Balmain x H&M collaboration

It's possibly the most hyped high street collection of 2015, but with such anticipation comes a host of competitive fashionistas. Avoid being mauled by the crowds or reduced to purchasing a pair of mal-fitting harem pants in desperation: here's how to get what you want from the H&M x Balmain collection.

1. Online

The collection goes onsale at 9am on the 5th November. To get what you want online it's advisable to be sitting on the site about half an hour before. This should mean that you avoid the inevitable online chaos when the collection is released.

2. Instore

The collection will be available from 9am at the Oxford Street, Regent Street and Westfield H&M stores. To be in with a chance of getting the item that you want, in your size, you'll probably have to set up camp a few hours early. If the Alexander Wang x H&M collaboration is anything to go by, expect queues from 7am, if not before.

The key to walking away with prize is to stay focussed as you enter the store and aim for one or two things. Don't get sidetracked by the tantalising but less wearable pieces - unless that's what your after. Bring plenty of water, snacks and remember to stay calm at all times.

3. Accept defeat

Save yourself the sweat, fear and potential disappointment and stroll in a couple of days later instead. You might not get exactly what you want, and it might not be in your size, but you'll still be able to posit yourself as truely stylish Londoner - and extreme silhouettes are very in this season. Alternatively go on ebay and trawl through to see if you can catch anything later on. Prices will have doubled - or even tripled - but it's a good way of getting your mits on the must-have pieces.

What Olivier Rousteing makes of it all

”I want to talk to my generation − this is my main aim as a designer. H&M allows me the unique possibility of bringing everyone into the world of Balmain, getting a piece of the dream and creating a global #HMBalmaination: a movement of togetherness, fuelled on a hashtag. The collaboration felt extremely natural to me as H&M is a brand that everybody connects to. It calls for unity, and I am all for it."