MASS SEDUCTION
As Irish designer Simone Rocha launches her hotly-anticipated collaboration with H&M, we take a closer look at high-end and high-street fashion partnerships and the benefits they can bring to the designer, the chain store — and to the fashion-conscious co
Istill remember the first H&M designer collaboration. It was with Karl Lagerfeld, the man behind Chanel and his eponymous label. It was 2004 and we didn’t have H&M in Ireland back then; I was in London, on Oxford Street. A section of the store had been transformed into a sort of mini boutique within a shop, and there was Karl, almost doll-like, all sharp angles and monochrome palette, posing with models in the artwork for the line.
Lagerfeld, whose collection for H&M sold out, was a perfect first choice for a concept that this week sees its first collaboration with an Irish designer, as the highly anticipated collection from Simone Rocha is launched. At its most successfully symbiotic, a designer/high-street collaboration is built on the output of a creator whose brand can be summed up in a few words. Someone whose work those not professionally obliged to be interested in these things could still describe quite easily.
Lagerfeld’s signature look was so finely tuned and recognisable, it was almost cartoonishly iconic. An illustrated version of the designer, who was born in Hamburg in 1933 and who died in early 2019, does in fact adorn various phone cases, T-shirts and bags littered about the internet for sale. The H&M collection actually included a T-shirt with an illustration of the designer’s face. Even though he most famously designed women’s clothes, the man
A pretty pair
» himself, and what he wore, summed up his designs as much as anything a model wore on one of his catwalks. The stern black-and-white palette with flashes of whimsy. Tulle. Tailoring. Sequins.
Lagerfeld had no separation between his world and his work. He was the work. As such, he made the perfect launch pad for the
H&M designer/high-street collaborations. He was a man whose creative signature was already imprinted on the public, most of whom would not typically find his work within their budget.
Women’s Wear Daily recounts an anecdote of Lagerfeld being accosted in a restaurant after news of the collaboration had been announced and asked: “It is true...? But it’s cheap.”
“What a depressing word,” Lagerfeld is said to have replied. “It’s all about taste.”
Chanel might have had nothing to do with Lagerfeld’s collaboration with the high-street giant, but the brand’s 2.55 handbags are among the most coveted designer items. By buying a piece of his H&M line, it felt like being allowed a piece of something you might otherwise never have been able to afford.
For a collaboration to succeed, a designer needs to bring covetability to the table. I still remember the mass exodus from our Abbey Street office the evening the Stella McCartney x H&M line went on sale. And how we all queued — colleagues in their 60s, and those in their 20s — for the H&M x Maison Martin Margiela line, triumphantly comparing purchases afterwards.
I bought two dresses that first
day in London; one was a black silk nightie-type slip that I maddeningly gave away at some point over the years. The other is a tiered chiffon party dress. The thing that set the collection apart from other collaborations that had gone before was that it wasn’t a celebrity putting their name to a line of clothes when their level of involvement in their creation was, well, questionable. A designer has spent years, decades in Lagerfeld’s case, building up their brand.
They’re protective of it, and so the pieces truly reflect their aesthetic values. It was obvious Lagerfeld had been closely involved in this collaboration down to the minutiae.
Since then, H&M has produced lines with Giambattista Valli, Viktor & Rolf, Roberto Cavalli, Comme des Garçons, Matthew Williamson, Jimmy Choo, Sonia Rykiel, Lanvin, Versace, Marni, Isabel Marant, Alexander Wang, Balmain, Kenzo, Erdem, Moschino and the aforementioned Stella McCartney and Maison Martin Margiela, among others.
We had our own, hugely
successful version of a designer/ high-street collaboration in Peter O’Brien’s designs for A|Wear, and Dunnes Stores has an ongoing relationship with Irish designers including, among others, Helen Steele, Joanne Hynes, and Brendan Courtney and Sonya Lennon.
Now, H&M is launching its first collection with an Irish designer — Simone Rocha. “These collaborations obviously have a long history,” H&M Creative Advisor Ann-Sofie Johansson tells me. “As you say, it all started with Karl Lagerfeld in 2004. We wanted to try a new idea of collaborating with a well-known designer — giving our customers the possibility to purchase something from a high-end designer at an H&M price, and for Karl to reach out to many more customers and fans than he did with his own collections.”
H&M manages to make its collaborations feel like an event: who stars in the campaign? (In Rocha’s case, top models Tess McMillan, Adwoa and Kesewa Aboah and Normal People star Daisy Edgar-Jones.) How many people at a time are allowed into the store? How early did the queue start (pre-Covid-19, obviously)? Building that kind of excitement requires a designer of a certain calibre. An established personality.
“I think customers respond really well when it truly feels like the collaborations capture the essence of a designer’s aesthetic — when it feels like each piece is a tribute to the designer’s world, whether that’s the Versace world, or the Marni world, or the Simone Rocha world,” Johansson explains.
