Shop Now: The Vogue Verdict On H&M’s Nostalgic 20th Anniversary Collection

As I scanned the rails of the H&M showroom, all laden with pre-loved pieces spanning 20 years of H&M designer collaborations, I felt as though I was experiencing a fashion equivalent of This Is Your Life. While I was too young to partake in the earliest iterations – the Karl Lagerfelds and Stella McCartneys – the collections from 2010 onwards evolved alongside my own career in fashion: from my uni years as a student fashion editor (Marni X H&M), to my many editorial internships (I remember former Vogue editor Ellie Pithers, then at The Telegraph, walking into the newsroom in the metallic Isabel Marant X H&M miniskirt – I swooned), right up to reviewing the Mugler collection in my second year as shopping editor at Vogue.

I don’t think I’m alone in this. At the launch of H&M’s 20th anniversary collection last week, it became clear that many other fashion types have their own memories attached to different collections, be it waking up at 5am to queue outside the Oxford Street store for Maison Margiela X H&M (and the friendships that were formed in the line), or hovering over the “add to basket” button in the depths of lockdown, hoping to nab a Simone Rocha X H&M pearl-encrusted trench.

For many cash-strapped, recession-worn millennials in the 2010s, the H&M collaborations were a chance to partake in the rarified world of high fashion, its sellout drops offering us a thrilling proximity to the names that graced the glossy magazines we worshipped. These collaborations went “viral” before “going viral” was a thing.

Today’s retail landscape is vastly different to the one the first designer collection launched into in 2004, but despite market saturation, the appetite for a well-executed designer collaboration is still there. And while we can enjoy reminiscing, misty-eyed, over the designer collaborations of seasons past, we must also take a moment to look towards the future, and hope that H&M’s harnessing of pre-loved is a sign of things to come. Here’s hoping. — Shopping editor, Joy Montgomery

The Simone Rocha minidress

Despite launching in lockdown, the Simone Rocha collection was a sellout, thanks to its whimsical dresses, outerwear and accessories that stayed true to the Irish designer’s DNA. You can nab the collection’s checked, asymmetric minidress in H&M’s 20th anniversary drop, which I’ve styled here over wide-leg jeans.

The Rabanne party top + trackies

If, like me, you found the metallic dresses from the Rabanne collaboration a little overwhelming, then you need to see the collection’s chainmail top, which is an ideal entry point into the brand’s spangled world. I’ve styled it here with the side-stripe tracksuit bottoms, to create the perfect high-low pairing.

The Giambattista Valli men’s jacket

From looking at it you wouldn’t know that this leather jacket was part of the tulle heavy Giambattista Valli collaboration, but it’s a real hidden gem from the menswear line. It’s a men’s size small, which on me (I’m between a UK 8 and a 10), offers the perfect level of slouch – and is so very 2024.

The Simone Rocha tartan trousers

When I tried on the Simone Rocha collection in my previous role as shopping editor at Who What Wear, it was this pair of tartan trousers that truly captured my attention. As someone who is generally ambivalent about print, tartan has, for some reason, always appealed, and these frilled trousers instantly add interest to a white shirt or a tank.

The Balmain leather blazer

The XL shoulder pads! The gold buttons! The double-breasted fit! There really is no other collection that this jacket could be a part of than Balmain X H&M. This is EU size 34, so a little snug on me, but you can still tell how much of a show-stopper it is (Vogue’s Julia Hobbs has this sitting in her wardrobe FYI). Lean into the 2010s vibe with slim-fit trousers and a kitten heel.

The Erdem leopard-print coat

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: a leopard-print coat is an outerwear hero – one of those pieces you can throw on and instantly feel like an It-girl in. Erdem’s iteration from its 2017 collaboration with H&M is worth your attention, thanks to its cocooning fit and fluffy finish. I tried on size EU 38 (a UK 10), and I would say this is pretty true to size.

Shop more collection highlights

Read more about the history of the collection below:

That H&M is celebrating 20 years of designer collaborations seems unbelievable – even to the women who have powered them – but it is true. “We thought it was going to be a one-off, and we constantly also ask ourselves if there is going to be a continuation,” said Ann-Sofie Johansson, chief creative advisor at H&M, who took over the programme in 2015 from Margareta van den Bosch, who steered the ship for the first decade. “We had an idea that it should continue, but not for 20 years!”

Asked about the origin of the concept during a meeting in Stockholm, van den Bosch said, “the idea came from the marketing department, actually.” In 2004, the much respected creative director Donald Schneider was working with (not for) the Swedish company. “Up to that point,” wrote John Colapinto in a 2015 New Yorker profile on the designer collaborations, “Schneider said, anyone who mentioned an H&M ad campaign would talk primarily about the models. ‘I wondered, could we do a campaign where people talked about the fashion?’ ”

Celebrity culture as we know it today really took hold in the early ’00s – 2003 was the first year all 12 covers of American Vogue featured non-models, for example. Through its collaborations H&M has played with celebrity in an interesting way. The mission of the company is essentially Bauhausian: good design, industrially produced, at good value for the masses. A partnership with someone like Balmain’s Olivier Rousteing or Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons allows the company to provide designs to their customers that would otherwise be unattainable; in return, the reach of the company expands the reach and fame of the designer or brand. William Middleton, one of Karl Lagerfeld’s biographers, wrote that “the moment that Karl turned from being an important designer into an international superstar,” was the day Karl Lagerfeld for H&M was launched with a party at the Centre Pompidou.

Some tipping points in fashion you can put an exact date to: One of them is 12 November 2004 when Karl Lagerfeld for H&M went on sale. It was an unlikely pairing (in fact a good number of H&M collaborations have been described as odd marriages), that indisputably upended the world of fashion in a number of ways. Not only did Karl Lagerfeld for H&M normalize the high/low mix that is at the heart of the individual style of dressing favoured today, but it piggybacked off of the then-new era of luxury and star designers that started to take hold in the ’90s. “Usually clothing chain H&M nabs ideas from top designers. This time, it snatched the designer himself – Chanel’s Karl Lagerfeld,” quipped the AP at the time, but as usual, the designer got the last word. “Design is very important, and design is not a matter of price only,” Lagerfeld told the Hartford Courant, essentially articulating the ethos of the designer collaborations.

Versace, Balmain, Roberto Cavalli – those are all globally recognised names, but Viktor & Rolf, Maison Martin Margiela and Erdem are less so. How does H&M choose which designers to work with? Johansson explained that the team has a wishlist. “You have to have the feeling for when something is kind of on the rise, when we think our customers are ready for it, and to really capture the zeitgeist,” she said. Feedback from colleagues, many of whom are the same age as the target audience, is factored in as well. “I think it’s really nice to be able to present designers and brands to the younger generation who might not know about these brands or know the fashion history,” said Johansson. “I think it also makes fashion less shallow in that sense; it actually gives context to fashion, you can see how something started and the evolution and the development of things. I think that is super interesting, and we can show that with these collaborations.”

In some cases, as with Maison Martin Margiela, Versace and Toga, to name some examples, the designer collaboration collections are reissues or reinterpretations of a designer or a house’s archives. Sweden has given the world H&M and Spotify, among other things, and while The New York Times wrote in 2005 that H&M was “beginning to resemble the retail version of designer Cliffs Notes,” a better metaphor would be a best-of playlist. And that’s how some designers are thinking of these projects. Balmain's Olivier Rousteing said in an interview that “the allover beaded dress comes from my very first Balmain collection, so it’s like I’m literally giving to H&M the beginning of my story.” He is of a generation that grew up with the designer collaborations, as is Simone Rocha, H&M’s 2021 collaborator, who keeps the Lanvin for H&M pieces she bought back in the day in her parent’s homes.

When it comes to the evolution of the designer collaboration programme itself, Johansson notes that the collections have become more decorative over time. “We know that glamour sells really well,” she said when interviewed about the Giambattista Valli project. Things are different behind the scenes, too. How much a designer chooses to be involved or not is down to the individual, but Johansson has observed that the era of the untouchable icon has shifted toward an approach that is more collective; “it’s more about teamwork. I think there has been a change between generations,” she said. “[With] the old generation it was just one, the big name, and he or she had a team around him or her. The young one can also be iconic, but it’s more generous. Times have changed, you're not that sole person any longer, you have to work together with others, and then you have to respect them… [There’s] much more give and take, and everyone has a say. And to be honest, that is very much how we work at H&M.”

