Behemothic Swedish retailer H&M has a long history of collaborations with designers ranging from Maison Martin Margiela to Kenzo, Commes de Garçon and Simone Roche. Tatler Asia provides a fantastic review here of the top 10 collaborations in the last two decades. As announced this weekend; the latest alumni of a luxury and fast-fashion hybrid welcomes the house of Mugler, as led by Casey Cadwallader – one of fashion’s current darlings touting sexiness as essential in womenswear. The house, founded by the late and great Manfred Thierry Mugler, was once a mainstay of intense creative experimentation; for now, its focus is marketability, and in this respect – the rotation of bodysuits and leggings symbolic of Cadwallader’s Mugler is perhaps the perfect fit for H&M. As someone said, “isn’t Mugler by H&M just Fashion Nova?’ and to this we say…basically. 

The official press statement by H&M stated, “H&M is proud to share that its next designer collaboration will be with the house of Mugler. The Mugler H&M collection, crafted under the direction of Mugler’s creative director Casey Cadwallader, will encapsulate the unique and vibrant spirit of Mugler. H&M’s history of designer collaborations is legendary and pioneering. For nearly two decades, H&M has been democratizing high-fashion by offering global audiences the chance to own special pieces of high-end designer history.” and indicates precisely the vision of H&M’s strategy. By providing brands and designers some sort of direct share in the trickle-down effect of fashion from any place other than just at the top (the runway, to magazine, to fast-fashion rack purchasable by the cycling and copying of designs) – this enticing opportunity is dressed as an altruistic motivation for all of us to partake directly in the glory too, so we too can purchase Mugler. Kind of. We will have to wait and see.

Ariish Wol for Mugler A/W 21 via showstudio.com 

The Mugler H&M Collection will be available online and in selected stores in (European) Spring 2023.

Kai-Isaiah Jamal for Mugler A/W 21 via showstudio.com

Written by: Holly Beaton