Epic fail

It says so much about us that, of all the beautiful runway shows bookending this Fashion Week, your sparkly-things correspondents were most excited about going to Target. Or, rather, going to the pop-up boutique for Alexander McQueen for Target, the latest, extremely high-profile installment of the Go International collection.

McQueen, whose lewd first collections in the mid-90s earned him an "enfant terrible" rep in the London fashion scene, is perhaps the most famous designer to ever partake in this ongoing schema. It's like Bruce Springsteen playing at Bonnaroo - Why? Doesn't that involve leaving your solid-gold bed? - and also, of course, a bargain. McQueen debuts in Target stores and online March 4, but for Saturday and Sunday, Target opened a satellite shop along the beau monde West Side Highway.

And the women of New York sprinted to it. When we visited on Saturday, the racks were half-empty; almost exclusively, only the largest sizes remained, and the wait for the dressing rooms stretched for ages in Disneyland-style folded lines. McQueen said the line is inspired by punky the Duke Spirit singer Liela Moss, which was reflected in the pink-and-black leggings and one-shoulder buckled dresses. Unfortunately, the key pieces of the collection, especially the cornerstone asymmetrical grey dress I was resolute on, were in short supply - several women bluntly accosted the lucky few clutching the dress, asking for their chance to try it on if the current owner passed. And I was one of these wheedling women, I won't lie; it was pretty embarrassing, though not as much as stripping to underwear in public before remembering I had Spanx on.

Anyway, urban women will go to great lengths for a bargain with a beacon label. And McQueen for Target should be a smash when it lands in a few weeks. For now, though, one of us left with a single printed gray jersey dress with a ruched side; the other emerged, distraught, holding nothing at all. Such are the ways of bargain shopping.