One of the ways H&M will mark the 20 years of designer collaborations is with limited releases of pre-loved pieces sourced from vintage dealers and Sellpy. (These are shown in the photographs taken against the blue background.) There will be eight drops, seven in the US and Europe; the eighth will be online. That H&M collaboration pieces have become covetable collectibles in their own right is a full-circle moment, one which brings to mind the polka dots in the 2008 H&M/Comme des Garçons collection that brought a customer named Michelle Olley so much joy. Speaking to The Guardian she said: “I’m quite high on fashion right now. I have never been able to afford Comme.” Fashion love, requited. Sigh.

The timeline

2004

Karl Lagerfeld for H&M: Famous first

WHO: Fashion’s one and only Karl, Karl Lagerfeld, the indefatigable multi-tasker who, at the time was designing for Chanel and Fendi. The high-low shock of Lagerfeld designing for the masses was played up in Johan Renck’s must-see promotional video in which the incongruence of the partnership is built up. “Karl, Karl, is it true?” asked a distressed fellow. “Of course it’s true,” the designer responds. “But it’s cheap,” the man insists. “What a depressing word,” is Lagerfeld’s retort. “It’s all about taste. If you are cheap, nothing helps.” Touché. The success of his collaboration with H&M set the blueprint for those that have followed – and not only with the Swedish company.

WHAT: An on-offline of clothing and accessories, plus a fragrance called Liquid Karl. The collection was based on the designer’s own slimmed-down silhouette and preference for black and white. “Mr. Lagerfeld said the H&M line will, in any case, more closely resemble the graphic style of Lagerfeld Gallery,” Cathy Horyn reported. “I’m not going to do what I do for Chanel,” he said. “That’s copied enough.” The offering included tailored cashmere coats, leggings to wear with a sequined black blazer, a floaty Deco-style chiffon cocktail dress, and a fit and flare LBD.

WHEN: The on-sale date was 12 November 2004.

WHERE: Karl Lagerfeld for H&M was launched on 17 September 2004 in Paris. Guests received an invitation featuring a drawing of the designer’s face bidding them to come to Georges, the rooftop restaurant at the Centre Pompidou. “It was a beautiful summer evening, and everyone was out on the terrace under the open sky, drinking champagne and having little bites to eat,” Donald Schneider recounted in William Middleton’s biography Paradise Now: The Extraordinary Life of Karl Lagerfeld. “There were sofas and chairs everywhere, it felt a little like a beach club. Karl came up the escalators with his entourage and it was like Michael Jackson entering.” It was at this moment, Middleton states, “that Karl turned from being an important designer into an international superstar.”

KARL LAGERFELD: “I was always quite fascinated by H&M because people who buy Chanel and other expensive things buy there, too. For me, this is fashion today.” he told The New York Times. In a press statement, he declared: “We both had the same idea independently. I’ve been fascinated by what they do for a long time, and they were apparently interested in what I represent.”

MARGARETA VAN DEN BOSCH: “It’s both fascinating and motivating to work with Karl Lagerfeld.”

2005

Stella McCartney for H&M: Cool Brittania

WHO: Stella McCartney, a self-proclaimed member of rock’s royalty (see her get-up for the 1999 Met Gala), has always known how to make a splash. Her supermodel friends walked in her Central Saint Martins graduate collection, and in 1997, she became the youngest person to head a French maison when she was appointed creative director of Chloé. With the backing of the Gucci Group she started her eponymous – and sustainable – brand in 2001. Just as she followed Karl Lagerfeld at Chloé, so she did as H&M’s second designer collaborator.

WHAT: A 40-piece womenswear and accessories collection that the designer described as “the best of Stella McCartney.” This translated into a mix of tailored pieces, soft dressing like lingerie tops and big sweaters to wear with skinny jeans. One of the looks, a washed silk, belted jumpsuit with knicker-style legs that ties at the knee is now in the collection of the V&A. The collection, wrote British Vogue at the time, “had just the right balance of Stella’s sense of humour and stylish charm. There were baggy, silky trousers drawn in at the ankle, low-waisted dresses, satin dungarees and even a budget version of her sexy tie-above-the-knee boots. [A short-sleeved black satin jacket] caused quite a stir… tuxedo-style coats and tulip-skirted trench coats were all recognisably Stella – so, for that matter were the strictly vegetarian canapés, washed down by plenty of champagne for a crowd aware that they were witness to a true fashion moment.”

WHEN: The on-sale date was 10 November 2005.

WHERE: The Stella McCartney for H&M collection was launched on 25 October 2005 at the St Olaves School building in London. There was a charming runway show organised like a game of musical chairs as well as themed rooms (Games, Secret Garden, Chill Out) for guests to enjoy. At the close of the evening, reported British Vogue, “fireworks lit the sky above the ‘Stella McCartney for H&M’-shaped box hedge outside.”

STELLA McCARTNEY: “The days of elitism in fashion are over,” the designer told The New York Times. “It is a misconception of the luxury goods industry that the top end of ready-to-wear is not always accessible. I want people to understand what I do, instead of only seeing something in a glossy magazine.” Speaking with Suzy Menkes, she said: “There is a merit to having clothes that are not so precious.”

MARGARETA VAN DEN BOSCH: “Stella McCartney’s designs are modern and cool yet classic and wearable. We have long admired her sense of tailoring and femininity. Consumer research further confirmed the strong appeal of her brand.”

Watch the commercial.

2006

Viktor & Rolf for H&M: Opposites attract

WHO: Viktor & Rolf’s Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren, a Dutch duo who won the Hyères Fashion Festival prize in 1993 and are known for exploring the fantastical and surreal elements of fashion. Their first store, “which is entirely upside down,” opened in Milan in 2005 and seemed to have left an impression on the Swedish retail giant. “Viktor & Rolf for H&M suggest a number of opportunities, for customers as well as for the designers and H&M. This is a clever collaboration,” wrote Style.com’s Tim Blanks at the time. “Firstly, H&M presented superstar Karl Lagerfeld, then Stella McCartney, who is just right for their target group and now; the challenge. Viktor & Rolf are cherished within the international fashion crowd but still a little bit unknown outside it. This will put an end to that.”

WHAT: Apparel, underwear and accessories for men and women that offers tailoring, casual separates, festive attire and, in a first for the designer collaboration series, bridalwear. British Vogue reported that the wedding dress in the collection of which just 1,000 were made in sizes 6 to 8 was “the first in H&M’s 59-year history.”

“The look is modern couture meets deluxe sportswear… with a love theme,” noted the press materials. Said Horsting: “We thought, we are here at the high end of fashion and H&M is at the cheap end. We’re such unlikely partners, so that’s what it should be about – a marriage of opposites with the wedding dress as the symbol of exclusivity.” In addition to the “Cinderella” moment, the collection was riddled with Valentines: a khaki trench had a heart-shaped belt buckle and menswear pieces featured crossed arrows.

WHEN: The on-sale date was 9 November 2006.

WHERE: The Viktor & Rolf for H&M collaboration was launched on 27 October 2006 in Bel-Air, California with a runway show and party that built on the bridal theme in the collection. “We were thinking of a celebrity wedding because they don’t last very long. That’s why we thought of LA,” Snoeren told British Vogue. The festivities included a stag party with burlesque dancers, and an orchestra playing Madonna’s hit “Like a Virgin.” At the end of the catwalk on which the collection was shown was a 12-foot high wedding cake that was cut at the end of the show.

VIKTOR & ROLF: “If haute couture is the most sublime form of fashion, H&M is fashion at its most democratic. Our roots are based in couture. It’s the heart and soul of our work. But we also love to play with opposites: transformation is a key element of our signature style. For us, fashion is an antidote to reality.”

MARGARETA VAN DEN BOSCH: “We are fascinated by Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren’s unique way of working with design, combining their artistic talent with great craftsmanship.”

Watch the video. | Watch the fashion show.

