This year, the H&M Design Award has produced a collection much edgier than the apparel normally found on the fast-fashion clothing store's racks.
The winner of the 2015 H&M Design Award is Ximon Lee, a Parsons grad from Hong Kong whose architecturally styled creations create cubic geometric silhouettes much different from anything on the current Western menswear market. His Fall/Winter collection for H&M shows Japanese influences, with oversized shorts worn over leggings, flat cloth sandals and boldly boxy jackets. The color palate is subdued, using mostly black, white and denim, with pinstripes and leather patchwork adding texture. Ximon Lee suggests that his H&M Design Award collection could be worn by either men or women.
The H&M Design Award is an extremely intelligent way for the worldwide style purveyor to inject some cutting-edge concepts into its collection, maintaining its brand identity as a link between the world of avant-garde fashion and the typical consumer.
What Makes This Trend Stand Out
- Architectural Menswear
- Opportunity for designers to create bold and geometric silhouettes, bridging the gap between avant-garde fashion and mainstream consumers.
- Japanese Influences
- Integrating Japanese design elements into fashion, such as oversized shorts, leggings, and flat cloth sandals.
- Gender-neutral Fashion
- Designing clothing collections that can be worn by both men and women, catering to the rising demand for gender-inclusive fashion.
Sectors Adopting This
- Fast Fashion
- Fast-fashion retailers like H&M can leverage architectural menswear trends to offer unique and cutting-edge designs to their customers.
- Designer Fashion
- High-end fashion houses can explore Japanese influences and geometric silhouettes to create avant-garde collections that appeal to a wider audience.
- Gender-inclusive Fashion
- Fashion brands can tap into the demand for gender-neutral fashion by creating versatile and inclusive clothing lines that defy traditional gender norms.
