isabel marant x h&m.

No, it's not the second coming of Christ, it's Isabel Marant x H&M. Everyone hold your horses. 

H&M's newest designer collaboration with a favorite of the French fashion scene, Isabel Marant, hit stores with a bang earlier this month. Queues were the longest that H&M has ever seen, with people live-blogging their overnight camping experiences in front of all major H&M stores in London, published by The Guardian. Like every other collaboration with H&M, the mutually beneficial collection allows H&M all the consumer hype (and cash) that fuels high-end design houses, and it allows the designer collaborating with H&M a fair amount of exposure. According to popular belief, Isabel Marant was the least well-known designer to have collaborated with H&M; names like Maison Martin Margiela, Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney and Comme des Garcons were much more widely known to begin with. If you'd like an idea of just how much exposure H&M directs to its collaboration designers; the number of Google searches for "Isabel Marant" tripled during the month the collaboration was announced. 

I was actually supposed to go to a private press preview of the collection while I was back in Singapore, but instead I decided to make rice-a-roni and have a sweatpants-and-movie-marathon day with my boyfriend. This wasn't because I was firmly opposed to the collection and wanted to make a statement, but the whole idea of H&M's countless collaborations seem the furthest thing from exciting anymore. Daniel Kulle, president of H&M North America, firmly declared to Fashionista.com that "Isabel will sell out in less than a week." And he was right - the pieces sold like hotcakes, because everyone wants to own something with Isabel Marant's (legitimate) name on it. People will do anything to hop on the fast-fashion bandwagon that instantly becomes old news as soon as you've paid up and got your hands on the bloody things. But after reading this article by Fashionista.com journalist Alyssa Vingan, my eyes were opened to the true nature and adverse effects of these designer collaborations. Imagine saving up your first few paychecks to finally be able to splurge on the bag of your dreams from your favorite designer, only to find that in a few months, a dangerously similar knock-off of your authentic bag will be reproduced in low-cost materials to the masses at a fraction of the price you paid, but nonetheless with that designer's name smacked on it (next to H&M). Don't cheap replicas churned out in thousands only serve to devalue the image of a designer and dilute the magic of authentic, timeless visions and ideals that are synonymous with such revered designers? Marc Beckman, CEO of Designers Management Agency, put it perfectly: "There's nothing wrong with selling for the masses, but the design should be original." Leather pant knock-offs from Marant's Fall 2010 collection, fringed booties from Summer 2010, the list goes on. We know Marant has the artistic capability to create inventive new designs for any collaboration that comes her way; heck, we've seen 9 years worth of her collections already. So why was the easy road of replicating existing designs taken?

In some ways, it's hard to tell if these replicas/knockoffs are a good thing or a bad thing. On the one hand, the reason people fall in love with Marant is because of what they've seen on the runway, so do they love her existing pieces or her design aesthetic itself? The former calls for the easy job of producing thousands of identical runway pieces using cheap fabrics and low-cost production techniques (without so much input from Marant as signing a document allowing H&M to replicate her existing designs), but the latter calls for just a little more of Marant's authentic magic and undeniable skill in fashion design, in order to produce an exciting NEW collection for those of us who don't have the luxury of enjoying pieces from her own label. It's only when a comparison is made between copying and creating do we realize that perhaps something entirely fresh, new and from the chic depths of Marant's heart would've been a better choice to serve the hundreds of thousands of us who call the high-street price bracket our (only) sartorial home. 

What do you think of Isabel Marant x H&M?

august inspiration + playlist.