2007

Roberto Cavalli at H&M: The life of the party

WHO: Robert Cavalli, the jet-set Italian designer who founded his brand in 1972 in Florence with hippie deluxe wear before changing direction and becoming a go-to for louche and lavish dresses for liberated femmes. As Cavalli stated in the commercial for this project, which featured – what else? – a posse of models enjoying a pool party at his Florentine home: “I am the party.”

WHAT: Apparel and accessories for men and women, and lingerie for her – a first for the designer collaboration series. The focus of the ready-to-wear was body-revealing eveningwear, some beaded or metallic, and a good majority featuring animal prints. Much of the collection, explained van den Bosch, was “built around a selection of Roberto Cavalli’s favourite pieces throughout the years.” Jorgen Andersson, H&M’s marketing director told British Vogue: “When working with Cavalli, we found him to be a true connoisseur of the art of living. Fashion can be glamour and fantasy, and at its best can even make reality a little more fun. Wearing Cavalli’s creations is all about that.”

WHEN: The on-sale date was 8 November 2007.

WHERE: The Roberto Cavalli at H&M collection was launched on 25 October 2007 at the Salone delle Fontane in Rome. True to form there was a red carpet which led, according to the press release, into a space designed to look like a “gigantic VIP lounge”.

ROBERTO CAVALLI: “As the first Italian designer in the history of H&M, I enthusiastically welcomed this invitation, proud to bring the lively and positive spirit of my work to a new audience,” read the designer’s statement. “I love freedom and challenges: breaking down barriers, experimenting in different directions. H&M is all this for me. I will add a dash of festivity and dreams.”

MARGARETA VAN DEN BOSCH: “Roberto Cavalli’s fashion is not only about the red carpet but foremost about a positive and optimistic attitude. It’s about enjoying the good things in life with a large dose of fashion glamour…. [He] has created a world of his own, iconic and full of fantasy, when it comes to colours, prints and style. There is no place for shyness and no possibility of ending up with a mainstream wardrobe of everyday basics. The Roberto Cavalli collection represents an exuberant, successful lifestyle.”

2008

H&M/Comme des Garçons: Avant garde

WHO: Rei Kawakubo, who was born in Tokyo and studied fine arts and literature before finding her way to fashion and establishing Comme des Garçons in 1973. The designer once said that she is “on a mission to challenge conformity.” Her eternal crusading to do so has pushed her work to the extremes, especially when it comes to the relationship of clothing to the body. Vogue has dubbed Kawakubo “fashion’s visionary.” The idea of pairing a so-called high-brow or “intellectual” brand with a masstige one raised eyebrows: “It has been dubbed the oddest marriage in the fashion industry,” wrote The Guardian.

WHAT: Clothing and accessories for men and men, childrenswear and a unisex fragrance. Said van den Bosh: “It is a particularly exciting but also very wearable collection featuring her signature deconstructed tailored garments and well-cut classics in special fabrics.” The signature piece was a Victorian coat dress with ruffle details. There was a chic navy trench, polka dots to wear from head-to-toe and zippered wallets. Deconstruction made its appearance in the form of a boiled wool jacket, a kawaii touch was the scalloped edges on a pleated skirt. “I thought it would be an exciting event, [selling] Comme des Garçons clothes in places where they have never been sold to people who may not yet understand Comme des Garçons,” said Kawakubo.

WHEN: There were two on-sale dates. Timed to the opening of H&M’s second store in Tokyo in the Harajuku area, “where street culture and high fashion fuse together,” as the company noted. The collection debuted there and in the Ginza store on 8 November. It was released to the rest of the world five days later.

WHERE: According to a press release, customers started queuing on Wednesday prior to the Saturday launch. Observing this, Kawakubo said: “The first reaction from the customers is beyond our expectations. Comme des Garçons’s spirit together with H&M’s commercial sense seems to work very well.”

REI KAWAKUBO: “I have always been interested in the balance between creation and business. It is a dilemma, although for me creation has always been the first priority. It is a fascinating challenge to work with H&M since it is a chance to take the dilemma to its extreme, and try to solve it.”

MARGARETA VAN DEN BOSCH: “We have tremendous respect for Kawakubo’s fashion philosophy of questioning fashion’s ingrained patterns, and admire her artistic approach to design. We are particularly excited that the collection will be launched in Japan, Kawakubo’s native country, at the same time as the launch of our new store there.”

2009

Matthew Williamson for H&M: Summer lovin’

WHO: Matthew Williamson, a graduate of Central Saint Martins who launched his own line in 1997. Its success was buoyed by a cheering section of beautiful A-list friends, who redefined boho for the ’00s in his colour-drenched, sparkly clothes that evoked a kind of follow-the-sun, party-circuit wanderlust. As Plum Sykes wrote in a 2001 Vogue profile, Williamson “lives a Day-Glo life. He just can’t help it.”

WHAT: A two-part collaboration, at that time H&M’s largest, that celebrated summertime, and marked the designer’s first foray into menswear. “The collection is full of colour and a feeling of happiness. It’s elegant, but in a relaxed way, a little bit bohemian with some ethnic influences.” said van den Bosch. The women’s line was also representative of the span of Williamson’s career (which had been documented in a 2007 10-year retrospective at the Design Museum in London). According to the press materials, “a bias-cut graphic butterfly print dress with grosgrain straps is an update of an outfit from Williamson’s first ever show.” Inspired by his own wardrobe, the designer created his first menswear looks for this collaboration.

WHEN: Delivered in two drops, the on-sale date for womenswear was 23 April, while the coed pieces dropped on 19 May 2009.

WHERE: The Matthew Williamson for H&M collection was launched on 28 April 2009 with a party in Manhattan aboard The Majesty, which was docked at South Street Seaport and illuminated in pink. The host and his helpers were dressed in nautical looks. Grace Jones performed.

MATTHEW WILLIAMSON: “I have aimed to incorporate a styling juxtaposition where global inspiration is fused with quintessential English style,” Williamson said. “Colour is one of the defining aspects of my signature style. I focused on the iconic peacock motif seen across my collections to develop a palette of blues, chartreuse and emerald. The spirit of the collection is both covetable and precious.”

MARGARETA VAN DEN BOSCH: “Matthew has such a good eye and a way for working with prints that he mixes up in a new way. When he combines these things, you get a very contemporary London look. It’s for people who want to look special, but his clothes can also be worn in a nonchalant way – you can really play around with them. He is fantastic with piling on colour, said in a statement.

See the looks. | Watch the commercial.

2009

Jimmy Choo for H&M: Stilettos and the city

WHO: Tamara Mellon (a one-time Vogue accessories editor) and then-president of Jimmy Choo, the brand she co-founded with the cobbler Jimmy Choo in 1996. Within four years, and a boost from Sex and the City – in season three (2000) Carrie Bradshaw declared: “With no man in sight, I decided to rescue my ankles from a life of boredom. By purchasing too many pairs of Jimmy Choo shoes” – it was one of the world’s most covetable shoe brands.

WHAT: This is the first, and at this point only, accessories in the designer collaboration programme. It was also a first for Choo: in addition to footwear, the collection included ready-to-wear and accessories for men, both completely new categories for the shoe brand. “Possibly better than the must-have-it-this-minute vibe of the collection is its affordability. Every piece is priced for H&M’s Buy Now, Wear Now approach to fashion,” noted Vogue. “The H&M customer is slightly younger, yet we wanted to stay true to what Jimmy Choo is,” Mellon told the magazine. “There is a sense of rock chick but always with added elegance. The Jimmy Choo AW ’09 collection had a big Debbie Harry and chic punk-rock inspiration – leopard, neon studs – so that was our starting point. We were not sure at first whether we could use real leathers, studs, crystals and rivets, but when we found what was possible, it completely exceeded our expectations.” “Shoes are every fashionista’s passion, and who doesn’t dream about a pair from Jimmy Choo?” said van den Bosch in a statement. “The matching clothes are clean and sharp and work perfectly with the shoes that are heavily detailed with studs, buckles, prints, eyelets or perforated.”

WHEN: The on-sale date was 14 November 2009.

WHERE: The Jimmy Choo for H&M collection was launched on 2 November 2009 in Hollywood, California with a lavish party in a private residence high above the famous Sunset Strip in the Hollywood Hills, and featured a performance by M.I.A.