“I think each brand is beloved for their own distinct signature pieces, so the pieces that nod to their own classics tend to do very well. I actually had a really lovely conversation with Simone about this — she told me that she still has socks from the Marni x H&M collection, a Comme x H&M spotty knit. She said she remembered the elation of being able to have those pieces — a part of fashion history. I think that’s always what makes each collaboration special, when it really feels like a moment of design history.”
Both designer and high-street brands stand to gain when it comes to a collaboration. Obviously, each enjoys financial benefits. The chain store gets the kudos of selling a premium product, one for which they can charge more than their main range. For a designer, they reach customers they might otherwise never have sold to, both raising their profile, and possibly introducing their next generation of high-end-wear clientele.
This does expose them to potential risk, however. The point of a designer brand is exclusivity. Loyal customers might not relish the democratisation of an aesthetic they paid thousands for. Producing a cheaper version of your signature look could risk undermining the existing, far more expensive version. For this reason, most collaborations tend to only sell in a limited amount of stores and online — the mass market’s version of exclusivity. A collaboration is as much an exercise in mutual brand back-slapping as it is a financial boon for either party.
Producing a cheaper version of your signature look could risk undermining the existing, far more expensive version. For this reason, most collaborations tend to only sell in a limited amount of stores and online — the mass market’s version of exclusivity
On the other hand, for new
designers, the backing of a huge store can be the making of their career — River Island’s Design Forum has been hugely beneficial in supporting new talent. In the case of a very established designer, when there isn’t an existing line in place that risks being undermined, an ongoing high-street collaboration can simply provide an entirely new string to their career bow, like Peter O’Brien’s
highly coveted collections for the now defunct A|Wear chain.
In our new Covid-19-dominated world, expect to see trends in collaborations move towards partnerships between designers and more practical brands — luxurious takes on outdoor gear, such as the recent North Face x Gucci collaboration.
In choosing a designer with whom to collaborate, H&M looks to people whose unique DNA stands out. Those whose work will appeal to the existing H&M customer, but might also bring in the designer’s customers, who might not have previously shopped with the high-street store.
“With each designer we choose, it feels like a landmark — a way of marking a certain moment in fashion, certain moods and icons with the landscape of the industry,” Johansson explains. Simone Rocha had been on H&M’s wishlist for a long time, she says.
The 34-year-old designer celebrates her 10th anniversary in business this year. I attended her graduate NCAD collection, which was held in Trinity College. It was all there even back then, the notes we now recognise as her signature designs — the rounded cocoon shapes, the embellished and gauzy fabrics.
Maybe it helped that, as the daughter of John Rocha, she had grown up in that world, so possibly came to a consciousness of her own aesthetic earlier than others might have, but it was remarkable the extent to which the young designer’s signature look was already developed, even back then.
“I think what really impressed us was how Simone has such a unique, special aesthetic, season on season; she has such a clear point of view,” Johansson says of Rocha’s appeal, whose celebrity fans include Alexa Chung, Paloma Faith, Chloë Sevigny, Diane Kruger and Rihanna. “That felt very exciting for this moment: a female designer with such a clear sense of who she is, and what she wants to say. She offers a really dynamic reflection on modern femininity, which is fascinating to see.”
Rocha has been intimately involved in all aspects of creating the lines. “We never want designers to feel like they have to compromise. For example, with Simone, she is always so specific about creating her own bespoke fabrications in-house. It’s a huge part of her process. So, of course, we knew that we would be developing bespoke fabric for this collection. That was really special, as it assured us and Simone the pieces really will be built to last.
“I know she put the same care and attention into the fabrics in this collection as she would for any mainline Simone Rocha collection. Together, we developed versions of Simone’s signature tulles, and lots of lovely knits and wools. And there are lovely pieces in organic cotton, or recycled polyester. It’s very her; the amazing embellishments, the details.”
The collection, which is the first
of Rocha’s to include menswear and childrenswear, has not been greeted with universal applause. In a video to promote the line, the designer described how “being able to do something and share it with so many people across all ages, all sizes, all nationalities, it was really important for me that the collection brought femininity, strength and modernity”.
When further information was released, it turned out that, rather than “all sizes”, the size range of line would be XS to L, with L equivalent to a UK 16-18, prompting a debate on sizeinclusivity. Terms such as body positivity — which originated from marginalised groups — have of late been adopted by the mainstream, leading to a dilution of the meaning of such terms, with plus-sized women continuing, in the main, to feel excluded from the high-street’s fashion offering. Hopefully, however, the debate over the sizing of this collaboration has opened up the conversation to a wider audience, raising awareness of the importance of inclusivity for all bodies, not just those with ‘straight’ sizes.
As someone who still treasures a piece of Karl Lagerfeld, which I plan to pass on to my daughter, this collaboration is an opportunity to pick up a piece from one of Ireland’s most exciting designers that can be valued for a lifetime.
With each designer we choose, it feels like a landmark — a way of marking a certain moment in fashion, certain moods and icons with the landscape of the industry
Simone Rocha x H&M will launch online only from March 11 at hm.com