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Balmain Launch At H&M Puts Designer Luxe Within Reach, If You Can Get To It

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- There will be lines.

Oh yes. Fashionistas will definitely have to line up when the luxury designer Balmain collaboration with H&M goes on sale in stores on Thursday, just the way tech geeks must line up for the latest Apple iPhone.

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(L-R) Models Dudley O'Shaughnessy, Gigi Hadid, Kendall Jenner, and Jourdan Dunn pose with the Creative Director of Balmain Olivier Rousteing (second from right) at the BALMAIN X H&M Collection Launch in New York City. (Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for H&M)

In Singapore, people were already lining up 3 days before the November 5 launch.

The official launch is set for 5 a.m. online. Stores will open at 8 a.m.

In the Bay Area, lines will likely snake around the block (or the mall) at all three stores. There are two H&M stores in San Francisco, on Powell Street and the Westfield Centre; there's another in San Jose on Santana Row.

But there are rules.

Think, The Hunger Games, but for fashion survivalists -- when Claudius tells Katniss, Peeta and the others, "May the odds be ever in your favor."

This hunt will require favorable odds, and then some.

According to racked.com, the first 420 people in line will get colored bracelets, each designating a time to shop in the designer collection area. Each group of 30, gets just fifteen minutes to experience the thrill of the kill (fashion kill, that is).

The collection is already online, and Kendall Jenner was featured in a futuristic video released last month. Study them before you go. You'll need it.

Finally, there will be limits.

Shoppers can only purchase to 2 items per style in the stores. Online, the limit is only one.

"Arrive early, and make sure you know exactly what you are looking for," the website advises. It's doubtful the first shoppers will even have time to try on their picks, so "choose wisely."

VIDEO: BALMAIN x H&M

Balmain x H&M by H&M on YouTube

CBSSF.com writer, producer Jan Mabry is also executive producer and host of The Bronze Report. She lives in Northern California. Follow her on Twitter @janmabr.

 

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