living: the scene

H&M and Comme des Garçons—first stop, Tokyo

Hennes & Mauritz’s Japanese stores are the first to see the new collaborative collection created with Comme des Garçons’ Rei Kawakubo

Inside at Harajuku (photographed by Daici Ano).


H&M’s customers inside the Ginza store (photographed by Satashi Teradate).


Christine Edman (country manager), Stefan Persson (chairman) and Ingela Jönsson (store manager) open the Harajuku store (photographed by Ivan Hugo).

HENNES & MAURITZ launched its latest designer collaboration, with the Comme des Garçons label, in Tokyo on Saturday, November 8.

Comme des Garçons’ designer, Rei Kawakubo, has designed the men’s and women’s collections and accessories for H&M, along with creating the limited-edition unisex fragrance.

The launch has been greatly anticipated, with the first customers lining up outside the new H&M store in Harajuku, Tokyo, since Wednesday. The company says thousands of customers were lined up by the time the store opened. They and H&M customers in Ginza are the first in the world to be able to buy the collection, with other markets from November 13.

According to H&M’s press release, Kawakubo says the collaboration was a good mix of her label’s spirit and the Swedish company’s ‘commercial sense.’

H&M’s creative adviser, Margareta van den Bosch, identified Kawakubo’s intellectual and avant-garde approach. The collection is wearable, ‘featuring her signature deconstructed tailored garments and well-cut classics in special fabrics.’

Chairman of the H&M board, Stefan Persson, flew to Japan to cut the ribbon at Harajuku, joined by country manager Christine Edman and store manager Ingela Jönsson.

The store, with four floors, aims to attract customers through its architecture and its feeling of space inside, rather than traditional window displays, says H&M.

The last designer that H&M collaborated with was Roberto Cavalli. Stella McCartney, Karl Lagerfeld and Viktor & Rolf have also contributed collections. •

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The new H&M Harajuku store. (Photographed by Daici Ano.)


Shoppers flock inside the Harajuku store (photographed by Kayuzo Seki).


Customers happy with their purchases at Harajuku (photographed by Saichiro Fukuda).


Inside the Harajuku store (photographed by Kayuzo Seki).

The launch has been greatly anticipated, with the first customers lining up outside the new H&M store in Harajuku, Tokyo, since Wednesday