The Designer's Action Made H&M The Trend Of The Times.

At the beginning of the year, the guardian published an article entitled " H&M The article "how to govern these ten years" pointed out that the launch of a series of guest designers with high-end fashion brands has made H&M a trend vane of this era.

High-end fashion and parity brand cooperation is not the first H&M initiative. In 2003, the designer Isaac Mizrahi designed a small series for the chain store Target, but the target market faced by Isaac Mizrahi and Target was based on U.S.A Local, so this series did not cause very strong response.

In 2004, fashion fans won the first guest designer cooperative series of H&M. Chanel Karl Lagerfeld, the chief designer of Fendi brand, has designed over thirty sets of fashions for H&M. The most expensive one is only more than 100 dollars (but slightly higher than the price of ordinary H&M clothing), and it is only sold in several designated shops. The media also deliberately created the word "massclusive" to describe this move.

　　 Win first battle

Design has nothing to do with price. How do I design Chanel, Fendi and Lagerfeld Gallery, and how do I design this series? H&M also makes it worthwhile to be cheap. This is fashion today. At that time, Karl Lagerfeld was regarded as the representative of celebrity designers: most of the designers of the contemporary era had already retired, and Karl was still working as the design director of several brands. In addition to fashion design, he also actively involved in other areas. The invariable and highly recognizable form is also attracting people's delight. Most importantly, Karl Lagerfeld always takes the lead and is willing to embrace new things. If you want to find a high-end fashion designer to design clothing for a parity brand, who else is more suitable than Karl Lagerfeld?

So the first cooperation was a success. In November 2004, the special series was officially put on sale at designated shops and was quickly snapped up after being listed. "I love Karl Lagerfeld, I love his clothes for Chanel, Fendi, Lagerfeld Gallery, but I can't afford them. Thank H&M for being round! I have a dream of Karl design! "The designers fans told the media.

This cooperation has increased the global turnover of H&M by 24% in one month. In the US, nineteen stores sell two hundred thousand Karl Lagerfeld for H&M in a day, with a turnover of up to $twelve million. Unfortunately, Karl Lagerfeld claims that it will never cooperate with H&M again. "I am glad to have more people put on the clothes I designed, but H&M management has not produced enough Karl Lagerfeld for H&M for market demand. This is very disappointing. Karl Lagerfeld said in an interview with German magazine Stern. Another reason is that Karl Lagerfeld insists that her designers give those slim and slender people (at that time Karl has just lost more than 80 kilograms of body weight for less than two years, when it is "showing off" everywhere), and H&M has enlarged the size production without authorization.

Karl Lagerfeld has already declared that it will not cooperate again. Which designer can take over the class of the fashion queen and guest again? Stella McCartney, which has just set up a personal brand for four years, was selected by H&M.

　　 Several representative cooperation

Stella McCartney also has many advantages: her father is the famous Paul McCartney, at least can attract some new customers; her own talent has long conquered the fashion industry. And Stella also had the experience of cross-border design with other brands before: in 2004, Stella McCartney launched a "Adidas by Stella McCartney" series with sports brand Adidas.

Stella McCartney has selected several well designed redesigns from its previous brand series, thus forming a new series for H&M design. Similarly, this series has been robbed by customers. Later, Viktor&Rolf in 2006 and Roberto Cavalli in 2007 were basically the same.

In addition to working with high-end fashion brands, H&M also played some other tricks. After the launch of Karl Lagerfeld for H&M, a reporter from the women's wear daily went to interview some people in the industry to discuss the next move of H&M. Floriane de Saint Pierre, the famous fashion headhunter, said that if H&M wants to carry out the series of guest designers, the names must be loud enough, so they may find a famous celebrity. Sure enough, in March 2007, singer Madonna became the first entertainer of H&M cooperation. At that time, it was Madonna's "Confessions On a Dance Floor" concert tour around the world, and H&M also generously sponsored Madonna and concert crew's entire stage. In this way, the fashion queen and her attendants wore Jean Paul Gaultier designs on the stage, wearing their own clothes designed for H&M, and the contrast between them was quite interesting.

In 2008, H&M's new series of guest designers was astonishing. Cooperative brands are Comme des Garcons, which never asks the world's path. In the September issue of W magazine, an article was published. At the beginning, she wrote: "if the Swedish clothing chain store H&M is from Mars, then the Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garcons, the designer who named her own perfume" tar and trash (Tar and Gabage) "is Venus.

In the same year, Comme des Garcons also worked with Louis Vuitton to launch handbags with multiple handles. Despite its strange effects, Louis Vuitton is at least the leader in the luxury industry. The choice of cooperation with H&M, such as the popular parity brand, is really unexpected.

"Of course, we are quite the opposite. But I believe the success of H&M is not only to sell many basic clothes, but they have been looking for new ways to break through. That's why I respect them. Rei Kawakubo told W reporters that "cooperation represents a one plus one equals three chance." It's interesting to sell my designs in places that have never sold Comme des Garcons. It's not a compromise. I want to do whatever I want. They finish the part I can't finish.

In order to show respect for Rei Kawakubo, Comme des Garcons for H&M chose to start in Japan. Wave dot shirts and shorts, neutral perfume, accessories and so on have been sold out. H&M has won another victory.

The series of guest designer activities has progressed more and more smoothly. H&M has also pushed designers to make their first contribution. For example, in the series of Matthew Williamson designed by H&M in 2009, designers first tried to design men's clothing, and I also made models to interpret men's wear series advertisements. In the same year, the accessories brand Jimmy Choo also contributed to the first design of garment making.

