Small-town American romance inspires young autumn fashion
A classic love story à la Romeo and Juliet is the theme of autumns advertising campaign for the young Divided collection. Two lovers, Hiro and Cloud, meet but separate just as suddenly as mysteriously. The setting is a north American small town and it is this culture and the attitudes and way of life of the people there, that inspired the H&M design team with this seasons fashion for young people.
The look is a highly individual style mix. Designers have been influenced by the fashion young people create themselves when they have few resources and little fashion to choose from. There?s no shortage of imagination or interest, however, and styling ideas are endless. Modern takes on favourites from the 70s, 80s and 90s are mixed with hand knits and college style fashion. The trend is described as an updated version of the Twin Peaks characters? look, styled in the spirit of grunge with long-sleeved T-shirts worn under short-sleeved versions, flannel shirts, trousers, skirts and leggings, layer on layer.
Colours range from rich red in several shades to brown, bottle green, petrol blue and black with bright orange, yellow and fuchsia. Minnie and Mickey Mouse make a comeback as prints on college sweatshirts and T-shirts, along with traditional American high school prints. Materials in focus are corduroy, nylon, wool and denim.
The autumn Divided campaign also contains a digital game that will be available at www.hm.com/thegame. This game is based on the love story between the main characters Hiro and Cloud, but includes other characters from the campaign too. You can go in and play Hiro, who in his search for Cloud has to find clothes and solve puzzles. Hiro meets other characters along the way, who need help with different tasks. The settings in the game are the same used as locations for the campaign photos.