H&M’s Spring 2017 Collection is All About Spreading The Love

Tonight’s Spring 2017 H&M Studio show in Paris is gonna be a goodie. Not only does the mega retailer throw legendary parties, but their fun, relevant and thoughtful pieces become immediate (and affordable) must-haves.

And since delayed gratification is so last season, you’ll be able to get your hands on them even faster. H&M is adopting the see now, buy now format, so there’s even more reason to tune in to tonight’s show. Immediately following the runway presentation, the Studio pieces will go up for sale on hm.com (snag those favorites fast!) and will drop into stores the following day.

We caught up with Pernilla Wolfhart, H&M’s Design and Creative Director, for a quick run down on the making of the spring collection and why love is more important than ever.

Tell me about the inspiration behind the Studio collection for spring.

“For S/S 2017, we were inspired by the grace, passion and strength of ballet, but wanted to put a fresh, modern twist on it, so incorporated elements of sportswear. Besides the feminine ruffles, lace and silks, we also played with translucent layers and volume, and then infused sportiness with details such as crinkled nylon, drawstrings and elastic bands.

We were working with a lot of contrasts or contradictions in the collection – between ballet and sport, formalwear and casualwear, transparency and opacity, natural fabrics and technical ones – so a predominantly black and white colour palette felt natural. We also liked the graphic expression of monochrome, which we punctuated with fuchsia and touches of orange and gold.”

Why is love a major message in the clothing this season?

“It feels like now, more than ever, we all need positive feelings and thoughts in our lives. To not only feel loved, but give love in return, too. And, of course, there’s our love of fashion – it’s at the heart of everything we do. So for the S/S 2017 Studio collection, we wanted to send out a global message of love, quite literally. There are a few pieces that carry the word again and again, kind of like a ticker tape or a constant reminder of what is important.

Why is now the right time to move to the see now buy now format?

“We have been monitoring this new era for the industry carefully over the past few years, and while it’s very exciting, the format feels natural to us right now. It enables us to come even closer to our customer and open up for a broader audience. Closing the gap between the retail calendar and runway calendar by making the H&M Studio collection available straight from the runway will hopefully be appreciated by our customers and we value the direct communication we can have with our customers through a “see now, buy now” runway show. I think anything that brings us closer to our customers and makes fashion even more accessible is very positive and we look forward to testing it out on March 1.”

When did you start working on the spring collection?

“The H&M Studio collection has its own dedicated design team and is about presenting to our customers the most important trends and key looks of the season – statement pieces from a limited edition collection and an addition to the main line. The collection is planned well in advance and based on extensive research. Inspirations vary season to season, especially as we always design with our customers in mind and they are very engaged in the fashion world, so it’s often about a story we want to tell.”

How have you incorporated sustainable fabrics into the collection?

“Sustainability is very important to us and we actively work to increase the total share of sustainable materials. We use a range of sustainable materials and also support innovation of new exciting materials. For the Studio collection, we used organic cotton for several pieces. And I’m proud to say that we’re actually one of the world’s biggest users of organic cotton.”

There is a pop up shop directly following the show. Which pieces do you think the editors will be clamoring for?

“We hope that the fashion audience at our Paris fashion show, as well as all our customers, will appreciate the collection as much as we do. We are so happy and excited that the collection will be available simultaneously for both customers and the people attending our fashion show, and we hope that everyone will be able to find their favourites within the collection.”

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