After years of begging and pleading from Australian fashion lovers, H&M has finally arrived on Aussie shores, and tonight’s Melbourne GPO store launch was a spectacle of just how excited we are to have the fashion juggernaut for ourselves.
Trend setters, celebrities and diehard H&M fans giddily flocked to Melbourne for the H&M Melbourne launch party, and were treated to a night of shopping like no other, complete with live music, drinks, dancing, and the first pick of the stunning selection of clothing on offer. The brand chartered a H&M flight from Sydney to ensure their must have guests made it to Melbourne for the occasion.
The event was a star-studded one, with celebrities including model twins Zac and Jordan Stenmark, Nikki Phillips, actor Hugh Sheridan, The Block’s Darren Palmer, olympian Michael Klim and comedian Chris Lilley in attendance. Guests sipped on delicious flower-infused cocktails, Mumm champagne and canapés by Adam D’Sylva – executive chef of top Melbourne restaurants Coda and Tonka, whilst they took delight in their exclusive shopping experience.
The Melbourne GPO store is architecturally exquisite, and the perfect backdrop for H&M’s stylish, fashion forward, but ultimately accessible garments. With three floors of shopping space available, exploring the event felt much like stepping into a glittering H&M wonderland, with something for every taste and budget.
From bold modern prints to sweeping heavy A-line skirts, collared shirts, chunky jackets and tassels left right and centre, the collections on show were a cool mix of the biggest trends from the world’s runways.
It’s not just ladies and gentlemen’s street style on offer, from the Conscious Collection (which offers a more elegant, red carpet ready selection) to gym-ready sportswear, kids clothes, shoes, accessories, and the colourful and chic H&M home range (a particularly crowded section of the opening event), the store offers everything we love about the brand.
Whilst much of the launch evening was devoted to the thrilling task of seizing the very best frocks, scarves and jackets before anyone else could get to them (We’ve never seen so many of fashion’s elite willing to try on skirts and shoes in the middle of a cocktail party) the musical line up was also exciting. American band-of-the-moment Haim were amongst the DJs and the store was filled with guests singing and dancing along as they took the house down with tunes from The Spice Girls to Beyonce.
Guests left the event with more bags than they could carry (but never fear, H&M is well prepared for the next onset of shoppers when the Melbourne GPO store opens to the public on Saturday), and the atmosphere was one of excitement and willingness to experiment with style and take advantage of the fashion opportunities that H&M provides.
In the lead up to the big H&M Melbourne launch, Rescu. caught up with H&M Creative Director Margareta Van Den Bosch, to find out just what we can expect from H&M in Australia, and what makes the brand so beloved worldwide.
Read our full interview with Margareta Van Den Bosch below.
RESCU: You’ve been at the helm of H&M’s creative direction for over two decades. How has the image and vision of H&M transformed over that time?
Margareta Van Den Bosch: When we started, we didn’t design everything ourselves. We had a small design department, but they worked more at the edge of the collection, creating calling card pieces. We worked also with companies in the Far East that had ready-made clothes for us. So we didn’t design everything ourselves.
But nowadays we design everything, we have production offices that we work with. We also have 160 designers and a lot of pattern makers and a lot of other people involved. We work in a team to create the collections. Our production officers who find the suppliers, and who develop the clothes for us.
I think also the technical advancements that have happened have opened a lot of possibilities for us.
RESCU: In Australia there’s been a lot of anticipation for the launch of H&M. What gave you the inspiration to set roots in Australia?
Margareta van den Bosch: We have been thinking for many years before we come to this part of the world. We were nervous to come to this hemisphere where you have winter when we have summer. We have been a little bit afraid of that, and not sure how it could work with our collections, but I think now we have worked out a system that can be nice. We have the main collections come in later, but you will have all the special collections at the same time as in other countries. So you will have a mix.
RESCU: Which Collections are we going to be able to see in the H&M Melbourne store?
Margareta van den Bosch: You will see almost everything that we have in H&M. It will be a full concept store – it will have everything, even H&M Home.
RESCU: Can you tell us a little bit about the Conscious Collection?
Margareta van den Bosch: The Conscious Exclusive Collection is a little bit more red carpet inspired, more elegant clothes. We’ve done it about four times.
We work with conscious materials and all of the production has to be done in a conscious way. It is also quite exclusive.
‘Conscious’ is an idea we work with on all of the collections. It’s quite new, we still can’t find all the materials. We still are beginners, I think, but we do this special collection, and we try to put in place the thinking – because it’s not only how you produce things, it’s how you ship them, how you transport them… how you think about things.
RESCU: One of the criticisms of the big chains is that fashion has become disposable. But with all of the collaborations and designers you’ve described it seems like you’re moving away from ‘fast fashion’.
Margareta van den Bosch: Fast fashion, it is not like that anymore. We work one year ahead with our trends and colours and half a year with the styles and we can add in seasons. So we work with three seasons at the same time. All brands, I think, have more or less that perspective.
RESCU: It must be quite a different process for these designers, to adapt from major luxury brands. But you seem to not have compromised on quality.
Margareta van den Bosch: No, they chose the qualities that they wanted. I think with production you get what you pay for, so we upgraded a little bit in the fabrics and in the collection. Those collaborations were a little bit more expensive. Because we wanted to give them really what their label stands for.
RESCU: What do you think makes these big names collaborate with H&M?
Margareta van den Bosch: I think for many of them, they are seen in such a big market, for such a short time, so it will not be in concurrence with their own label, but they will be visible. Many of them are not known in all the market. We are in 53 markets now, 54 with Australia, and they get this big mass of exposure. So I think it’s really a win win situation for both of us, and also for the customer.