In a glamorous week of fashion shows headlined by giants like Chanel, Dior, and Louis Vuitton, H&M brought its approachable, budget-friendly savoir faire to the City of Lights with a dazzling Paris Fashion Week runway debut. Held at the iconic Musée Rodin—where Tom Ford famously showed his Yves Saint Laurent collections—the event saw a custom-built, 20,000-square-foot "Maison H&M" built on the historic grounds.
Produced by longtime H&M partner Bureau Betak, the seemingly endless series of rooms impressed even the most jaded of fashion show attendees. Directly through the entryway was the library, and V.I.P.s like Ashley Olsen, Emma Roberts, and Chloe Moretz walked the maze of 18 rooms, including the dining room, which was set for 30 under several chandeliers, as well as Indian-, Moroccan-, and Chinese-themed spaces. The more than 1,500 guests took their time exploring through the expansive venue—perhaps a reason the show started nearly one hour late—taking in the paintings, silver walls, cozy armchairs and chesterfields, and video-screen fireplace.
For the production company's chief, Alex de Betak, the show was no small feat. The construction alone took two weeks (the strike took one week), which de Betak and his team supervised in addition to producing nearly back-to-back fashion shows for Anthony Vaccarello, Hussein Chalayan, and Dior—all three of which flanked the extravaganza meticulously staged by H&M, which hadn't shown its main collection on the runway in eight years.
For the finale, a lineup of H&M designers took a group bow—a first in the history of the brand. Then the backdrop directly behind them fell to reveal the show models, including Cara Delevingne, Isabeli Fontana, and Arizona Muse perched on a series of steps dancing in a glee-club formation—after which they took their places inside various bathtubs set up about the space as the after-party started. Then, the last room in the manor house was revealed: a fully stocked bar.