 Some inspiration for (and derived from) the sun-soaked season that's drawing to a worryingly abrupt close. And it's not just the end of high temperatures and spirits - it's the beginning of my last two years of high school, which will be spent at boarding school in the UK for those of you who haven't yet heard (I'm only just realising I've hardly made an official announcement on my blog). I'll be back to visit virtually every 8 weeks though, so Singapore will very much remain my home! This has been quite a transformational summer for me, as this is probably the biggest change I'll have gone through in the past sixteen years. A new school, a new country, a new environment, a new culture, new friends/teachers, new weather, and so many more new things that I'm not even sure of at this stage! I'm apprehensive and nervous, but I know an abundance of really exciting new experiences awaits, and I can't wait to share them all with you! For someone who prefers cold weather to sweltering tropical humidity, I'm particularly looking forward to better acquainting myself with a winter-wonderlandy wardrobe (which will probably be a lot less romantic than I currently envision; faux-fur? Forget it - more like sweatpants and hoodies). IB will definitely promise an academically challenging last two years of high school, and my course package is super diverse (Economics, English Literature, Biology, Math, Chinese, Psychology) so that means I'm likely to die six different (and equally painful) ways under the unforgiving blade that is the International Baccalaureate. Oh well, many fun times lie ahead! As the pictures above suggest, my summer "moodboard" consists dominantly of whites and blues with pops of pronounced color. I've had more than just a few friends visit Greece this summer, and the azure waters and vast panoramic views of white tiered villas and European charm have me drooling with jealousy. I feel like if I ever went to Greece I'd just live in Isabel Marant studded gladiator sandals, billowy white blouses, white shorts, a white bikini, white framed sunglasses, white woven cardigans, white floppy sunhats... You get the (white) picture. This isn't the beginning of a new calendar year, but an academic one. So for everyone else trapped in high school/college moving into one grade/year higher, I guess this is happy new year!

A Snippet of My Summer Playlist:
Sweater Weather - The Neighbourhood
Summer Vibe - Walk off the Earth
You & Me - Disclosure feat. Eliza Doolittle
Right Again - Yuna
Yoko - Pegasus Bridge
Anna Sun - Walk the Moon
Hey Pretty Girl - Kip Moore
Ordinary People - Jayme Dee cover
Tangled Up - Caro Emerald
Sleep Alone - Two Door Cinema Club

isabel marant: surfing, skateboarding and spring.

I find it significantly more enjoyable and intimate to analyze not a trend as a whole, but an individual designer and their personal interpretations. The world of fashion relies too heavily on trends, as if trends should dictate the creative energy and potential of designers. Looking at a single designer and their creations tell you a story, which is what enthralls me the most in the world of fashion. 

 Instead of enlightening myself with shallow general knowledge about the trends of spring (e.g. Lace is in, Ikat is out) which seems to be common lingo to everyone, I took a deeper dive into Isabel Marant's Spring Collection, where I familiarized myself with her inspirations, stories and her timeless flair, which undoubtedly transcends the boundaries of what we label as 'a season.' 

Mesh/Sheer Tops - What struck me most about Isabel Marant's Spring RTW 2011 designs was her seamless 'compliance' with the standout Spring trend of Lace. As you can see in the pictures above, there was no evidence of lace, but rather a more androgynous, modern take on the 'sheer' look. The models were donned in somewhat futuristic, synthetic white mesh shirts, which were matched with complimentary tailored pastel pants for a preppy look, and with a floral tiered skirt for a striking contrast. I can definitely picture those racy tops layered with neon tank tops and tights on the writhing body of a teenager at a disco. The concept of 'muted androgyny' is weaved both consciously and sub-consciously throughout her collection.

Pink Pants - Another huge trend that was evident throughout Marant's collection was the use of pastel colors; especially on the lower half. From youthful, casual pink cutoff shorts to timeless, conservative pants, Marant enthralled me with a rich variety that displayed the fact that there was something for everyone.

Marant took her inspiration for Spring from the restless cities of California. She "fell in love" with California and it's "chill vibe," and thus this season was an "ode to surfing and the early days of skateboarding" in California. The racy (and dare I say, slightly slutty) vibes that some of her looks feature (that are of course, smothered in classic Marant chic) seem to go hand-in-hand with the stereotypical culture of America as we see it. There were also some "fast and furious...Sports references" in the latter of the collection, where we saw "shrunken fisherman" shirts, varsity style baseball jerseys and rugby stripe shirt-dresses (shown in the second-to-last image on the extreme left).

Scrolling through Trend Reports on Style.com, I've realised, doesn't do me much good as a person who's interested in fashion. We have subconsciously redefined the word 'fashionable' because now, 'fashionable' only lasts a mere few months. 

Indeed, it is the snowflakes of winter and the heat of summer that we so effortlessly recall about seasons. Fur jackets and Daisy Dukes? They're gone before you can say 'next season.'

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