H&M 2016 Conscious Collection inspired by museum archives

By

Jennifer Braun

Published
Mar 18, 2016

H&M’s 2016 Conscious Exclusive Collection, set to hit stores on April 7, will pay homage to historical fashion.  
 
Coinciding with the opening of the exhibition Fashion Forward - 300 years of Fashion at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, to which H&M is an exclusive sponsor, H&M’s design team has delved into the museum’s collections of archival fashions in order to pick up key pieces from the last three centuries of haute couture for the new Conscious Collection.

 
"Working with innovative sustainable materials and ornate embellishment, the collection is a layering of references, shapes and textures topped off by intensely decorative accessories and deco-inspired bijoux,” says Ann-Sofie Johansson, Creative Advisor at H&M, in a news statement.
 
The collection includes a mini asymmetric dress inspired by a painting by Gustave Moreau and a dress adorned with a slice of Botticelli's Three Graces. Also new for this season’s launch of Conscious Exclusive are three wedding dresses.

The collection was created with materials such as organic silk, hemp, recycled linen and Tencel blends as well as new materials such as beads and rhinestones made from recycled glass and Denimite − a material made out of recycled worn-out denim, which H&M is the first fashion company to use.
 
The collection will be available in approximately 180 stores worldwide.