H&M // A fashion retrospective
Nordenfjeldske Industrial Art museum (National museum of decorative arts and design), Trondheim, Norway, has organised a retrospective exhibition of all of H&M’s designer collaborations. The exhibition was open to the public at the Stenersen Museum in Oslo this past weekend and will soon be on show at Nordenfjeldske in Trondheim.
The exhibition includes a film in which H&M’s head designer Margareta van den Bosch is interviewed. She oversees all designs at H&M, including sister brands such as Cos and & Other Stories, and is regarded as one of the most accomplished designers in fast fashion. In the film, she explains how the design team in 2003 had the idea to do a designer collaboration in order to try something new and fresh. As someone in the team knew Karl Lagerfeld, he was apporached and luckily he was excited about the idea. Rather than him deciding himself what should go in the collection, he asked for directions from H&M before he started the design process.
The Lagerfeld line was launched in 2004 and incorporated all those garments that are typical of Lagerfeld’s DNA. This is the recipe of the success of the designer collaborations – the mass market are for the first time able to purchase garments that are typical of that designer’s DNA at affordable prices and feel they can take part in his/her design universe.
While the Lagerfeld collection was thinly distributed to a vast number of stores, H&M quickly learnt that it would be better to provide a larger supply to a select number of stores, mainly in the big cities. The collections are also made available in every country in which H&M operates, not just the key markets.
It was interesting to hear how world-leading designers such as Roberto Cavalli and Alber Elbaz (of Lanvin) were really anxious prior to the launch of their lines. They desperately wanted the collections to be successful and success to them was measured in the length of the queues outside the stores. While the queues in the US frequently went around the block, the shorter European queues made Elbaz worried that his collection would be a failure. He had nothing to worry about, though, as his gorgeous dresses flew off the shelves and made his collection one of the most successful ever.
To H&M, these designer collaborations have placed the brand firmly on the fashion map worldwide. While H&M previously sold cheap mass-produced garments to the masses, their PR from the collaborations have attracted better designers to work for the company while also given the design team the confidence and know-how to go further with their own designs. Recently, they launched the Studio Collection, which included more fashion-forward garments at a slightly better quality and higher price. The Premium collection takes this even a step further with wardrobe classics at a higher price point. In the years since 2004, H&M has also to great success launched Cos and & Other Stories, both brands with unique, quality designs with a longer shelf life.
At least once a year since 2004, H&M has presented a new collaboration, totalling 13 in all. While I haven’t shopped from them all, a couple of personal favourites were Marni and Maison Martin Margiela. On November 6th, H&M’s collaboration with Alexander Wang launches. Filled with sporty garments typical of Wang’s utalitarian chic, this 14th collection is sure to be another success for H&M!