TAMARA MELLON: “The Jimmy Choo for H&M collection embodies the attitude and spirit of laid-back party glamour,” Mellon said in a statement. “Jimmy Choo will bring to H&M a sophisticated, fashion forward, accessible and glamorous collection – the perfect party pieces to buy now and then wear out that night!” Speaking with Vogue, she explained, “H&M actually approached us to work with them. It was an immediate ‘yes.’ I have been watching what the brand has done with other designers, and the product is so well executed, and the idea is so pioneering, that we also felt flattered.”

MARGARETA VAN DEN BOSCH: “We adore Jimmy Choo’s shoes and bags. They are glamorous and sexy, and they add instant style to the simplest of outfits. I like the way we have worked with clothes to accessorise the shoes and bags rather than the other way around. This collaboration is particularly exciting because it’s our first shoe designer collection.”

See the collection. | Watch the video.

2009, 2010

Sonia Rykiel pour H&M: Vive la coquette!

WHO: Nathalie Rykiel, president and artistic director of her mother’s namesake company, founded in 1968. The flame-haired Left Bank icon became synonymous with colourful, often striped, knitwear and sexual liberation.

WHAT: A two-part collaboration, and the programme’s first holiday offering, that launched with lingerie and accessories, a knitwear collection (featuring saturated citrus colours, graphic black and whites, and shiny bedazzlements), for women and girls, followed. “Rykiel style is more than fashion, it is a lifestyle. It is a very French elegance, but more than that it is very Parisian, and even more than that it is very Left Bank. It is the incarnation of the Saint-Germain-des-Prés woman,” said Nathalie Rykiel in a statement. “With this lingerie collection, the house’s signature chic and seduction is available for all women.” These “little nothings” were designed around themes including ’20s-inspired loungewear, stripes (bien sûr), and a “Belle en Rykiel” slogan written in rhinestones. Vogue’s verdict? “It’s everything we expected, with all those great motifs that made us love her in the first place: bows, candy stripes, berets, rhinestones and great knits. And all at a very pocket-friendly price.”

WHEN: This collaboration was available through H&M and, unusually, in select Sonia Rykiel boutiques. The on-sale date for part one was 5 December; for part two, 20 February 2010.

WHERE: The Sonia Rykiel pour H&M collection was launched on 1 December 2009 at the Grand Palais where a “Parisian fantasyland” – complete with a miniature Saint Germain des Pres, Eiffel Tower, and Arc de Triomphe – were recreated. Lynn Yaeger, reporting for Vogue, set the scene: “A gaggle of perfectly well behaved geese, prim as French schoolchildren, waddles down the catwalk, opening an over-the-top hallucinogenic circus parade to celebrate the “Sonia Rykiel pour H&M" collections….The fowl are followed by carnival floats flaunting nearly naked models (hey, it’s a lingerie line) literally swinging from crystal chandeliers and lolling on satin mattresses. There’s even a team of high-stepping baton twirlers.”

NATHALIE RYKIEL: “It is a hallmark of Sonia Rykiel to think of all women because fashion is about a certain spirit more than a question of means,” she told British Vogue. “This collaboration fits perfectly with our philosophy.”

MARGARETA VAN DEN BOSCH: “Who better than Sonia Rykiel to make lingerie chic! These styles are really new, sensual and very feminine yet ‘dressed’… It’s about looking good underneath for your own sake.”

See the collection. | Watch the film.

2010

Lanvin for H&M: Party haute-y

WHO: Alber Elbaz and Lucas Ossendrijver, artistic director and menswear designer at Lanvin, the oldest existing Parisian couture house, founded in 1889. Elbaz, an Israeli-born designer joined Lanvin, where he worked from 2001 to 2015, from Yves Saint Laurent; Dutchman Ossendrijver came there from Dior Homme in 2006 and left Lanvin in 2018.

WHAT: Party-ready clothing and accessories for women and men. Of note were the colourful, ruffled dresses accessorised with chains, pearls, and romantic bijoux. Faux-fur and zebra-striped toppers added some littenish allure. For men, there were “daywear tuxedos” and dandified track pants. Noted van den Bosch: “Many women love his dresses but they can’t afford them; now is the time I think you can say.”

WHEN: The on-sale date in North America was 20 November, worldwide was 23 November 2010.

WHERE: The collection was teased with a five-minute film, directed by Mike Figgis – imagined as the designer’s dreamscape – and available online from 2 November 2010. The Lanvin for H&M collection was launched on 1 December 2009 in New York at the Pierre Hotel in New York City with a runway show that included “couture” pieces Elbaz had reworked pieces from the collaboration. These, alongside some of the designer’s sketches, were auctioned for charity.

ALBER ELBAZ: “H&M approached us to collaborate, and see if we could translate the dream we created at Lanvin to a wider audience, not just a dress for less. I have said in the past that I would never do a mass-market collection, but what intrigued me was the idea of H&M going luxury rather than Lanvin going public. This has been an exceptional exercise, where two companies at opposite poles can work together because we share the same philosophy of bringing joy and beauty to men and women around the world.”

MARGARETA VAN DEN BOSCH: “It is such an exciting moment. Lanvin will bring to H&M a luxurious French tradition that is also modern and playful.”

See backstage photos. | See the collection.

2011

The Icons of Versace for H&M: Epic

WHO: Donatella Versace, the platinum-haired dynamo who in July 1997 took over the exuberant company her brother founded in 1978 in Milan.

WHAT: Ready-to-wear, menswear, accessories – and for the first time – and home capsule. “The collection includes reeditions inspired by iconic pieces from the archives, as well as more recent designs produced under Donatella’s direction, like gladiatorial studded leathers; leopard and sunset prints; brilliant Op Art patterns; and chainmail… available at hair-raisingly low price point,” wrote Hamish Bowles in Vogue.

WHEN: The on-sale date was 17 November 2011.

WHERE: The Icons of Versace for H&M collection was launched on 8 November 2011 with an epic party on Pier 57 in New York featuring performances by Prince and Nicki Minaj. As one headline declared: “H&M Spares No Expense to Celebrate Its Collaboration With Donatella.” Models walked down a “gold-paved” catwalk, some in one-off show-only pieces. Nicole Phelps wrote of the show that it “synthesised with tremendous verve the house of Versace’s signatures – chainmail minidresses, black leather sheaths picked out with gold studs and a green palm-tree print that symbolised for Donatella her late brother Gianni at the height of his powers – with highlights from her own recent collections. Close observers will recognise fitted eyelet dresses with asymmetrical necklines as dead ringers for numbers from her spring 2011 show, and long strapless numbers with the same military influence as her collection for last fall.”

The decor rivalled the designs. As British Vogue reported, cocktails were served in“a geometric room fashioned out of floor-to-ceiling mirrors and wood panels, created to emulate the shape of a Greek Key; a symbol emblematic of Versace – which then opened to reveal the catwalk.” After Donatella took her bow, “another wall opened, exposing a room with a giant, spinning disco ball of humongous proportions and walls painted with oversized green leaf-like patterns.” And following the performances yet another set of partitions opened to reveal a pop-up shop.

DONATELLA VERSACE: “For the collaboration we’ve brought back from the archives, as well as from more recent collections, some of the icons of Versace such as the bright prints, the Greek key and daring cuts,” the designer said in a statement.

MARGARETA VAN DEN BOSCH: “When I think about Versace I think of iconic items. With this collection for H&M we’ve got the essence of Versace.”

See the runway collection. | Check out the party pics. | Watch the video.

2012

Marni at H&M: Offbeat elegance

WHO: Consuelo Castiglioni, Swiss-born creative director of Marni (until 2016), an Italian brand she co-founded in Milan in 1994 and evolved from a focus on fur and leather into fashion and became, as Hamish Bowles put it in Vogue, “the label of choice for chic hippie nomads.”

WHAT: Apparel and accessories for men and women that celebrate spring with clean-lined yet unexpected silhouettes featuring abstract prints with a slight retro vibe (that were intended not to matchy-match but clash), charming straw hats, and jewel-like belts. The collection verifies the truth of Castiglioni’s 2001 statement that, “In a world of conformity, my clothes offer a real choice.”

WHEN: The on-sale date was 8 March 2012.

