H&M, the favorite fast fashion purveyor of people who generally look down their noses at fast fashion, has steadily been ratcheting up its cred with the style set since it went global in the early 2000s.
From their partnerships with Karl Lagerfeld, Lanvin, and Versace, to their fancy pants look books, it is delightfully easy to forget how affordable H&M’s offerings are.
It’s even easier if you are familiar with this past round of menswear runway shows. H&M’s man seems to be a mash up of the Spring 2012 Prada, 3.1 Phillip Lim, and Band of Outsiders men, among others.
With contrast-sole shoes, oversized suits, windbreakers, batik pants, and bright boat shoes, the collection is indeed a bit of a hodge-podge of the menswear motifs of this past spring’s runways.
Any fashion purists will probably be bothered by the fact that much of its aesthetics are lifted from designers, but that’s sort of the point of stores like H&M, isn’t it?
For the sake of positivity here, the collection is a way for men to do what women have been doing for years: get a small piece of a designer look (check out the collar on the grey suit and the soles of the dress shoes in the men’s SS 2012 lookbook) for a more than reasonable price.
In all, it’s the latest step for the store in a huge leap forward from a few years ago, when the store’s American men’s collections left a lot to be desired (like things other than jeans, button downs and hoodies).
Though there’s no word out yet on pricing, and you still can’t buy online in America (though there are whisperings about it happening in 2012!), this collection looks like it’s worth heading to the stores for if you’re the kind of guy who doesn’t quite get the whole Versace collaboration pieces.
Bubblegum pink shoes, bedazzled tailored shorts, and Palm Beach leopard baroque tees just aren’t for everyone, and that is more than okay.
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