You’ve probably heard the news, Lanvin is the next H&M designer collaboration. It’s a men’s and women’s collection by Lanvin’s artistic director Alber Elbaz and menswear designer Lucas Ossendrijver. At first I was sad about it and discussed it on twitter a lot. Now I extremely curious as to how this will unfold and what is up H&M’s sleeve. I want to see how they translate this statement “the idea of H&M going luxury rather than Lanvin going public”. Is that some of semantic spin?

I think there is a lot of potential for the jewellery in this collaboration.  I’m speculating the clothing will be a lot of the tshirt jersey type pieces, but they may surprise me.  The collection will be released to the world on November 2, 2010 in the form of an online video at www.hm.com. It will then go on sale in North American stores on November 20, 2010 while the rest of the world has to wait until November 23, 2010.

image: Paolo Roversi

“H&M approached us to collaborate and see if we could translate the dream we created at Lanvin to a wider audience, not just a dress for less. I have said in the past that I would never do a mass-market collection, but what intrigued me was the idea of H&M going luxury rather than Lanvin going public. This has been an exceptional exercise, where two companies at opposite poles can work together because we share the same philosophy of bringing joy and beauty to men and women around the world.” Alber Elbaz, artistic director of Lanvin.

“We are thrilled about Lanvin’s collection for H&M, it is such an exciting moment. Lanvin will bring to H&M a luxurious French tradition that is also modern and playful. It is very much a Lanvin collection, using their cut and tailoring, with sharp focus on shape and details for both women and men. The launch in November is going to be full of wonderful surprises.” Margareta van den Bosch, creative advisor at H&M.