Effortlessly merging a sense of history with modernity, the 2016 H&M Conscious Exclusive Collection will be launched to coincide with the opening of the exhibition Fashion Forward – 300 years of Fashion at Musée des Arts Décoratifs to which it pays homage.
The collection takes its inspiration from the museum’s archival fashions with key pieces created from the last three centuries of haute couture. The result is a contemporary and artistic collection that is soulful, progressive, conscious and truly unique.
The fluid and easy silhouette revolves around languid dresses, arty kaftans and sculpted skirts. Prints add a dash of surprise, turning dresses into trompe l’oeil paintings or sculptures. A long ball gown with a deep neckline features a marble draping print; a liquid dress is adorned with a slice of Botticelli’s Three Graces. Short dresses and painter blouses ooze nonchalant sophistication, creating an electric and eclectic short-circuit between present and past.
There’s something for everyone, and if you love making a statement, this Conscious Collection gives you the opportunity to truly express yourself and literally be a walking piece of art.
French Art Director and model, Julia Restoin Roitfeld, is the face of this years campaign. “One of my favourite pieces from the collection is the mini asymmetric dress that was inspired by a painting by Gustave Moreau. I love the mix of a conscious, sustainable fabric and an old painting. It’s great to be able to have sustainable clothes that still look red carpet-ready,” she says.
Materials used in the Collection include regulars to H&M like organic silk, hemp, recycled linen and Tencel® blends, as well as new innovative materials such as beads made from recycled glass and Denimite − a material made out of recycled worn-out denim, which H&M is the first fashion company to use.
A daring new inclusion for this season’s launch are three wedding dresses − a feast of lightness and embellishment materialised in dreamy, draped lines, for the bride wanting to be as beautifully dressed as she is conscious.
H&M will be the exclusive sponsor of the upcoming exhibition Fashion Forward – 300 years of Fashion at Musée des Arts Décoratifs.
Watch the film from the 2016 Conscious Exclusive Collection campaign below