Meeting of two worlds H&M/COMME DES GARÇONS debuts today in Tokyo
H&M brings a big surprise to Harajuku, a place where street culture and high fashion fuse together. This autumn’s hottest news, the H&M/Comme des Garçons collaboration, launches today in Tokyo before all other stores worldwide. The first customers started to line up Wednesday afternoon, three days ago, and have patiently been waiting for the opening today. This morning thousands of eager customers stood in line outside the brand new store in Harajuku in Tokyo.
Comme des Garçons’ designer, Rei Kawakubo is known throughout the world for her artistic inspiration and her philosophy of pursuing the ultimate form of creation. H&M constantly strives to provide the freshest surprises to all fashion lovers. These two philosophies merge together in this rare collaboration that includes women’s, men’s, accessories, and a limited unisex fragrance, all designed by Kawakubo. The collection is available from today, November 8, at the Harajuku and Ginza stores in Tokyo and on all other markets from November 13.
As Rei Kawakubo said in the beginning of this collaboration, it is a fascinating challenge to work with H&M and take the dilemma between creation and business to its extreme and try to solve it. Witnessing the launch, Rei Kawakubo says: “The first reaction from the customers is beyond our expectations. Comme des Garçons’ spirit together with H&M’s commercial sense seems to work very well.”
“Rei Kawakubo’s intellectual and avant-garde collection for H&M is a success among our fashion-conscious audience in Japan. It is a particularly exciting but also very wearable collection featuring her signature deconstructed tailored garments and well-cut classics in special fabrics. Creating this collection together has been fun and a great experience,“ says H&M’s creative advisor Margareta van den Bosch.
The grand opening began with cutting of the ribbon by the Store Manager Ingela Jönsson, Country Manager Christine Edman and Stefan Persson, Chariman of the Board. The street was filled with thousands of excited customers queuing for the opening.
H&M’s aim with its stores in Tokyo is to make an impression on the street scene. Instead of using traditional window displays, the whole façade is an architectural statement. The stores have a completely new interior design, maximising the use of the walls to make them feel as spacious as possible.
H&M Harajuku has approximately 1500㎡ of sales space, spreading over four floors from basement to 3rd floor, displaying women’s, men’s and accessories concepts aimed for the trend-conscious Harajuku clientele.
Press pictures and background information for editorial use can be downloaded from www.hm.com. Film material will be available to download at www.hm.com during the day.
For more information please contact H&M’s press service:
E-post: mediarelations@hm.com
Telephone: +46 8 796 53 00