There’s something about the way French women dress that is so inspirational. They always look like they dress for a purpose, look like a million dollars and somehow throw together a sense of effortless elegance on any given day. Even mothers rushing to get their children to school everyday look like they came straight out of Vogue (no sweatpants and Lululemons here). French women have always found a way to bridge functionality and style without sacrificing one for the other. This is the reason why France has been a melting pot for haute couture designers from around the world.
Designer collaborations with major retailers have dominanted the fashion industry in recent years and part of the evolution of fashion. Both designers and retailers are seeing success with collaborations such as 3.1 Phillip Lim’s collaboration with Target, which sold out in mere minutes. Kate Bosworth also recently teamed up with Topshop to create a line. Collaborations such as these put consumers in a great position to get their hands on designer collections at an affordable price.
There’s no doubt that H&M has the all star roster of designer collaborations in the past such as Lanvin, Versace, Marni, Maison Martin Margiela, Karl Lagerfeld, Jimmy Choo and Givenchy. While most of us can’t travel to Paris or France on a whim, we’re lucky that it’s now coming to us with Isabel Marant’s new collection with H&M releasing on November 14th.
Marant who started sewing at age 15, sought out to create looks that defied the abundance of “girly” inspired themes within fashion. Marant was able to merry looks that were “different but in a discreet way” bringing in Parisian flare that was innovative yet functional. Today, Marant has 10 companies worldwide from Paris to Hong Kong.
Marant’s current collaboration with H&M is unique in that it’s her first full menswear collection she has ever created. Consumers have been wondering why Marant hasn’t delved into creating a menswear line and while she has created small collection of men’s tops, H&M has the exclusive to her first menswear collection.
Among the collection is a statement jacket that made it to the top of the must have list. It’s also great to see white within the collection (the rule of white after labour day is a thing of the past). Since fall embodies a heavy emphasis on darker hues, lighter shades help create a strong contrast effortlessly.
With the twitter sphere and Facebook already buzzing about the release, we had to share some comments from excited shoppers.
Some are thinking about missing work:
"So...like...are we gonna call in sick on the 14th to line up for Isabel Marant x H&M...?"
Others have a much more precise game plan for the day:
"strategizing my plan of attack for the soon to be released Isabel Marant for H&M collection"
Finally, we definitely feel for this guy:
"I feel personally victimised by the fact we don't have H&M in SA. H&M x Isabel Marant full collection" (SA is South Africa by the way)
It’s safe to say that this collection will be selling out quickly and the few times when impulse may be advantageous. Check out the video and photos of the full collection for Isabel Marant pour H&M below.
Video: Click here.
Photos: H&M 2013 Collection
Amy Yew is a contributing columnist at Vancouver Courier and a fashion and style writer. Tell us what you think and submit any questions you have to [email protected]. You can also tweet your thoughts @AmyYew
