If you’re wearing racy red lingerie, then it’s time to show it

H&M’S CHRISTMAS LINGERIE campaigns could have been scripted in Hollywood: the ritual of the posters going up and the press notified each October or November. We then try to do our dose of trend-spotting, particularly as H&M has grown to become the largest clothing retailer in the world.
   It’s a ritual we’ve followed for five years. While earlier strategies were to use models who were known—but not that known (as in Kylie Minogue, 1999, or Bridget Fonda, 2001)—H&M has been known to grab headlines with Claudia Schiffer as photographed by Max Vadukul in 2000.
   This year, while most of us expected a single model, H&M surprised us with three: Naomi Campbell, leading the trio; the Czech model Daniela Pestova (right); and actress Angie Everheart. But there seems to be little drama at H&M: no introduction to the models, no profiling of Ellen von Unwerth, who shot this campaign—just a sense that it’s business as usual.
   Except that it’s not. While there’s no significance behind the idea of three, there is some significance in the brilliance of the colours. Obviously, H&M’s design team forecasts the dropping of the sombre mood that had been in the air.

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