Barney’s flagship Madison Avenue store launched 26 pieces from the new collection and shoppers started queuing up to three hours before the store opened to take a look.

But the atmosphere was much calmer than when more than 1,000 people thronged to Topshop’s flagship branch in Oxford Street for the UK launch last month.

Shoppers in the queue, which was made up almost entirely of women, simply walked quickly inside when the doors were unlocked.

Two models wearing cardboard Kate Moss face masks showed off items from the collection in the shop’s window display.

The collection will also go on sale at all Barney’s CO-OP stores in New York, but the Madison Avenue store will have a select few items the others won’t, including the 575 dollar petal-sleeve dress and the 470 dollar wire trapeze smock dress - and it will only carry 10 of each.

The 120 dollar one-shoulder dobby-dot dress Selma Blair was spotted wearing is the only piece that won’t be available until June.

Other items in the collection include skinny jeans, one-shoulder mini dresses and T-shirts with the letter K woven into their designs.

The Croydon-born supermodel, who was reportedly paid £3 million to create the fashion range, didn’t appear at the launch.

Brisk Sales for Kate Collection - 1 May 2020
Topshop reported brisk sales of its new Kate Moss collection today as it went on nationwide high street release.

The supermodel’s designs were launched at Topshop’s Oxford Street store last night.

Shoppers across the UK had their first chance to grab a piece of the collection when 225 other Topshop branches opened their doors this morning.

The fashion chain’s website had 50,000 users by early afternoon, with 40,000 people downloading film footage of the London launch event.

High demand meant the online store’s allocation sold out by early afternoon and had to be re-stocked.

Topshop said none of Kate’s designs sold out today because the chain had ordered large volumes in advance.

A pansy print dress and smock top, a black mini dress and white vest top were among the most popular items at the Oxford Street store.

Topshop spokesman Andrew Leahy said: "This is the first day and it is an ongoing collaboration. If we had sold out today, we would have been in quite a lot of trouble."

Some items were selling on eBay today for more than double their in-store retail price.

An eBay spokesman said the site hadn’t been inundated, and bidding this morning didn’t seem "massively excitable".

Topshop tried to avoid shoppers selling the collection quickly on eBay by limiting each person’s purchases to five different items.

More than 1,000 shoppers mobbed the London store last night as Kate posed in a window display wearing a red dress she designed to launch the collection.

Fans queue for Kate collection - April 30 2007
The first shoppers started queuing for the new Kate Moss collection today, nearly eight hours before it goes on sale at Topshop.

First in line outside the chain’s flagship Oxford Street store was a 16-year-old who took the day off school especially.

A freelance journalist and a TV reporter were among the eight people in line this afternoon.

The supermodel’s debut fashion collection will prompt a shopping frenzy at Topshop when it launches nationwide tomorrow morning, experts predict.

A four-hour preview is being held at the chain’s flagship store from 8pm until midnight tonight.

First in line today was Yasmin Kidd, 16, from Blackheath, south east London, who arrived before 12.30pm.