McCartney Hysteria Sweeps Australia Once Again

In June 1964, hysteria swept Australia. The Beatles arrived and chaos ensued. Women queued and clambered to lay eyes on Ringo Starr, John Lennon, George Harrison and Paul McCartney.

43 years later, hysteria was once more on Australia’s shores. This time, another McCartney had women in a frenzy – Stella.

Stella McCartney’s designs have been turning heads and making headlines for years in the fashion world. Her pieces are coveted items for many a fashionista. Financially, however, the carefully crafted garments are out of reach for most fashionable young things.

McCartney’s couture range retails for thousands of dollars for a single piece. Her celebrity clients include Nicole Kidman, Kylie Minogue and the ever-stylish Olsen and Hilton sisters.

And yet for a fraction of the price, Australian women were today treated to a range of 42 pieces – stocked by the major retailer Target. Price tags were refreshingly low compared to the designer’s other ranges, priced between AUD$79.99 and AUD$199.99.

Sarcastic consumers have often referred to the mass distributor as "Targét – the red spot boutique". And while today the shelves may have been stocked – albeit momentarily – with boutique goods, the atmosphere was hardly up-market.

Women waited for up to four hours outside the doors – feeling fortunate that the launch of the range was released on a national holiday; their need to call work in sick therefore negated.

Security was enlisted to deal with the crowd and their work began early, confining women to wait behind the designated line of tiling. The queue obliged, for the punishment for disobeying was a fate to hard to fathom – refused entry.

Upon the store’s open, would-be shoppers stampeded inside, making a desperate rush to ladies’ wear.

The store was awash with shoppers clawing and diving for items in the McCartney range. Within minutes, racks were emptied and the changing rooms full, leaving women to use more imaginative ways to acquire the coveted garments.

Mannequins were stripped bare. Women engaged in tugs-o-war over trench-coats. Scheming shoppers waited outside the changing rooms for ill-fitting garments, benefiting from others’ sizing issues.

Clothes were stockpiled and will presumably appear on eBay in the days to come.

Credit cards were maxed, and the store’s lay-by policy was put into overdrive – anything to get the discounted designer duds.

And so today, in stores across Australia, women displayed ingenuity, ferocity and desperation for the almighty label.

Creating hysteria that would do her Beatle father proud, Stella McCartney won new fans with her affordable range. And like her heart-throb father, McCartney broke thousands of Australian women’s hearts – the many who went home empty-handed.