By now, we're accustomed to seeing some of fashion's most prominent designers creating collections for high street brands, whether it be Victoria Beckham for Mango or Bella Freud for M&S. There was a time, however, when such a concept was an unknown phenomenon – something which, 20 years ago, H&M changed forever. The high street brand was the pioneer of designer collaborations, starting with Karl Lagerfeld, then creative director of Chanel, in 2004. The rest is history – but not for much longer.
To celebrate two decades of designer collections, H&M has sourced a number of pre-loved items to create a special offering of pieces from the best of them, which will be available in stores from 25th October and online from 31st October. It includes pieces from the inaugural collection, designed by Lagerfeld, as well as items from Stella McCartney (2005), Lanvin (2010), Versace (2011), Isabel Marant (2013), Erdem and Giambattista Valli. Everything was sourced from Sellpy, the online pre-loved marketplace, as well as a number of global vintage retailers.
H&M's buyers quite literally scoured the globe to find pre-loved pieces from the last 20 years and luckily managed to find some of the rarest items. Interestingly, the brand says that the Comme des Garçons collection from 2008 and the Maison Margiela collab from 2012 are incredibly sought-after and the most difficult to source. Happily, a section of pieces from both of these collections will be available.
Given the rate at which H&M's designer collections sell out, this is the perfect opportunity to get your hands on the pieces you missed first time around, from tulle dresses by Giambattista Valli to Moschino's oversized tees. Of course, you'll have to be quick to ensure you're not disappointed for a second time.
The collection will drop in stores around the world from 24th October, when it lands in Paris before arriving in London's Regent Street store on 25th. If you don't happen to be in the capital on that day, fear not, as the collection will launch online on 31st October.
See: H&M's Pre-Loved Designer Collection
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Hannah Banks-Walker is Grazia's head of fashion commerce. She has previously written for the likes of Harper's Bazaar, The Financial Times, Glamour, Stylist, The Telegraph, Red, i-D and The Pool on everything from fashion to curly hair (hi!) to the patriarchy. Not necessarily in that order. Find her on Instagram and Twitter. But please don't look for her MySpace profile, which until now was the last time she wrote about herself in the third person.