By Heba Elkayal
Daily News Egypt: The variety of brands that you have selected to collaborate with H&M keep getting more interesting. What makes you approach a particular brand?
Margareta van den Bosch: There are many reasons. We don’t have a strategy we follow, but rather think of who would suit the current trends and style, who is different from previous collaborators as we always want to surprise our customers and come up with news, and also who may have approached us with an idea.
Marni is very popular in the Middle East for its colors, loose silhouettes and patterns. What made you consider Marni would be a good brand to collaborate with seeing as you would be catering to a worldwide market of various cultural tastes and styles?
Our clientele is very diverse and wide. There are customers liking Marni in every market, we believe, but naturally, some markets are greater fans of Marni than others. But that’s always the case, it varies, although surprisingly little. Fashion has become global.
What are some of your favorite pieces from this collaboration with Marni?
I love anything with a beautiful print, and to mix prints, and I’m also a fan of her accessories that I have worn for years already.
Consuelo Castiglioni is in my mind not simply a fashion designer but an artist for her ability to use various forms of fabrics, patterns and prints in a way that few people can or do. Have you ever considered collaborating with other forms of “artists — be it celebrities or contemporary artists, or do you wish to keep the H&M collaborations strictly with designers?
We have already collaborated with Madonna, Kylie Minogue and Marimekko, interpreting their styles and prints within our own design department. We are open to new ideas and collaborations.
Who is one designer, dead or alive, that you would wish to work with on a collaboration for H&M?
Yves Saint Laurent or Chanel would have been fun.
