H&M announced on April 13 that they will collaborate with Alexander Wang for their latest collection. Starting on November 6, Alexander Wang x H&M will be featured in over 250 stores around the world and online.
The designs of Wang, a New York-based fashion designer, have been featured on the runway since 2007 and have since gained recognition for their remarkably tasteful aesthetic. Wang’s designs are practical yet transformative and his collaboration with H&M will offer this to customers at a more reasonable price. This announcement is exciting news for those who adore Wang’s designs but cannot afford a large investment in clothing.
H&M’s creative advisor, Margareta van den Bosch, said the company’s collaboration with Wang will give shoppers a new and infectious line of apparel. Wang, unlike other modern day fashion designers, creates clothing that is truly ready-to-wear, and because of this he has a wide range of fans. He pushes the boundaries of fashion in a practical sense and incorporates elements of high fashion in order to appeal to a vast audience. The work of Wang is universally recognized, and his success has been on the rise since his debut.
However excited Wang fans are for the release of his collaborative line with H&M, it is difficult to say if this affordable offshoot will live up to his other beloved collections. There are concerns that the quality of the material and designs will be diminished due to the constraints of a budget line. Although this is a safe assumption to make, the overall aesthetic that Wang continually delivers will most likely be reflected through his collaboration and executed to his high standards. The materials themselves and the quality of the individual pieces will probably not match Wang’s runway line, or even his more affordable T by Alexander Wang, but his overall style will be maintained.
H&M’s past collaborations with designers, such as Isabel Marant, Roberto Cavalli and Comme des Garçons, proved to offer tasteful designs that reflected the apparel featured on the runway. Target, another affordable brand, recently collaborated with fashion designer Peter Pilotto. This release was incredibly successful, drawing huge lines of fans and selling out both in stores and online. Pilotto’s designs were not only as affordable as the other clothing options featured at Target, but also gave customers a taste of his runway collections.
High-end designer and name-brand store collaborations are a great way to bring success to a company while selling the work of an often otherwise unattainable artist. Wang’s new collection will expand his available consumer market and also draw a new crowd to the retail store itself.
A version of this article appeared in the Wednesday, April 23 print edition. Kate Marin is a staff writer. Email her at [email protected].
