COLLABORATION ANTICIPATION: ERDEM Is H&M's Big Collaboration This Fall

It's about that time of year when we discover the identity of the designer that H&M has anointed for a pre-Holiday Season publicity blitz, and this time it's Turkish-British-Canadian phenom Erdem Moralioglu (pictured below) whose label ERDEM will get the spotlight with a collaboration collection that will include his first designs for men. As an added bonus, Australian director Baz Luhrmann will be collaborating on the advertising and promotional materials including the evocative announcement video above.
Rather than chasing Instagram glitz or avant garde cachet as it has with the collaboration other years, H&M has chosen to go in a more elegant direction this November. Moralioglu has built a faithful customer base with classical silhouettes married to intricately printed and textured fabrics, often including exuberant floral prints that have succeeded in attracting a broad range of fans with a healthy dose of celebrity red-carpet support. He has quietly made his London-based company a burgeoning powerhouse that claims prized space in stores ranging from mainstream luxury players like Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus to highly curated outlets like Dover Street Market. His brand is well positioned to maximize the exposure that the H&M collaboration can bring, though it will be interesting to see how he translates his label's hyper feminine fashion image to menswear. Of what we can expect from the collaboration, Erdem says, “The collection reinterprets some of the codes that have defined my work over the past decade. It’s also inspired by much of my youth, from the English films, 90s TV shows and music videos I grew up watching to memories of the style that defined members of my family. Taking from these inspirations, I imagined a group of characters and friends off to the English countryside for the weekend. There’s a real play in the collection between something decidedly dressed-up and equally effortless”. He also cites the cult-favorite Pet Shop Boys video for the song "Being Boring" directed  by Bruce Weber as an inspiration. We have a few months before the first looks for the collection are revealed, but this one is shaping up to be an intriguing team-up for H&M.

L to R: H&M creative advisor Ann-Sofie Johansson, Erdem Moralioglu, Baz Luhrmann. Photo courtesy of H&M

COLLABORATION ANTICIPATION: Today Is Balmain x H&M Day Brace Yourselves

In case you haven't heard, there's this Balmain collaboration with H&M that arrives in stores today.
Well, honestly, if you aren't reading this before lunchtime, it has probably mostly departed H&M stores by now.
In a season that has been marked by some pretty impressive collaborations from the likes of Lemaire, Carine Roitfeld and Adam Lippes to name a few, this one is the grand finale.
From what we have been able to gather, the glitzy/sexy designer collaborations like Versace and Roberto Cavalli have been the fastest sellers for H&M, and Balmain is right in that wheelhouse, so the reasonable expectation is pandemonium when the doors open today. Expectations are high all around which is probably why this collection has some of the chain's strictest return rules. Reports from last nights VIP shopping session tell us that the privileged few ransacked the collections, so we can only imagine what the masses who have been waiting outside the stores since yesterday will do. 
This particular collection seems like it has been promoted more heavily than any previous H&M collaborations, so, honestly, we are a little tired of seeing pictures of it by now, but if you are an eager Balmain fan who has been anticipating this for months, we hope you find all the pieces you wanted to get.

COLLABORATION ANTICIPATION: Watch Tomorrow's Balmain x H&M Launch Event On Periscope . . . Of Course

The Balmain x H&M promotional machine will kick into high gear tomorrow night at 23 Wall Street when the chain and designer Olivier Roustieng will throw what is expected to be a glittery, celebrity studded runway show. Of course, it would make sense to live-stream the event on the internet and it will be.
On your phone.
The event will be streaming through Periscope, mainly because it is the new thing that every likes to talk about. Is it better than a regular live-stream on your laptop or tablet? Not really, but the show should be entertaining with all the new supermodels, so it's worth giving it a shot, and perhaps a more polished video will show up online if your tolerance for extended, shaky hand-held video streaming is as low as ours is. If you are unfamiliar with the app, just download it to your phone (it's not available for iPads, unfortunately), follow H&M and wait for the alert sometime tomorrow evening. The line launches on November 5th and, realistically, you should probably start camping out outside the store right about now.

