A First Look at H&M’s Cher-Approved Rabanne Designer Collaboration
When you know you’re going to be in the presence of Cher, you move about your day differently.This was something I learned earlier this month at Paris Fashion Week, when I received an invite to an event at the Silencio Club. It didn’t say much, but it did make mention of a “special moment” with the Queen of Camp and Goddess of Pop herself. I RSVP’d instantly and chose to wear tulle for the occasion, a decision I made after hours of contemplation and countless text consultations with friends. But of course, at midnight, when Cher came onto the stage to sing a song from her new Christmas album, she was wearing a chainmail top underneath a band jacket, and I wish I had worn something like that instead.
At first, I thought it was funny the invite said this moment would be “special,” because surely every moment with Cher is special. She is Cher. She is one of the most fashionable women on earth—someone who, even at 77 years old, performing a gleeful holiday song at a packed club on an 85-degree day in Paris, can fill anyone with a sort of petty high school envy. It feels electric to be in the room with her, but you also just want to be her. Granted, I later learned I couldn’t have copied her outfit even if I’d tried—at least not then, as she was wearing H&M’s latest designer collaboration with Rabanne.
The party itself was a surprise launch event for the unexpected collection. No one in attendance actually knew what, other than Cher, we were coming to see until we arrived. None of us even knew the designer collaboration was coming, as H&M—which typically releases one a year—had already dropped H&M x Mugler back in May.
The air of secrecy extended to the imagery. For weeks afterward, if you wanted to see the collaboration, you had to scrutinize photos from the party. Robyn was there to perform in a Rabanne x H&M chainmail headpiece, with fringe details that hung around her face like a curtain. Irina Shayk and Elle Fanning floated around the room in glimmering silver dresses covered in the brand’s signature paillettes. But today, the lookbook for the collection—which will be available to shop November 9—drops.
On a call yesterday from Stockholm, H&M creative advisor Ann-Sofie Johansson told me Rabanne x H&M has been a dream of hers for years. She worked closely with Rabanne’s creative director Julien Dossena to create the collection. “I have kept my eyes on Rabanne since Julien started there,” she said. “It’s always interesting to follow young designers, I think especially when they are entering an iconic fashion house, and you’re wondering, Okay, what they are bringing and how they are going to recharge the brand? He’s been on my wish list to work with for years, and now the timing finally felt right.”
At a press conference in Paris earlier this month, Dossena said he’d wanted to work with H&M because he remembers how he felt as a fashion student in 2004, when the retailer’s first designer collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld launched. “It was a way for people like me to access fashion products and to access part of what was my passion. At that time, I did not have full access to that kind of luxury,” he said. “It is important to me, as I remember being that student who was so happy about that collection and collaboration.”
This latest collection features pieces instantly recognizable as Rabanne, due to the chainmail and paillettes that have been a signature of the house for decades. “I wanted people to have access to the most iconic pieces of Paco Rabanne … and be generous about it!” Dossena said. “There are so many iconic pieces of Rabanne that people have been dreaming to have, that they could not even imagine having access to.”
The Rabanne x H&M collection features the outfits worn by Cher and Robyn onstage in Paris, along with a more casual, sporty assortment of jersey leggings and logo tops. There’s a leopard dress adorned with bright red lace, chainmail earrings that dangle like small ear bandanas, and bags made up of paillettes nearly identical to those seen on the most recent Rabanne runway. For the first time in H&M designer-collab history, there is also a home collection, comprised of space-age pieces like a Rabanne logo rug and metallic chain curtains.
Johansson said the entire collection of 94 pieces was built around the idea of a party. “An after party! A pool party! A relaxed party! Just a party with different people gathering. There are both these dressed-up garments, but also some that are more for lounging.” You know, the kind of things you’d want to throw on to party with Cher.
Below, get an exclusive first look at the collection.
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