Want to know how popular a high street-designer collection will be? Check eBay. Thats where youll find a number of pieces from the forthcoming Maison Martin Margiela for H&M collection, put up for auction three weeks before the range hits stores.
The Belgian designers accessibly priced collection is scheduled to reach shop floors on 15 November. But a number of eBay opportunists have already posted collection items on the auction website, at vastly inflated prices.
Pieces from the 105-item range that have made it to auction include the silver candy-wrapper clutch (the retail price is £34.99, but bidding has reached £136.94) and the Perspex wedge pumps (RRP: £149.99. Starting bid: about £218).
The same khaki overcoat Kanye West wore to H&M's exclusive launch party (yes, its Margielafor H&M) is up for grabs at a buy-it-now price of about £561, compared to a RRP of £149.99.
So whos selling? Guests who pre-shopped the collection at the New York party this week could be the auctioneers. Alternatively, any listings that use lookbook images could be speculative, meaning that sellers post a number of items and shop to order once they see what interests the bidding public.
Either way, its enough to make us wonder: whats so bad about queuing for a wristband, people?
Discover the full Maison Martin Margiela for H&M collection
See the full Maison Martin Margiela mainline collection shown in Paris here