Variety in Fashion at H&M This Season

Romance continues to be on trend. The look is well-groomed, coordinated and playful with pretty watercolor shades and light neutrals. But it's not the only style this season. Pared down simplicity and uniform-inspired tailoring are at least as important, as are futuristic sporty influences.

"Style wise there's a liberating variety of fashion right now. There are endless different ways for our creative customers to express themselves, which is extremely inspiring for the H&M design team. We're also focusing on sustainability in design and production and investing in organic materials," says H&M Head of Design Ann-Sofie Johansson.

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INSPIRATION

Retro-Romantic
The season's most important retro reference is romantic and chic. It's all about dresses and wide skirts, with the focus on the waistline, feminine blouses, tailored jackets and blazers, shirts and obvious classics such as chinos, denim and T-shirts.

Timeless Tailoring
Tailoring is simple and often androgynous with uniform-inspired cuts and details à la 1970s elegant Parisian "Le Safari". Styles are minimalist as well as over or under dimensioned and draping. But it's mainly blends of materials with new finishes, and technical and organic materials that update tailoring this spring.

Art and Architecture
Architectural forms and proportions continue to inspire, as does an experimentally futuristic and sometimes eccentric attitude. This reappears in references from the art world with everything from the fashion style of famous artists (with August Strindberg and David Hockney being diverse examples of style icons in art) to colorful motifs and patterns inspired by historic and contemporary art and architecture.

H&M Womenswear Collection Summer 2009


Click images to enlarge \| Photographer: Peter Gehrke, Courtesy of H&M

H&M Menswear Collection Summer 2009

Click images to enlarge \| Photographer: Peter Gehrke, Courtesy of H&M

Silhouettes
Narrow, yet relaxed, experimental with new shapes and proportions, voluminous or curvy with the focus on the waist.

Colors
White and shades of white. Warm tones of beige. Coral. Saturated, watercolor transparent, or pastel pale shades of blue, green, pink and yellow. Neons.

Patterns and Prints
Flowers, spots, checks, stripes, botanical designs, art-inspired patterns and prints, animal patterns and graphic prints.

Materials
Material mixes of natural materials or with synthetic and organic materials, lace, transparent or textured fabrics, shiny fabrics such as silk and polyester, sun-bleached and "worn" fabrics, jersey, classic cottons, linen, thin denim and chambray.

Details
Pleats, gathers, pin-tucks and yokes, rolled-up trouser legs and sleeves, three-quarter length, collarless, Nehru collars, shawl collars, ballerina necklines, uniform details.

Key Pieces
Women: Skirts - wide or narrow pencil style, knee or ankle-length. Dresses with volume, 50s style with a waistline, sheath dresses or shirt dresses. Blazers, classic or short dress jackets. Romantic blouses and shirts. T-shirts. Rolled-up chinos and slacks.

Men: Tailored shorts, patterned shirts, ankle-length slacks, pyjama-inspired pieces. Blazers in colors, sometimes patterned, nylon lumber jackets, tunics, knee-length coats made from sport-inspired materials, patterned T-shirts and vests.

Accessories
Women: Belts, clutch bags, earrings, bracelets, sling-backs and scarves.

Men: Scarves, nylon bags, sunglasses with metal frames, sandals, sneakers and narrow belts.