COLLABORATION ANTICIPATION: The Balmain x H&M Lookbook Shows Olivier Roustieng's Greatest Hits

The Balmain x H&M lookbook images have officially hit the web a couple of weeks earlier than we would have predicted, probably as a result of an unexpected leak several days ago  that was probably the fault of H&M's webmasters. Anyway, the looks are out, as much like the majority of H&M's previous designer collaborations, the collection is essentially a compilation of designer Olivier Roustieng's strongest signature looks over the past few years.
Graphic black and white? Check.
Jewel toned satin? Check.
Brass buttoned military coats? Check
Embroidery encrusted minidresses? Check..and so on.
That's a good thing for Balmain fans, and generally, it's also a recipe for a sellout launch on November 5th. Maison Margiela proved that H&M's designer collaboration customers prefer glitz and glamor over cerebral intellectual looks, and Balmain is providing sparkle and shine in generous doses.
Though a full price appears not to have been released, some prices have trickled down so we know that the biker pants in faux leather will be $99, the black and gold ankle sandals will be $199 and the thigh-high suede boots will be $349. The most expensive pieces appears to be the black and white embroidered jacket for $549 and the fuchsia beaded dress for $499, which is really pushing the boundaries of H&M's pricing for these lines, but it seems that there is little price resistance for these collaborations.
After the jump, have a look at the complete lookbook for men and women.

SISTER ACT: & Other Stories To Join COS On Fifth Avenue For A Late October Opening

As an example of how the bewildering PR system at H&M sometimes works, let us remember about six weeks ago when it was officially announced that the popular contemporary chain COS would be opening its second U.S. store on Fifth Avenue in part of the space on the northeast corner of 42nd Street that had been quietly abandoned by H&M, its parent company. What would take the rest of the space, we all wondered?
Well, no official announcement appears to have been made other than big sign in the window telling us that the other budding chain from H&M, & Other Stories, will be joining its sister for its second store in New York —and the entire U.S, for that matter.
We won't have to wait too long for the trendy chain's expansion. What must be a pretty firm opening date of October 30th is clearly included in the window, which makes this scenario a striking mirror of the stores' arrivals in SoHo when the more sophisticated COS was the first to be announced, but lagged months behind & Other Stories in actually opening to the public. On Fifth Avenue, COS is still "opening soon" which could mean this Fall, Christmastime, next Spring or just when they are damn good and ready.
We aren't complaining. We'll take more COS anytime whenever they want to give it to us, but now we know for sure that both of H&M's up and coming nameplates are on the road to expansion in New York and beyond. If the new stores are as well received in Midtown as they have been in SoHo, you can bet that there will be more of both coming your way soon.

Previously:
Flagship Flash: COS To Open On Fifth Avenue In Former 42nd Street H&M

COLLABORATION ANTICIPATION: Here's A New Look From Balmain X H&M

EXCLUSIVITE MONDE Découvrez un nouveau look @Balmain x @hm #HMBalmaination dans #ELLEenkiosque http://t.co/70x8KT37BH pic.twitter.com/xxjw5aVmum

— ELLE Fashion (@ELLEfashion) August 20, 2015

There's no going back to the old fashioned press release for H&M which has taken a social media heavy strategy to promote its upcoming collaboration with Balmain. Today it's a tweet from French ELLE (pictured above) of a strong shouldered minidress with long sleeves, a skimpy hemline and lavish embroidery that indicate the unmistakable signature of Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing. Since the collaboration was announced on the red carpet of the Billboard Music Awards and via Instagram, we should start to expect more images of the collection to casually drop until the official launch on November 5. It's looking like a good season for collaborations with Adam Lippes' Target line coming next month, the upcoming Uniqlo x Lemaire introduction and the always reliable GAP X GQ's Best New Menswear Designers quartet of capsules. Stay tuned for more updates.

Previously:
Collaboration Anticipation: H&M x Balmain Collaboration Announced On Twitter, Instagram & The Red Carpet

COLLABORATION ANTICIPATION: H&M x Balmain Collaboration Announced On Twitter, Instagram & The Red Carpet UPDATED

In a first for H&M, the chain's big Fall designer collaboration was announced by its designer on the red carpet of an awards show. At last night's Billboard Music Awards red carpet, Balmain designer Olivier Rousteing  announced the upcoming collaboration flanked by models Jourdan Dunn and ubiquitous multimedia phenomenon Kendall Jenner (pictured below). His cohorts were reportedly dressed in looks from the upcoming collection, though it is unusual for H&M to release any kind of preview this far ahead of the launch date, November 5th. Further confirmation soon came from both Rousteing's and H&M's Instagram and Twitter feeds. While H&M has yet to issue a full press release, the only other bit of information we know is that the collection will include both women's and men's clothing and accessories, and, of course, can best be followed on social media with the hashtag #HMBalmaination. Will there be some good biker pants? It's a good bet, and something to ponder before the fast fashion giant opens its biggest store on the planet on Wednesday at the former Herald Center.
See some relevant embeds below, and stay tuned for updates.

UPDATED with the official images & video.
In an official statement designer Olivier Rousteing says, "I want to talk to my generation: this is my main purpose as a designer. H&M allows me the unique possibility of bringing everyone into the world of Balmain, getting a piece of the dream and creating a global #HMBalmaination: a movement of togetherness, fueled on a hashtag. The collaboration felt extremely natural to me because everybody can connect with the H&M brand. It calls for unity, and I am all for it."

