The Intern Wears H&M

She may catch the same elevator as the editors and those super-chic ladies in the fashion department, but the Intern, she wears anything but, Prada. While New York boasts as one of the World's leading fashion capitals, 'doing time' there meant weekly (sometimes daily) trips to H&M to find fashionable pieces in neutral colours that I could pass off as high-fashion.

With unenviable price tags - most tops range between five and forty dollars, (US), H&M stores now cover the globe, well, the northern hemisphere at least, with 1300 stores in 29 countries. Established in Sweden in the late 60's - the conglomeration of two inexpensive and fashionable clothing companies (Hennes and Mauritz Widforss), H&M doesn't only cater to discount consumers. By advertising in fashion magazines and placing stores in areas typically associated with high-end designers H&M is a teenagers mecca, a 20-somethings goldmine, and for the 30+, their guilty pleasure!

In 2004 H&M launched a exclusive collection with designer Karl Lagerfield, with initial inventories selling out in less than an hour. Stella McCartney's ready-to-wear range experienced a similar enviable fate in 2005, as did the launch of H&M's Viktor & Rolf selection in November 2006. Most recently Pop superstars, Madonna and Kylie have seen the benefits of chain-store association, launching their wears earlier this year.

With Kylie Minogue on board an H&M launch in Australia (with flagship stores in Melbourne and Sydney) is on the drawing board for 2008.

So with my facebook status still reading, "as-yet-employed" it looks like I'm relegated to the racks of High & Mighty for a little while longer - come join me, if you will.