WHERE: After the release of a Sophia Coppola-directed collection film in February, the Marni for H&M collection was launched on 7 February 2012 in Los Angeles at the John Snowden House (a Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece) with a Moroccan-themed party and a performance by Bryan Ferry.

CONSUELO CASTIGLIONI: “I wanted to create a true Marni wardrobe by revisiting all our favourite pieces in signature fabrics and prints,” said the designer in a statement. “As always, I love juxtaposing prints and colours, mixing modern tribal with Bauhaus graphics and adding sporty utilitarian elements.”

MARGARETA VAN DEN BOSCH: “Marni has such a modern touch with everything they do, mixing prints and accessories in a playful but chic way. It’s fantastic to see how Consuelo Castiglioni coordinates her designs, matching new combinations of print and colour, with such incredible craftsmanship behind every piece.”

See the campaign imagery.

2012

Maison Martin Margiela with H&M: Déjà vu

WHO: The collective Maison Martin Margiela (MMM), renown for its “tradition of radical reinterpretation,” as Lynn Yaeger put it, maintained the tradition of anonymity (the house label consists of four simple white stitches) set by the house’s namesake, Martin Margiela, who established his brand in Paris in 1988 and retired in 2009. Margiela famously preferred to communicate by fax, and the announcement of this collaboration took a similar format, with information being provided in a table format showing different points of commonality between MMM and H&M.

WHAT: A collection of re-editions of Maison Martin Margiela garments and accessories from various seasons for men and women. Writing for Vogue, Yaeger described the collaboration as “a meeting of the rarefied avant-garde and the wonderfully plebeian that we are happy to report has not resulted in diluting the mad signatures of the brand. Instead, the collaboration offers a look back at MMM’s most delightfully outré greatest hits, a retrospective that includes surreal purses sprouting gloves, suit jackets meant for gentle giants, one-shouldered dresses with startling dippy hems, and other adventures in reconstruction. For those who were too young or too broke to wear these things the first time around, the clothes are a wonderful autumn surprise, an early holiday present for the fashion-forward.”

WHEN: The on-sale date was 15 November 2012.

WHERE: The Maison Martin Margiela with H&M collection was launched on October 24 2012 in New York all throughout the landmarked but run-down Five Beekman Street building, which was done up, as the press materials put it, in “the label’s signature white-painted style.” There were dance performances “in squares of sand” choreographed by Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker and art installations created for the event in various media by Daniel Arsham, Frederique Chauveaux and Noémie Goudal. “Maison Martin Margiela believes in showing its work outside of the traditional context. This mix of installation and performance captures the spirit of the house, and allowed the artists to interpret the collaboration collection in ways they saw fit,” the Belgian brand said in a statement.

MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA: “We are very happy to present Maison Martin Margiela pieces with H&M, offering a new interpretation of our vision. The democracy of our fashion has always been at the centre of our creativity, and the collaboration with H&M allows us to push this instinct further. We will bring together the contrasting universes of the two houses in ways that will surprise all.”

MARGARETA VAN DEN BOSCH: “Maison Martin Margiela is one of the most important and influential fashion houses of the past three decades…. This collaboration will be a great and memorable fashion moment.”

See the campaign photographs here and here. | Check out the party pictures. | Watch the commercial. | Watch the lookbook come to life.

2013

Isabel Marant pour H&M Collection: Le boho

WHO: A Parisian through and through, Isabel Marant was customising her own clothing long before she enrolled at Studio Berçot. She launched her own line in 1994 and established herself as France’s finest proponent of an unstudied, bohemian look with an edge. As the press release put it, “Mixing urban attitude, boho elegance and rock ‘n’ roll spirit, Marant delivers a genuine French allure.”

WHAT: A collection of wardrobe pieces and accessories for women and teenagers, and the designer’s first-ever menswear collection. Feather prints carried over from silk blouses to second-skin trousers with embroidery details at the pocket that could be paired with a double-breasted tweed car coat or a shawl-collared and belted smoking jacket. Knits were chunky, scarves fringed, earrings dangled and leather trousers side-laced. Sequined stilettos shared space with cuffed cone-heeled boots. Van den Bosch praised the designer’s “knack for urban sophistication and bohemia” and said the collection “oozes the energy of cool Parisian style.”

WHEN: The on-sale date was 14 November 2013. (British Vogue reported that Sienna Miller, queen of boho, “fresh-faced from rehearsals,” arrived almost an hour early to shop preview event in London.)

WHERE: The only place the Isabel Marant pour H&M Collection could have been launched was in Paris, and so it was on 24 October 2013. The celebration took the form of a street fair, complete with “brasseries, neon signs, pizza shops, souvenir shops, street vendors” and was organised into “cinematic settings that mixed images, films and models,” as a press release put it. Performances by Grandmaster Melle Mel and Rappers Delight, originally of Sugarhill Gang, underlined the feeling of ’90s nostalgia the organisers were after.

ISABEL MARANT: “I aim at creating something real, that women want to wear in their everyday lives, with a certain carelessness, which I think is very Parisian: you dress up, but do not pay too much attention and still look sexy,” said the designer in a statement. “The collection is infused with this kind of easiness and attitude. Everything can be mixed following one’s own instincts: my take on fashion is all about personality.”

MARGARETA VAN DEN BOSCH: “The way Isabel Marant mixes different elements in her collections, creating a style that is effortless and urban, makes her very contemporary. She has a fantastic eye for ethnic detail and the rare ability to create something that people really want to wear.”

See the campaign imagery. | Watch the video.

2014

Alexander Wang X H&M: No sweat style

WHO: When Alexander Wang established his namesake brand in New York in 2007 at the tender age of 23 he became fashion’s “boy wonder.” known as much for his personal ebullience as with the too-cool-for-school M.O.D. (model-off-duty) aesthetic he popularised. Revelling in contrasts, the downtown partier endorsed athleisure. In no time, Wang became part of the establishment; he was named creative director of Balenciaga in 2012. Adding further to his list of accomplishments, Wang was the first American to have a H&M collaboration, the news of which was announced at the 2014 Coachella Music Festival.

WHAT: Apparel and accessories for men and women. Vogue’s verdict: “The [collection is] exactly the sporty-minded fantasy we were hoping for, with strappy scuba dresses, thick grey pullover sweatshirts, mesh-panelled leggings, cropped bra-tops, leather joggers and parkas. For the accessory-minded, there are gloves (boxing and otherwise), beanies, and duffels in the mix – all replete with standout WANG branding, of course.” And let’s not forget the slides that were as suitable for a locker room as for a bodega run.

WHEN: The on-sale date was 6 November 2014.

WHERE: The Alexander Wang X H&M was celebrated with two launch parties. The first was held on 16 October 2014 in New York at the Armory on the Hudson, which contains an indoor track. Guests were welcomed with beer, popcorn and “branded foam fists.” After the campaign video was played on giant scoreboards, acrobats descended from the ceiling, and then the fashion show got under way. “If one needed proof that the activewear-wherever-you-are craze continues at full stop, they needn’t have looked further than the catwalk: Out stormed a militia of models du jour… borderline sprinting in their Neoprene jackets, WANG-stitched beanies, and compression knit crop-tops,” British Vogue reported. Both Sharaya J and Missy Elliott performed. The headliners at the second fete, held on 4 November at LAN Wave on the Huangpu River in Shanghai were Chris Lee and 2NE1.

ALEXANDER WANG: “The work with their team is an exciting, fun process. They are very open to push boundaries and to set a platform for creativity,” said the designer in a statement. “This will be a great way for a wider audience to experience elements of the Alexander Wang brand and lifestyle.”

MARGARETA VAN DEN BOSCH: Speaking to British Vogue H&M’s head of design said: “We chose Alexander because we had never made a sports collection and I think he really brought sport into fashion.” In a separate interview she stated that “Wang is one of the most important voices in fashion today. He understands exactly what people want to wear and does it with an energy and passion that’s infectious.”

See the campaign imagery. | Check out the party pics. | Watch the video.