Olivier Rousteing announces the upcoming Balmain x H&M collaboration on the red carpet at the Billboard Music Awards with Jourdan Dunn and Kylie Jenner dressed in outfits from the collection

CHAIN GANG: The Biggest H&M Store In The World Opens In Herald Square On May 20

In a rare instance of timeliness, the H&M store that is taking over the former Herald Center will open on May 20th, two weeks from yesterday and one month before the "Summer 2015" date indicated on its signage officially begins. It's comforting to see H&M buck the trend of stores that seem to take forever to get built, and the date will get even more attention because singer John Legend has been pressed into service to open the store.
The store at 63,000 square feet will be H&M's biggest in the world with four floors collecting every single one of the chain's product categories including newer lines like H&M Sport and H&M Mama. It trumps the now puny 50,000 square foot store that opened last year on Fifth Avenue and was itself, for a time at least, the biggest store in the chain. That will leave the chain with three stores on the 34th Street shopping corridor, although the one closest to Herald Square between Fifth and Sixth Avenues is slated to close. More details about opening festivities are likely to be disclosed in the coming week, so stay tuned.

John Legend to Open H&M Store (WWD)

WINDING DOWN: As Expected, H&M's First U.S. Store Is Closing ...To Make Way For Niketown? UPDATED

Though H&M never officially announced it, the store that debuted the game-changing Swedish fast-fashion brand in the U.S. will, in fact, be shutting down at the end of this month which means that you have only a few days left to buy whatever is left in there at 50% off according to our friends at Racked. While the company initially denied plans to close the store at Fifth Avenue and 51st Street, as they often have multiple stores clustered nearby in the same area, it seems that even they had to concede that three stores within a ten-block stretch even on Fifth Avenue was a little bit excessive, especially if it includes one of the chain's largest stores in the world. Too big to be converted to one of the company's newer COS or & Other Stories concepts, the location has long been rumored to be where Niketown will move when its lease ends on East 57th Street. Though that isn't supposed to happen for another couple of years, converting the H&M store will probably require a gut renovation and elaborate construction before Nike can move in, so the likelihood of that rumor panning out is still high. This also means that when the next of H&M's immense flagships opens in the former Herald Center space at 34th Street and Broadway sometime next year (?), one of the chain's other stores on that busy corridor —probably the one half a block away between Fifth and Sixth Avenues— will be on its way out as well. That particular store is not quite as huge, and could be a more appropriate candidate to convert to COS, or, more likely, & Other Stories, so stay tuned.
In the meantime, if you are looking re-live some memories of standing in line outside for the latest Designer Collaboration line to launch, or just hunting for some half priced H&M bargains that may or may not be particularly current merchandise, head over to 51st and Fifth and have at it.

H&M Closing Out 51st Street Store With Everything Half-Off (Racked)

UPDATE:
H&M has reponded via Twitter to our post, and tells us that while that store is obviously closing, they are still planning on having three midtown Fifth Avenue stores. Where is the store moving to? That is the question.

@theshophound Great news! This store is relocating to a larger site, also on 5th Avenue.

— hm_custserv (@hm_custserv) December 30, 2014

COLLABORATION ANTICIPATION: It's WANG Day At H&M And It's Going To Be Crazy

The Shophound will not be reporting from various H&M locations around the city for the simple reason that it seems clear that the launch of the Swedish chain's collaboration with Alexander Wang looks to be the biggest, craziest, most popular collaboration it has had since, well, probably since 2004 when they first started doing them. Our friends at Racked hit the special VIP preview shopping session for press last night (at left) and reported that the racks were picked clean within an hour. It's not surprising at all. This appears to be one of the most heavily promoted collaborations the chain has ever done including not only the obligatory TV commercials and subway and outdoor advertising, but a huge celebrity pre-launch party a couple of weeks ago that included a heavily produced runway show featuring more top models than any Fashion Week runway show had on hand last season plus a rare performing appearance from Missy Elliott. So, there's all that plus the fact that of all the designers H&M has joined forces with, Alexander Wang is, so far, the most wildly popular among the young customers whose business the chain cultivates. On top of that, rather than presenting new versions of tried and true signature pieces, this collection includes brand new designs that Wang fans won't already have in their closets. The participating stores carrying the collection will open at 8 AM today, and though H&M will be implementing the color-coded bracelet timed shopping session system that has worked for past collabs, it will probably still be pandemonium. Our advice, if you want to buy any of the collection,  is to be on the retailer's website when online shopping commences and act as fast as you can.
Best of luck to you.
It's going to be a madhouse.

The Alexander Wang X H&M Preview Went Down in a Real Way (Racked NY)