Every year one of the most hotly anticipated marriages of high street and high end is the H&M designer collaboration. H&M was the global brand that conceived the idea of producing capsule collections by fashion heavyweights that would be attainable for the design enthusiasts who were lacking in funds to nab their main line collections.
Over the past ten years, the concept has evolved so much that the designer collab has earned major cred and is always snapped up within days of hitting the shops. The pieces can only be nabbed in a ticketed shopping experience that calls to mind the mosh pit of a Sabbath reunion. It's very much elbows out and split second decisions. There's no time to decide whether you'll be a 10 or a 12 in a certain dress, just grab and go before somebody wrenches the damn thing from your grasp. It's fashionista eats fashionista — if fashionistas do in fact eat.
In the past shoppers have camped out for Stella McCartney x H&M, Maison Martin Margiela x H&M and last year, Alexander Wang x H&M. But this year the collab is hitting the next level. Balmain is the fashion house that virtually defines luxury. The brand has epitomised style and class since 1945 and under the directorship of hip young gunslinger, Olivier Rousteing, the brand in recent times has become synonymous with showbiz and pop culture. Rousteing has retained the opulence so rooted in Balmain's identity while also injecting the label with a pleasingly brash streetwear spirit.
The 29-year-old French designer is a disarming blend of showmanship and serious talent; he said of the collab:
“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”
We're all for it too. At the billboard music awards, Rousteing and his friends, Kendall Jenner and Jourdan Dunn hit the red carpet together and gave the world a sneak preview of the forthcoming collection.
Available from 5th November, in around 250 stores worldwide and online at hm.com, the collection will feature clothing and accessories for both ladies and men.
