Comme des Garçons for H&M
Alex and I were at the Regent Street branch of H&M early yesterday morning when the doors opened for the launch of their Comme des Garçons range. The Swedish retailer has partnered with numerous designers over the past 4 years, starting with Karl Lagerfeld followed by Stella McCartney, Viktor & Rolf and Roberto Cavalli. However, it is their collaboration with Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons that is most intriguing and is arguably one of the most innovative designer/high-street collaborations to date. Kawakubo's collection (including women's and men's clothing, accessories and a unisex fragrance) incorporates many of the Japanese designer's signatures, ranging from trademark pieces such as her low-gusset trousers, cardigans and shirts and distinct details such as the Peter Pan collar. Many of her H&M designs make reference to specific items in the house's archive: the black dress reminiscent of a velvet and net dress launched as part of their 'Sparkling Party' line in Autumn/Winter 2007-8 and the white shirts with cuff detail not dissimilar to the shirts in her current mainline collection. The fabric choice and finishings are usually the key signifiers of a designer/high-street collaboration, although what's most interesting here is that Kawakubo favours unconventional, 'cheaper' fabrics -such as polyester- and has used them consistently over the last 25 years throughout her numerous collections.
Although less frenzied than previous high-street/designer launches, many of yesterday's crowd had definitive wish lists, having poured over Peter Lindbergh's campaign imagery and the numerous look books available online. The "key pieces", notably the polka-dot scarf and the collection's most expensive item, a black and navy dress-coat, both sold out in the first few minutes. Amidst the die-hard Comme des Garçons fans, fashion students and eBay sellers we also spotted numerous industry personalities including the Telegraph's Fashion Director Hilary Alexander, journalist Hywel Davies and Dazed & Confused's Susie Bubble (who filmed our rather excited Fashion Director for her blog). Did we buy? Yes, we certainly did, our favourites being the low-gusset trousers, white frill and polka-dot shirts.