Fashion review: The Kenzo for H&M collaboration

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Fashion review: The Kenzo for H&M collaboration

The unveiling of the new distinctly diverse collection

Tuesday 4 Oct 2016 Grace Howarth

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Few collaborations create such a stir as H&M and whichever big designer label they are partnering with this time round. The annual catwalk meets high street partnership has taken place again; this autumn H&M and Kenzo have joined forces. The combination of the very exceptional and classic garments of Kenzo with the ever popular and more modestly priced H&M make for an irresistible mix. This one off partnership ensures that every item in the collection will be special and, as Kenzo's designers Carol Lin and Humberto Leon stated, "create a once in a lifetime experience".

Lin and Leon have continued to push the boundaries with this latest offering to their customers by making people take risks with what they wear, as opposed to playing it safe. They wanted a diverse collection and in this they have certainly delivered. Instead of approaching the biggest, most powerful women of the catwalk (last year Jourdan Dunn and Kendall Jenner fronted Olivier Rousteing's Balmain Nation campaign to great success) Lin and Leon have recruited super model Iman Abdulmajid and actresses Chloe Sevigny and Rosario Dawson, as well as rapper Suboi and hip hop artist Chance The Rapper. Kenzo and H&M have certainly put forward a diverse line-up, demonstrating that the collection is about more than what lies on the surface but instead is looking to make a deeper, more serious connection with its buyers.

£ Untitled 31 — Image: Jean-Paul Goude/H&M

With the most recognisable face in the line up, Iman carries the campaign. Her awe inspiring career in fashion has spanned three decades. Now retired and in her sixties, she is still a firm favourite with both Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. Her close connection to the brand and the eminence of its designs in the fashion world made the decision for her to be the face of the campaign an obvious one.

The collection is a mix and match of colours and patterns, giving the line a fun loving, youthful appeal. The prints-on-prints effect of tiger stripes and leopard spots against the brilliance of an 80s inspired colour palette provides a particularly eye catching design. Royal blues, vivid greens, bright pinks and reds are given a new lease of life when added to loose fitting, casual items such as jogging bottoms and sweaters. Knowing the success of H&M's previous partnerships, this will truly be one to watch.