2015

Balmain x H&M: Glam slam

WHO: In 2009, Belgian Olivier Rousteing was hired away from Roberto Cavalli to work at the white-hot Balmain. Two years later, the social media-savvy 25-year-old was named creative director of the Parisian couture house founded in 1945. Under Rousteing’s leadership, Balmain became associated with decorative magnificence, sensuality, and inclusion. “I want to talk to my generation: this is my main aim as a designer. “ said Rousteing in a statement. “H&M allows me the unique possibility of bringing everyone into the world of Balmain, get a piece of the dream and create a global #HMBalmaination: a movement of togetherness, fueled on a hashtag. The collaboration felt extremely natural to me: H&M is a brand that everybody connects to. It calls for unity, and I am all for it.” The collaboration was announced at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards where Rousteing walked the red carpet with Kendall Jenner and Jourdan Dunn who were wearing pieces from the collection. (The New Yorker reported the designer “flew twenty-six hours round-trip from Paris to Las Vegas” to do this.)

WHAT: Decorative, fitted clothing and accessories for women and men that referenced Rousteing’s work for Balmain. Speaking with Vogue, the designer said: “If you collaborate with Balmain, you have to know that there can never be any compromise, and that’s something that H&M understood so well. They really pushed themselves to make it happen, to get that feeling of exclusivity and uniqueness. Embellishment has been part of my work at Balmain from the beginning. The allover beaded dress comes from my very first Balmain collection, so it’s like I’m literally giving to H&M the beginning of my story.”

WHEN: The on-sale date was 15 November 2015.

WHERE: The Balmain X H&M collection was launched on 20 October 2015 in New York on Wall Street with a catwalk and a performance by the Backstreet Boys. “The show he put on,” reported Steff Yotka for Vogue, “was a lesson in the past that made him who he is. The set was a beautified subway terminal that played backdrop to a host of dancers voguing through the scene, up and down staircases. The performance may have seemed a random, highfalutin tie-in, but those paying close attention to Rousteing’s origin story know he was a dancer by night while he worked as a design assistant by day in Paris. Then came the supermodels in his jewel-toned and jewel-encrusted pieces, lower-priced but still hand-embellished versions of clothes shown in previous Balmain collections. Why produce remakes of past hits? Because Rousteing remembers the feeling of being a twenty-something – and even younger than that – lusting for runway items, and he wants to deliver the goods to his current band of twenty-something fans.”

OLIVIER ROUSTEING: “For me an H&M collaboration is an achievement,” the designer told Vogue. “I think I’m the only designer who has experienced them in three different ways. When I was a teenager I was a total H&M kid and was always at the front of the queue waiting for the next collaboration. Then, when I went to work at Roberto Cavalli, I was in the shadows for their collaboration with H&M, learning everything that I could. So when it came to my own collaboration with H&M, I remembered how it felt for me when I was young – what were my expectations and what I want the new generation to feel when they see Balmain XH&M. And because I had already worked on a collaboration, I knew how far I could push it, and how I could challenge both myself and H&M to make it the best it could be.”

ANN-SOFIE JOHANSSON: “With its mix of couture spirit and streetwear attitude, Balmain owns a unique style, at once opulent and direct, sensual and energetic,” she said in a statement. “It is also closely linked to the show business and music worlds, which adds another element of surprise.”

See the campaign imagery. | See the runway show. | Check out the backstage pics. | Watch the video.

2016

Kenzo X H&M: We are the world

WHO: Angelinos Carol Lim and Humberto Leon who in 2002 founded Opening Ceremony, a store and eponymous collection that became associated with an indie cool community and aesthetic. The friends were named creative directors of Kenzo, the maison established in 1970 by Japanese designer Kenzo Takada, that became known for a free-spirited, cross-cultural, approach to ready-to-wear with vibrant colours, patterns, and prints.

WHAT: Apparel and accessories for men and women. “The idea is to celebrate where Kenzo Takada began and where we’ve taken it – not only the archive of what he did but what we’ve worked on. We’re taking a look at how the two can merge in a true conversation,” Lim told Vogue. “That extends beyond the vibe of the clothes,” wrote Nicole Phelps. “Takada, like Lim and Leon after him, was an outsider in Paris. He arrived in the mid-’60s, around the time that Yves Saint Laurent was shaking up the old-school haute couture system with his Rive Gauche ready-to-wear. The Japanese-born designer presented his own version of streetwear, and made a point of putting on runway shows that reflected real life. Inclusivity and individuality were guiding principles in the Kenzo collections of the 1970s. Riffing on that concept for the H&M collaboration lookbook, rather than casting professional models, Leon and Lim have recruited friends and influencers.”

WHEN: The on-sale date was 3 November 2016.

WHERE: The Kenzo X H&M collection was launched on 19 October 2018 on Pier 36 in New York. Celebrated image maker Jean-Paul Goude directed a show that, Steff Yotka, writing for Vogue said, “managed to crack the code of how to make high-concept fashion feel highfalutin fun – and they did it by taking a page straight from Kenzo Takada’s book. Back in the ’70s and ’80s, Takada’s runway shows often featured dancers, performers, even make-believe weddings. That was all on display tonight, with a cast of dancers, brass players, drummers, MCs and proper models bumping and strutting around a square runway, sometimes contorting their faces, other times taking tiny staccato steps…. Orange tiger stripe beanies stood erect atop denim jackets and jeans in kelly green tiger stripes. Gypsy silhouette dresses were blown up in size, layered under kimono jackets, and worn with split toe tiger stripe socks and flip-flops.… Lim and Leon mined the Kenzo archive for shapes and techniques they could mix with creations of their own,” she continued. “There was Takada’s relaxed streetwear on the runway, Lim and Leon’s wide-leg trousers from their first collection….”

HUMBERTO LEON: Speaking with Vogue the designer said: “We try to give everything a true authentic story. We’ve always been diverse, we’ve always been inclusive… we’re not doing anything to be on trend. This is just how we’ve always done it.”

ANN-SOFIE JOHANSSON: “It was amazing to see the collection come to life with all its incredible print, colour and energy.”

See the runway show. | Check out the party pics. | Watch the video.

2017

Erdem X H&M: Brideshead remixed

WHO: Erdem Moralioglu, born in Canada, and raised between that country and England, established his brand in London in 2005. The label has become known for pretty historicisms overlaid with queer narratives and the designer for his autonomy. His decision to work with H&M, reported Sarah Mower, was “quite a surprise… because anyone who knows London’s most successfully romantic, cinematically minded independent designer also knows how charmingly adept he is at turning down almost every business approach that’s come his way.”

WHAT: Womenswear and accessories, plus Erdem’s menswear debut – though the larger idea was less about strict categories but fluidity. “The designer turned model to understand what ‘felt right’ and what didn’t,” wrote British Vogue. “Once I figured out where [the menswear collection] was going, I would take the blazer and put on the female fit model and allow that silhouette to affect where the design would go.’ Expect to see the boys borrow from the girls and vice versa. There is one other boundary Erdem has readily revelled in: the mix of formal and informal. It is the unabashed combination of the high and low: the ballgown and the hoodie; the T-shirt and the tux…. To me, it just feels very British,” reflects Erdem of the whole collection.

WHEN: The on-sale date was 2 November 2018.

WHERE: The Erdem X H&M collection was launched on 18 October 2018 at the Ebell Women’s Club in Los Angeles which had been transformed into “an English botanical garden” – where there was a runway show and a performance by Grimes. This was a double debut introducing the collection and Erdem as menswear designer. “The looks he showed hewed to the natty – wool and tweed tailoring, a handful of knits, some durable outerwear, and both suiting and pyjama-style pieces in floral prints and brocade, all of it evoking the vibe of a shambolic crowd week-ending at an English country house,” reported Maya Singer for Vogue. “Courtesy of H&M, Moralioglu discovered that menswear-inspired tailoring fits seamlessly into his soigné womenswear idiom. The other way that this collection departed from the usual fast-fashion collaboration script was that it felt slow. Moralioglu isn’t a particularly trendy designer… so it was only natural that his approach would be to create keepsake pieces. You didn’t get the impression that these clothes were designed to be worn once and carelessly discarded.”

The Secret Life of Flowers, a short film directed by Baz Luhrmann for Erdem X H&M – which Singer summed up as being “ a kind of pop update on Brideshead Revisited,” – was released on 15 October 2017.

ERDEM MORALIOGLU: “To me, this collection was not about taking archive pieces and making them more accessible at all,” the designer told British Vogue. “It was about creating the opposite of fast fashion; it was about creating these pieces that you want and desire because they are beautiful.”

