KENZO x H&M: Will It Just Be Another Designer Collaboration From The Swedish High Street Store?

Let’s be honest here – we are feeling quite tired of high street store H&M and their many designer collaborations, and didn’t quite understand the hype behind the last Balmain x H&M collection.

So when we heard that KENZO – the vibrant and playful Parisian house known for capturing the energy of global culture to create its unique, youthful spirit – is the next designer label slated to collaborate with H&M for its Autumn/Winter collection, we didn’t know how to react.

While we were stoked, we are feeling apprehensive as well.

Remember how the accessibility (and affordability) of Balmain x H&M collection has made true ardent fans of Balmain and their mainline feel like as if their exclusive rights to the brand have been stolen away from them – sort of how Jacob stole Esau’s birthright as the eldest son in the Bible – and in return, made it commonplace, when hordes of shoppers who queued for the collection last November, acted as if they were suffering from fits of hysteria when they were not fast enough, and couldn’t get their hands on the much-coveted embellished black blazers from the collaboration?

So yes, let’s face it, H&M’s collaboration with designers for its collections as a strategy has indeed gone stale.

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So will this upcoming capsule collection from Kenzo x H&M reignite our love for designer collaborations or will it just be another method of “money grabbing,” since Kenzo, currently led by creative directors, Carol Lim and Humberto Leon (the co-founders of Opening Ceremony), and originally founded by Japanese designer, Kenzo Takada, obviously does not need it to raise its brand profile?

“With this collaboration with H&M we want to think big, push the boundaries and bring the new energy of KENZO to everyone around the world,” says Carol Lim and Humberto Leon, Creative Directors at KENZO.

I guess only time will tell.

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Now as we await for the collection to officially hit the stores on 3 November 2016, check out the 15-second teaser below, and let us know what you think: