovingly on a couch.

“My friend lives downtown and she got to the store before it opened and got everything she wanted,” she said. “I was going to be here by 9 a.m. yesterday but I didn’t make it. Oh, well, it would have all been gone by then anyway.”

Overhearing our conversation, a stylish mom pushed a toddler in her cart toward us. “What about the Alhambra store?” she said.

“Gone, all gone,” cried another woman, who picked up a Mossimo blouse, checked out the label, and then threw it back on the rack. 

Glendale? Pasadena? Arcadia? “Those places sold out faster than even Eagle Rock,” said the woman, who had dutifully made her way to each of those stores.

Psst ... Missoni?

Determined to take home my share of the Missoni madness, I marched upstairs to the house wares section. Just as I got to the dishware aisle, a Target worker pushing a “Returns” cart passed by.

“Missoni?” he called to me with an air of recognition.

“Yes!” I said, practically clutching both his arms in gratitude.

“We just got these returns,” he said. “You’re in the right place at the right time.”

Was I ever! I pawed through the items in his cart and couldn’t believe the bounty—it was like finding gold coins scattered on the beach. Four gorgeous Missoni for Target martini glasses, eight beautiful hand towels, one instantly iconic laptop case, eight appetizer plates and—get this—six boxes of designer binder clips.

“I’ll take them,” I gushed, scooping up the goods and placing them in my cart. As soon as the safe transfer of precious merchandise was made, I turned to my new Target-employee pal and said, “So, just how bad was it yesterday?”

“Well, I’m a big guy so I was okay,” he said. “But I could see someone smaller getting scared. It was nuts. And it wasn’t even fancy fashionistas who were doing the buying. It was just our normal customers—people I see in here all the time.”

Missoni Envy

I guarded my cart and headed to the cash registers. Part of me knew that I didn’t really need six boxes of designer binder clips, but I couldn’t be swayed. As I pushed my chevron-piled cart to the checkout stand, women eyed my load covetously, the heads following me as I walked. I passed one woman who scowled and stood with her arms akimbo. “Where. Did. You. Get. That?” she demanded.

“Uh, upstairs—but it’s all gone,” I said. “I guess I was just in the right place, right time.” I looked at the woman. She looked simultaneously pissed off and profoundly sad. A wave of generosity washed over me and I picked something out of my cart. “Here, you want this pack of binder clips?” I said. She grabbed them and ran to the checkout line.

Missoni Advice

Missed the Missoni for Target Mayhem at the Eagle Rock Plaza store? There’s a chance you can still get your stash of designer zigzag. Here’s how:

Every morning for the next two weeks, get to Target when the doors open at 8 a.m.

Yep, it’s bordering on insanity, especially if you have a family (or, uh, a job). But if you want Missoni for Target, you’ve got to get serious. According to a store manager, new shipments will arrive at Eagle Rock on a night truck through much of next month. He just doesn’t know what will be in it or on what day of the week the shipments will come. The new stuff will be on racks first thing in the morning.

Scope out the “Returns” carts next to the Customer Service desk on the ground floor.

Believe it or not, a few of those lucky first-day shoppers do have a change of heart about their Missoni purchasers. Once the merchandise goes through returns at Customer Service, it’s fair game for whoever gets there first.

Keep checking Target.com.

New stuff goes up all the time.

Trek down to Target stores in such fashion deserts as Compton, Norwalk and Commerce.

The Target website states that these stores still have a number of Missoni pieces in stock. The items left are mostly for girls, but adults, too, could get lucky.

Addendum: After having spent a day with my Missoni for Target treasures, I realize that while I like the stuff, I don’t really need any of it. Everything is going back except the martini glasses, which are just too cool to part with. If you want a designer laptop case or binder clips, e-mail me. (I’ll give you a good price.)

Stay tuned for our next close-up look at business in the ’hood: How Eagle Rock’s indie boutiques can build hype for their own stores.