H&M Studio Stockholm Spring 2021

H&M Studio has existed for years as a space for experimentation within the huge Hennes & Mauritz empire. It’s a playground for experimentation, a place where in-house designers can flex their muscles and create fashion-forward items. This pushing of boundaries extends beyond aesthetics to formats. H&M Studio has shown on the Paris schedule, hosted influencer events, and currently presents two see-now, buy-now collections a year.

The spring 2021 lineup is laced with fantasy. There’s a pirate hat and over-the-knee boots made of grape leather. Fringed dresses inspired by the tentacles of octopuses, oversized blazers, and wide-leg sailor pants. “We were talking about treasures and treasure seeking,” said Ann-Sofie Johansson, H&M’s creative advisor “and finding magic and adventure in the everyday. I mean, fashion is so much about fantasy and magic, and we wanted to capture that.”

Looking for magic, many on the team found it in pieces from past Studio collections. There was talk of doing a best-of, sort-of theme, but that evolved into a multilayered experiment around upcycling, a sort of dip of the toe into the burgeoning resale market.

Here’s what happened. An email went out to all H&M colleagues asking for old studio garments. This “haul” will be available for sale in two stores, one in Stockholm and one in Berlin. On top of that H&M has invested in and partnered with Selpy, an online Swedish resale business, and in four countries a curated collection of vintage H&M Studio garments will be available.

The motivation behind this “tryout” is clear: “We need to be circular [and] we know that a big piece of that is reuse,” says Johansson. “It’s a matter of seeing every garment as [if] it doesn’t just have one life, [but] it has maybe nine lives—like a cat.”