ANN-SOFIE JOHANSSON: “From the moment we started talking with Erdem… I was captured by his vision. For Erdem XH&M he has created an enchanting world full of beauty, delicacy and rich details” said the creative advisor in a statement. Speaking with Sarah Mower, Johansson noted that: “Erdem’s a perfectionist and challenging at the same time. He knows exactly what he wants: The lace should look like this!”

See the runway show. | Check out the backstage pics. | See the collection. | Watch the film.

2018

Moschino [tv] H&M: Prime time

WHO: Jeremy Scott, the Missouri-born independent designer who wowed Paris with his debut collection in 1997 and was creative director of the irreverent Italian brand Moschino (founded in 1983 in Milan) from 2013 to 2023. The news of the collaboration came via a call from Gigi Hadid to Scott that was projected on screens at the 2018 Moschino party at Coachella and online.

WHAT: Mens, womens, accessories, and – a first for a H&M collaboration – petwear plus a “capsule-within-a-collection, with Disney” to mark Mickey’s 90th birthday. “I didn’t hold one thing back,” the designer told Vogue. “Not to be hyperbolic, but this Moschino X H&M collaboration has everything,” wrote Steff Yotka. “Mickey Mouse sweater dresses for sweethearts, leather minis for vamps, padlock bags for hard-core punks, denim overalls for ’90s nostalgists, MTV hoodies for videoheads, plus sequins, faux fur, chain belts, logo tees, and two condom-print shirts that read ‘ready-to-wear.’ The message – other than use protection – is that this is a collection for everyone from the self-proclaimed people’s designer Jeremy Scott. ‘Whenever I design, I think about my friends,’ Scott says.”

WHEN: The collection was released 8 November 2018.

WHERE: The Moschino [tv] H&M collaboration was launched on 14 October 2018 on Pier 36 in New York with a runway show. Diplo was the guest performer. The set recreated Times Square, there were references to musicals (Scott said that if he had a dog, he would name it Matinee), and a runway that looked like a street. “Jeremy Scott’s Moschino, with its gilt-strewn, logo-happy and irreverent but up-with-people vibe, was absolutely begging for a high-low collaboration,” wrote Vogue.“ ‘Cartoon couture,’ as Scott calls it, is just one element in a show that served up oodles of his Moschino-isms…. High and low, haute and street, boy and girl, even… Scott’s minor coup here was pointing up once and for all the old timey-ness of those distinctions.” Guests could step into a giant TV to experience the collection in augmented reality. (As to the “tv” in the collaboration, Scott explained: “We needed a global symbol, and everybody knows what TV means.”

JEREMY SCOTT: “This collection is a gift to my fans and I wanted to give them the most Moschino collection ever,” the designer said in a statement. I tried to include all the ingredients you would expect from one of my shows – cartoon couture mixed with a streetwear vibe doused with hip hop worthy amounts of bling bling.”

ANN-SOFIE JOHANSSON: “Moschino [tv] H&M is the perfect collaboration for fashion right now, mixing together pop, street culture, logos and also glamour. Jeremy Scott is amazing – he knows how to have fun with fashion, and to connect with his fans around the world.”

See the fashion show. | Checkout the backstage pics. | See the campaign imagery.

2019

Giambattista Valli X H&M: Fabulous frou-frou

WHO: Giambattista Valli, a Roman who moved to Paris to design for Emanuel Ungaro, went solo in 2005; he made his couture debut six years later. “We always want to have different takes on the collaborations,” Johansson told Vogue. “It’s the first time we’re working with someone doing couture.” The news was announced at the 2019 amfAR gala in Cannes, where Kendall Jenner, Chris Lee (Li Yuchun), Chiara Ferragni, H.E.R., Bianca Brandolini d’Adda and Ross Lynch walked the red carpet in a limited-edition pre-drop collection designed by Valli.

WHAT: Clothing and accessories for women, with lots of tulle and volume, plus Valli’s first menswear designs. “Usually it’s the girl borrowing from her boyfriend,” reported Vogue, “but ‘now it goes the other way around, Kurt Cobain style,’ Valli said. The designer’s hyper feminine vernacular of embellished frills and plissé-tulle concoctions was given a gender-neutral makeover.” Reporting for the magazine, Tiziana Cardini wrote: “If there’s some truth to the saying ‘opposites attract,’ the collaboration between H&M and designer Giambattista Valli is certainly proof of it. Bringing together a fast-fashion giant and a designer with an haute couture sensibility, a well-heeled posse of beautiful It-girls, and an aesthetic with a decidedly exclusive flavour could’ve come closer to an epic cultural clash than to a match made in heaven. ‘It’s indeed a collaboration rather out of the ordinary,’ acknowledged Valli during a preview.’”

WHEN: The on-sale date of the pre-collection was 25 May; for the mainline it was 7 November 2019.

WHERE: The Giambattista Valli X H&M collaboration was launched on 25 October 2019 in Rome with a fashion show at the ornate Palazzo Doria Pamphilj, after which guests proceeded to The Plaza Hotel where they enjoyed tunes by Peggy Gou and Seth Troxler.

GIAMBATTISTA VALLI: “The idea is to bring the Valli DNA of extraordinary, of one-of-a-kind, of uniqueness, of couture. We have our fans and they see all these beautiful moments on the red carpet, Valli girls at official events. It’s a nice way to share this flavour with them,” the designer told Nicole Phelps. The code name for the collaboration, he explained, was Project Love. The thing that makes me most happy in life is if I can make someone happy. It’s beautiful if I can do that for a wider group of Valli girls and Valli boys.”

ANN-SOFIE JOHANSSON: “We know that glamour sells really well,” she told Cardini. In conversation with Vogue India the creative advisor said: “We chose Giambattista Valli… because he is the undisputed master of couture, with an amazing ability to create strong silhouettes,” she said in conversation with “What really makes this particular collaboration unique is the personal details included in the collection, such as Giambattista’s own lips on a belt, shoes and jewellery, and a replica of the pearl necklace he is never seen without.”

See the fashions show. | See the pre-collection. | See the campaign imagery. | See the collection.

2021

Simone Rocha X H&M: Family values

WHO: London-based Irish designer Simone Rocha, a proponent of hyper feminine clothes, often rendered in pastel colours and bejewelled with pearls. “My brand has always been grounded in a type of modern femininity that is off-kilter and takes you by surprise or is provocative,” Rocha told British Vogue.

WHAT: Clothing and accessories for the whole family, plus a beauty product called a “pink stain pot.” The retrospective aspect of the collection was deliberate, although the designer emphasised that this was not an offering of re-editions, but considered remixes. “It’s 10 years now since I started,” she said, “so it was nice to look back through the archive. It felt important to pick out pivotal moments that you could recognise as my codes, to share my identity.”

For Mower, the collaboration was “an expanded microcosm of Simone Rocha’s entire Irish-Chinese feminine-feminist world for all the family, seen right through to the pink perspex hangers and sugar-almond pink packaging… As a holistic amplification of the identity of an independent house, it has the thoroughness of the H&M collaborations with Martin Margiela, Versace and Comme des Garçons,” she wrote. “Those are benchmarks which aren’t lost on Rocha, who grew up thrilled to be able to get her hands on clothes designed by her heroes in the 2000s. ‘There’s still a Lanvin X H&M box in my teenage bedroom at my parent’s home in Dublin!’”

WHEN: The on-sale date was 11 March 2021.

WHERE: Due to pandemic restrictions the Simone Rocha X H&M collaboration was launched on 25 October 2019 via a “pop-up book AR experience,” featuring artwork by painter Wei Wei and a cast of the designer’s friends. Noted Johansson: “This is one of the most innovative collection events we have ever created here at H&M. The collection truly comes to life with the help of AR…. It’s a very new take on a fashion party or runway show!”

SIMONE ROCHA: “H&M is the ultimate collaboration, but I collaborate with friends all the time in my own brand and I wanted to bring that to this platform,” Rocha told British Vogue. “I wanted to use this talent to show that this collection has come from a sense of community and to portray how I want people to wear it, which is a very familial, human and natural way.”

