cdg for h&m

blasphemy or brilliance?

COMME DES GARCONS FOR H&M

H&M HAS announced its next designer collaborator: Comme des Garcons.

The famously avant-garde Japanese label, spearheaded by design powerhouse Rei Kawakubo, will provide a range of both men's and womenswear, as well as childrenswear, accessories and a new unisex fragrance for the retailer. In honour of its Japanese roots, the collaborative line will launch exclusively at H&M in Tokyo in November before being rolled out worldwide a few days later.

"I have always been interested in the balance between creation and business," says Kawakubo of the collaboration. "It is a dilemma, although for me creation has always been the first priority. It is a fascinating challenge to work with H&M since it is a chance to take the dilemma to its extreme, and try to solve it."

"Rei Kawakubo has been on the top of our wish list for a long time and we are thrilled that she has chosen to collaborate with us," adds H&M creative advisor Margareta van den Bosch. "We have tremendous respect for Kawakubo's fashion philosophy questioning fashion's ingrained patterns and we admire her artistic approach to design. We are particularly excited to launch the collection in Kawakubo’s native country at our launch in Japan."

H&M's designer collaborations are the stuff of modern legend - capsule collections for the brand by Stella McCartney, Karl Lagerfeld, Viktor & Rolf and, most recently, Roberto Cavalli have proved instant sell-out successes. (April 3 2008, AM)