Ever since it launched its Studio collection two years ago, H&M’s show has become an annual event on the Paris Fashion Week calendar. It always manages to draw an impressive celebrity turn-out from either side of both the Channel and the Atlantic, and this evening saw Solange Knowles take a front-row seat alongside Mark Ronson and Josephine de la Baume, Audrey Tautou, Erin O’Connor and Karolina Kurkova. It can also be relied upon to recruit the really great models: all the girls were there, with Edie Campbell, Gigi Hadid, Kendall Jenner and Devon Windsor leading the gang.
The Swedish brand had commandeered the capital’s Grand Palais and transformed it into a moonscape, complete with a printed catwalk dotted with huge silver space pods. Continuing the theme, they enlisted French model, music producer and author Caroline de Maigret, decked out in a retro silver jumpsuit, knee boots and swinging a helmet by her side, to stride the catwalk before climbing into one of the pods and DJing the show’s soundtrack.
The retro theme continued into the collection itself, albeit with a less intergalactic vibe. What will you be shopping? Slinky tailored flares and lurex tank tops, slick vinyl skirts and jackets, crystal printed tunics, oversized ripped knits worn under scoop-fronted dungarees, all in shades of bottle green, mustard, khaki and deep red. The accessories were particularly stand-out: oversized, squishy bags carried under the arm and sixties knee and moon boots.
Model finale completed, the silver pods opened up in a cloud of dry ice to reveal bars hidden beneath, the cue for the after-party to begin. Isn't that how all catwalk shows should finish?