ANN-SOFIE JOHANSSON: “We were inspired to work with a female designer who spends so much time thinking about contemporary femininity and womanhood,” she told British Vogue. In a separate interview Johansson noted: “The studio is a little haven of mindfulness. The team is so synchronised they hardly have to speak and everyone is dressed so beautifully. It was inspiring to see people dress that beautifully every day.”

See the campaign imagery. | See the collection. | See the Simone Roch x H&M AR book.

2021

Toga Archives X H&M: Unexpected

WHO: Yasuko Furuta studied at Esmod in Tokyo and Paris before founding Toga in 1997. Though based in Japan, she has been showing in London since 2014. Profiling the designer for Vogue in 2007, Mark Holgate wrote: “Furuta thinks Toga should be a composite of what women need in their ideal wardrobe: something vintage, something athletic, something utterly feminine, and something decidedly masculine.”

WHAT: Released in the lead-up to the brand’s 25th anniversary (in 2022) this clothing and accessories collection for women and men was based on the house archives, and focused on tailoring, scarf prints and Swiss-cheese like cut-outs in unexpected places.

WHEN: The on-sale date was 2 September 2021.

WHERE: Due to pandemic restrictions, the collection was revealed on 20 July 2021 via a campaign photographed by Johnny Dufort, and styled by Jane How, in London at the Barbican. (Dufort went on to create the collection film for the autumn 2022 collection.)

YASUKO FURUTA: “Fashion can communicate ideas and interests immediately and non-verbally. With Toga, I have explored the concept of the customer having agency over what they are wearing, a decision that conveys their personality instantly: they can choose to have bare skin underneath a hole in their skirt, or put trousers underneath. I would love for this H&M collection to introduce that idea to a global audience.”

ANN-SOFIE JOHANSSON: “We are huge fans of versatile design at H&M, which is why Yasuko Furuta’s ingenious pieces for Toga are so appealing. Her signature cut-outs, for example, can be set against bare skin or paired with a sequined underlayer to glamorous effect. We are thrilled to be able to bring her playful but intellectual style to our customers.”

2023

Mugler H&M: Fierce, fluid, empowering

WHO: Before taking on fashion, New Englander Casey Cadwallader earned a degree in architecture from Cornell University. In 2017, he was named creative director of Mugler (established by Thierry Mugler in 1974); a maison known for power dressing, creature-like get-ups (insects, robots), and showmanship. Building on that legacy, Cadwallader once told British Vogue that his aim is to “start a conversation around what powerful modern femininity means.”

WHAT: Womenswear, including archival reissues (Manfred Thierry Mugler was involved in the early stage of the project development). Key looks included an almost all-black line-up with pops of green, pink and blue, made use of stretch, leather and velvet, cut-outs and sheer panels, and featured bodycon and strong-shouldered silhouettes At H&M’s request, catsuits were included. Most notable,” noted José Criales-Unzueta, “was the introduction of proper menswear – although the designer knows that people of all genders are already wearing his Mugler line.”

WHEN: The on-sale date was 11 May 2023. Cadwallader emphasised that the collection was “merchandised all together in the store, which speaks to the way I think about gender.”

WHERE: Following the 23 March release of a music video of Stardust’s 1998 hit “Music Sounds Better With You” performed by Shygirl, Arca, Amaare and Eartheater, the Mugler X H&M collaboration was launched on 19 April 2023 at the Park Avenue Armory in New York with a runway show and musical performances by Shygirl, Amaare and Eartheater. “How incredible to have such a distinct representation of community – queer community – at a massive, global company like H&M, at a time like this when trans rights in particular, are being threatened,” wrote Laia Garcia-Furtado.

CASEY CADWALLADER: “My idea of Mugler has always been democratic, and this was a way of making it clear that it’s always been about bringing everyone in,” the designer told Vogue, “I am also a big fan of stratification, making something that is $10,000 and something that is $50. When you’re trying to wake up Sleeping Beauty, it’s important to shoot a gun in the air. That’s what I’ve been trying to do. Some things are niche, some are bold, and maybe sometimes too bold, but that’s the way of getting the DNA recharged. It’s always been part of a bigger long-term plan of starting there and then filling out into more real clothes for people.”

ANN-SOFIE JOHANSSON: “We have a lot of young designers working at H&M, and it’s always interesting to ask them what they see as the hottest brands around, and almost all of them mentioned Mugler,” she told American Vogue. Speaking to a reporter from Vogue India, Johansson added: “We have also been fascinated by the current global enthusiasm for ’80s and ’90s icons, and the way young people are looking to the past for inspiration. The house’s founder Thierry Mugler is obviously a big part of that. He is key to the flamboyance and excitement of that period—he set the agenda, just as Casey is doing now.”

See the collection. | Watch the video.

2023

Rabanne H&M: Holiday house party

WHO: Julien Dossena, who hails from Brittany and studied in Brussels at La Cambre before moving to Paris to work with Nicolas Ghesquière at Balenciaga. In 2013, Dossena was named creative director of Rabanne, the house founded in 1966, at the height of fashion’s Space Age fixation, by the Spanish jeweller-turned-couturier (and self-described clairvoyant), Paco Rabanne.

WHAT: Apparel and accessories for men and women as well as a groovy home capsule on the theme of a “’70s pool party.” “Taking cues from Paco Rabanne’s Space Age modernism and his taste for shock effect, the maximalist line-up of pieces in mesh, mirrored paillettes and strass for women and men includes iterations of the house’s classic ‘disc-o-rama’ dresses and other, boundary-smashing options for party season,” wrote Tina Isaac-Goizé for Vogue. “Among the highlights: paillette numbers in gold, silver or purple; sequined loungewear, a tux jumpsuit, a military jacket with gold embroidery that would have done Michael Jackson proud, and a shimmery, geometric ‘flame’ jacquard ensemble that channels the decadence of the swinging ’70s.”

WHEN: The on-sale date was 9 November 2023.

WHERE: The Rabanne X H&M collaboration was launched on 2 October 2023 at the Silencio nightclub in Paris, and featured a performance by Robyn and a DJ set by Peggy Gou.

JULIEN DOSSENA: “We really wanted to do a collection that was generous, that would be hedonistic and fun and light and effortless and timeless,” Dossena told Vogue, adding that he and Johansson were aligned on “inclusivity and diversity and how we can play around with those in a way that was part Jimi Hendrix, part David Bowie, part Helmut Newton, and part Grace Coddington in the pool [this is a specific reference to a famous 1973 editorial]… “I also wanted to apply a queer sensuality, which is super important and it’s at the core of what we do at Rabanne. There’s a bold extravagance to it that’s important to embrace.”

ANN-SOFIE JOHANSSON: “Rabanne’s metallic dresses are instantly-recognisable pieces of fashion history.”

See the collection. | Watch the video.

2024

Rokh H&M: Customisable Chic

WHO: Rok Hwang, who Vogue has praised for his ability to balance “functionality, eccentricity, and chicness.” Born in South Korea and raised in Texas, the designer, a Central Saint Martins graduate, worked with Phoebe Philo at Céline and for Louis Vuitton before launching his own label, Rokh, in Lonon in 2016.

WHAT: “Reassembled essentials” for men and women. Key looks included double belts, two-layer trench coats, dresses with removable panels, metal studs. Vogue’s verdict: “The 58-piece collection, which stays remarkably close to Hwang’s original design DNA, is packed full of quietly subversive yet wearable staples that are sure to win the hearts of the notoriously hard-to-please fashion crowd… Nothing in this collection is quite as it seems. There are unassuming trench coats that contain layers that can be revealed or concealed at will, asymmetric LBDs that transform from midis to minis at the unravelling of small hook-and-eye fastenings that snake up the hemline, and leather jackets whose sleeves unbutton to form a cape-like silhouette.”

WHEN: The on-sale date was 18 April 2024.

WHERE: The Rokh X H&M collaboration was launched on 12 April 2024 at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul and featured a performance by CL.

ROK HWANG: “Rokh designs have a classic appearance with a radical construction for a timeless approach to design.”

ANN-SOFIE JOHANSSON: “Rokh is at the forefront of a new wave of Korean designers whose conceptual-yet-wearable clothes are captivating fashion right now.”

See the campaign imagery. | Check out the party arrivals. | Watch the collection video.