Alexander Wang x H&M

10 years of designer collaborations and the first American to do so.

For Americans – and anyone lucky enough to attend the festival – the announcement came on Saturday night at a party at Coachella.

For British fashion types, it was delivered via a press release at 9am on Sunday morning when most of us were either fast asleep or pretending to do laps around the park while actually miming to Beyonce.

For the rest, Twitter was first in line to raise a hand and offer an opinion.

“The boy Alexander Wang has been on impecable (sic) form recently. Patiently waiting for what he's gonna cook up for H&M this fall.” One user wrote, while another went for the simple but effective, “OMG SO MUCH HAPPINESS.”

Others were less elated by the news, observing that “Alexander wang is probably gonna flood H&M with fake leather and color block stuff” and the statement, “Wang x H&M = Zara”.

Fashion Editor of the Financial Times, Vanessa Friedman meanwhile, wrote perhaps the most assured response, assessing: “.‪@hm newest collaborator is ‪@AlexanderWangNY. Because, you know, he doesn't have enough to do w/Balenciaga and his own 2 lines. ‪#FTLuxury

          

Set for release this November, Alexander Wang for H&M sees the designer become the first American to collaborate with the Swedish fashion giant, presuming you ignored those Madonna tainted tracksuits in 2007.

From the sequin blazers of Karl Lagerfeld’s initial 2004 takeover, to last November’s modest Isabel Marant prints (via Stella, Viktor & Rolf, Cavalli, Marimekko, Comme des Garcons, Matthew Williamson, Jimmy Choo, Sonia Rykiel, Lanvin, Versace, Marni and Maison Martin Margiela), Wang’s collaboration marks 10 years of designer collaborations for the brand.

“I am honoured to be a part of H&M’s designer collaborations,” he noted of the hook up. “They are very open to pushing boundaries and to set a platform for creativity. This will be a great way for a wider audience to experience elements of the Alexander Wang brand and lifestyle.”

                 

One of the first brands to work with designers and insiders in such a way (the blogger Elin Kling and Japanese Vogue Editor Anna Dello Russo also made the cut in 2011 and 2012 respectively), H&M spearheaded the trend for such collaborations; the first Kate Moss for Topshop line didn’t follow until 2007.

Wang took over as Creative Director at Balenciaga in 2012, making his debut for the house with the AW13 collection. His own name label was set up in 2007, with women’s T by Alexander Wang founded in 2009 and a matching men’s line in 2010.

The latter caused a stir last summer, when a ‘supermarket sweep’ style video (pre-Chanel) saw the designer invite fans to a large warehouse, packed with free product for picking. Chaos ensued and it marked another read-all-about-it moment for social media.

Roll on November, we guess?

www.hm.com

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