The imminent Rabanne x H&M collaboration could not have come at a better time, as we saunter into party season. Launching on November 9 in H&M stores and online, the shimmery, co-ed collection is made for the holidays, thanks to the brand’s boisterous design signatures, such as paillettes, mesh, and metallic finishes. Comprising over 100 items spanning ready-to-wear and accessories, the decadent designs borrow heavily from Rabanne’s futuristic Space Age aesthetic and disco-era dresses, as well as the brand’s in-your-face wallpaper prints from the 1970s.
This glam-rock uniform jacket is based on a much-loved Rabanne archival style
“As a designer, I’ve always been interested in exploring hedonism and empowerment,” says Julien Dossena, creative director of Rabanne. “I was very enthusiastic to work with H&M on a collection that will introduce Rabanne’s avant-garde energy to a wider audience in a democratic way.”
The collection is also a fitting way to spread the legacy and heritage of house founder, the Spanish designer Paco Rabanne, who died in February of this year at the age of 88. In addition to mining some of Rabanne’s own archival designs, such as the mesh bags, a kaftan dress, and a band jacket, the collection also highlights the designer’s avant-garde approach to sustainability.
Recycled and sustainable materials are the basis of the Rabanne x H&M collection. This chainmail top and mini skirt are composed of both recycled and conventional aluminium.
Rabanne was one of the few designers in the 1960s and 1970s who was thinking about the environmental impact of his work. He used recycled metal from industrial scraps to create his chainmail dresses, and he used innovative laser-cutting techniques to minimise waste.
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For the collaboration with H&M, Dossena ensures this sustainable ethos by reworking plenty of recycled materials into the designs, including recycled polyethylene terephthalate for the paillettes and blends of recycled polyester and recycled elastane. In a first for both Rabanne and H&M, aluminium and conventional aluminium were also used to create the chainmail creations in the lineup.
Julien Dossena, creative director of Rabanne dabbles in homeware design for the first time with this outing for H&M.
To further honour Rabanne’s personal work as a design luminary, the collaboration also sees Dossena experimenting with homeware design for the first time—a nod to Rabanne’s own repertoire of metallic furniture that he created in the 1970s. In the mix are a stool, a floor lamp, and a loungewear range comprising organic cotton bathrobes and head towels.
READ MORE: H&M Home Is Now Available In Singapore
“I wanted to embellish the lifestyle element of the ready-to-wear collection to incorporate home decor items that complemented the luxurious mood of enjoyment,” says Dossena. “There’s a fantastic silver lamp, for instance, that shimmers like the paillette party dresses, offering an innovative take on a Rabanne icon.” Again, the attention to pro-environmental materials is kept, with items designed using post-consumer recycled zinc, recycled polyester, organic cotton, and wool.
Ahead, we suss out some of the best buys from this outing.