　　 Behind the scenes Heroes

H&M Margareta van den Bosch is the great hero who has worked so many times, and you will see the woman wearing a black dress and short glasses and framed glasses in the celebration party. Margareta van den Bosch was an independent designer in the early years. Since she had no children, she did not want to work in this kind of unrest. Then she simply found a job in her hometown's largest clothing company. After decades of work, she had been the design director of the design department. Now she is in the semi retirement state, the position is called creative consultant, and only needs to manage this cooperation series.

Margareta van den Bosch is not worried about the fact that many consumers who don't know the specific circumstances of the designers of the cooperative series. "Most people are still not familiar with the designers of Viktor&Rolf and Rei Kawakubo. Nor is it true that no city can buy their brand. I think H&M has taught people a lot of knowledge about fashion history through such cooperation.

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　　 Mode promotion

　　 Many brands that never claimed to cooperate with H&M in the past have joined the ranks. Lanvin's Alber Elbaz said she hadn't considered working with H&M before, but in 2010, she launched the women's clothing and men's clothing that she designed parity with Lucas Ossendrijver, because "it's more attractive than Lanvin to go to parity." When asked whether he would cooperate with H&M, Donatella Versace replied earlier: "No. I am working hard to ensure the high-end image of Versace brand. If I want to expand the audience, I will work hard on the sub line Versace Jeans Couture.

Once upon a time, high-end brands love to publish the sub line design and attract consumers who are unable to take the main line design with the price more attractive than the main line. By brand education for these consumers, they will become the main force of the main line brand when the time is ripe. Marc Jacobs has Marc by Marc Jacobs, Chloe has See by Chloe, Dolce&Gabbana has by. But even with the price of clothes in the H&M store, even the sub line is difficult to cover the general public.

H&M's experience is to inspire many people. Almost all the parity brands have had several guest designer collaboration series: Kate Moss for Topshop, Jil Sander and Uniqlo J+, Vivienne Westwood for, Vivienne,... China's Me&City launched a limited series a few years ago, though it is not a guest designer, but it is somewhat similar to H&M in form. Later, it was also reported that Hedi Slimane, who had stopped working at that time, would design a series of Me&City for Chinese fashion fans. But in the end, there was no news.

In contrast, most of the cooperative brands selected by H&M are brands that have been successful and have certain voice in fashion circles. H&M's approach is more conservative than the sponsorship of emerging designers, such as Gap and Topshop. Of course, every cooperation, H&M will pay a large fee for partners. According to legend, the initial remuneration paid to Karl Lagerfeld and Stella McCartney is about $one million, and the remuneration paid to Madonna is about $four million. Now the cost has doubled. Especially during the economic crisis, the frequency of such cooperation has increased frequently. It is not difficult to infer that many brands are likely to cooperate with H&M in order to ensure economic independence in the short term. For H&M, they have earned enough exposure and improved brand image in their cooperation, so it is not so important to make profits simply from selling clothes.

　　 This is fashion.

As for the concerns of many people, whether such cooperation will affect the image of high-end brands, the answer is not at all. There are always two groups of people buying cooperative series and buying expensive designer clothes. Even if the latter sees what clothes they have bought have been redesigned for sale in the mass market, they will not be in a hurry and feel that they have wasted money. It is possible that they will cherish the original version which is now bought at a high price.

Guest designers' activities are becoming more and more like regular fashion events. When the underwear series of David Beckham was launched, H&M set up a half naked David Beckham sculpture for visitors in several major cities around the world. When the underwear was released by Sonia Rykiel, the brand appeared in Paris's The Grand Palace. Not only did it replicate a more than 20 metre high Eiffel Tower, but also the large facilities such as carriages and carousel, and Donatella Versace appeared at the scene of the British cooperation series, which was generous to grab the group's fans. In When Anna Dello Russo designed the accessories line for H&M, it launched not only the music video tape called "Fashion Shower", but also the celebration party held during the fashion week in Paris, which led the fashion fans of the city to celebrate all night. Every press conference is also starry and shining: the star of the brand loves to talk about the similarity between the for H&M series and the high priced design of the cooperative brand, and the people who like all the brands like Kanye West also appear in the front row of each conference.

Nowadays, the process of every cooperative brand is probably like this: I don't know where some false news has been spread wildly on the Internet. After a while, H&M comes out again and denies the real collaborator. Tom Ford, Alexander Wang and other designers have been innocent arrow. The latest rumor is that Givenchy will come to cooperate with H&M, but it has been denied. Margerata van den Bosch says H&M will not launch a series of guest designers in the summer of next year. It will take about October 2013 to hear the real news.

TheStar.com has photographed a hot scene when Matthew Williamson for H&M was listed in Canada. There is a man who looks confused in the crowd. He took a sketch that his wife had painted to him and told the reporter that he must help his lover grab the one she wanted. When the shop door opened, people pushed and pushed into the shop, and within five minutes all the goods were robbed. The man had never seen such a scene before. He was shocked by the crowd and couldn't get in at all. "I don't know what they are robbing. Maybe this is fashion. " He said puzzled to the camera. Eugene Rabkin, editor in chief of StyleZeitgeist, released a very intense article on BusinessofFashion.com after the end of the latest round of cooperation. It shows that this guest designer cooperation series has no effect on fashion. "Style actually means taste, which is related to knowledge. It takes effort and knowledge to form it. Spending this little money on this fast fashion will only lead to loss of style. "

So is this fashion?