At an elegant hall in London, the raucous house party to celebrate the anticipated H&M Glenn Martens collection stretched into the wee hours of this morning. Step inside the delightfully British, unmissable event
Through an elegant courtyard dominated by a massive hedge trimmed in the shape of a pigeon, past a shocking red step-and-repeat flanked by corgi statues, one found the twisted house party to fete the anticipated Glenn Martens H&M collaboration. Held at the elegant Skinner’s Hall, a former guild house built in 1670, it was an event befitting the impossibly cool capsule.
“I’ve always said that the pieces in this collection are like a family. So it was great to see them all come to life on guests on the dance floor and around this amazing building,” says Martens. “The event felt like something from a movie – decadent, playful, with something new and exciting around every corner.”
Photo: H&M
Photo: H&M
Photo: H&M
Martens himself boogied with Jodie Turner Smith, Gabbriette glided towards the dance floor as The Dare spun his raucous tunes. Sugababes took the red-lit stage – a deeply London-appropriate performance. It was wall-to-wall notable Brits, Milly Alcock, Cynthia Arivo and Joe Locke inclusive. The handsome waiters, meanwhile, with custom trompe-l’œil Glenn Martens H&M aprons poured endless champagne and carried cleaning trays filled with scotch eggs and one-bite fish and chips.
The delightful Britishness was in keeping with the codes of the capsule, which played with tweeds, tartans and trench coats, all warped through that signature Martens lens. Fittingly, the campaign stars London legends Richard E. Grant (who also popped up at the party) and Ab Fab’s Joanna Lumley.
Photo: H&M
Photo: H&M
Photo: H&M
It’s an alluringly unusual collection, given that Martens, who recently made his debut as creative director of Maison Margiela, has never designed under his own name. It also marks the second time H&M has collaborated with a person rather than a brand, the first being Karl Lagerfeld. “My ego is blowing up,” joked Martens at a press event ahead of the launch. “His name is everywhere – Glenn Martens,” added H&M Creative Advisor Ann-Sofie Johansson. “On the underwear, on the socks – everywhere.”
Fans of Martens’ Y/Project, which shuttered early this year, will find plenty to love in the collection, from the trench coats and shirts set with foil in their linings – designed to be scrunched and twisted to one’s whim – to the silk trompe-l’œil skirts and dresses. “I’m known to be quite conceptual in the designing process,” says Martens. “I do like to start with something that exists and then have a flash of conceptualism and turn it around.” In this case, the garments that existed were best-selling H&M archetypes, each of which was granted that Glenn Martens twist.
Photo: H&M
Photo: H&M
Photo: H&M
When Martens first began conceiving the collection, the H&M team was unaware the big Maison Margiela announcement was forthcoming. “We knew something was going on,” says Johansson, turning to Martens and adding, “We were trying to get it out of you. You were so close to telling us.” Martens smiles and adds, “After, like, 75 negronis. We were in Stockholm and they were just filling us up with negronis.” Ann-Sofie interjects: “And Swedish candy, also.”
True to form, it was the Scandinavian contingency that shut down the dance floor last night. Swedish content creator Julia Dang and Danish art director Freja Wewer – both dressed in top-to-toe H&M Glenn Martens for the occasion, including the must-have shark-like boots on everyone’s wish list – held court as the evening stretched past midnight. A true London soiree befitting a capsule sure to fly off shelves when it launches on October 30th.
See all the snapshots from the evening below.
