Phillip Lim For Target Pop Up: Not For The Claustrophobic

Without a doubt, the most hotly anticipated happening on day one of New York Fashion Week was an exhibit and shopping event held in celebration of the 3.1 Phillip Lim for Target collaboration. As luck would have it, I was invited to check out Target’s latest beauty offerings an hour before the show — and boy was I glad I did.

For starters, I’ve long been a fan of Pixi. Over a decade ago they were stocked at Henri Bendel before going to Sephora. Then, abruptly, they were nowhere to be found aside from their London store. Fast forward a few years and they’ve slashed their prices and landed at Target. They’re one of the retailer’s best beauty brands (beeline for their pencils) and as you can tell from the image above the collection is ample.

Following the beauty event, at 7 p.m. on the dot, all of the beauty editor and bloggers were escorted to the main shopping event — no checking in or waiting in line to get in (trust me, the line to get into this event was not one you wanted to be on!). For better or worse, I was too busy playing with makeup to realize everyone had already left so I ran to catch up, only to land in the wrong elevator and ultimately following the wrong PR person into the green room where Solange and Jessica Alba were hanging out… I’ve made worse mistakes! They both looked gorgeous and relaxed in head-to-toe Phillip Lim for Target (Solange in a blazer and leopard piece and Alba in one of the graphic comic tops).

I then made my way into the event which was already packed with people just a few minutes into the three-hour frame (see rack above at about 7:15 p.m.). Shoppers were literally grabbing as much as their arms could carry — bags and men’s shoes were particularly popular. I spotted the baby blue pants I was hoping to snag (the one and only pair in my size!), grabbed them and proceeded to wait 45 minutes to pay. It’s not for nothing that the crowd of editors and notables (I spotted Sonia Kashuk and Katie Lee Joel with about a half dozen pieces each) were clamoring for pieces. The prices are very low (lower than H&M designer collaborations) and the quality is impressive (I still, years later, wear pieces from the Alexander McQueen and Zac Posen collaborations).

It wasn’t all shopping, however. While one side of the room was lined with racks, the other was broadcasting the longest interactive cinemagraph ever made. Designed to reflect the collection’s day to night quality, when you followed the various spots projected, you saw a montage that went from pajamas to party dresses via images from shoots in Dallas, Toronto, Chicago and Miami.

Set your alarms and shop this collection early on September 15 — not for nothing were hundreds (a thousand?) editors, bloggers and celebrities stocking up by the truckload.

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