Swedish fashion retailer Hennes and Mauritz a.k.a H&M has released one of the most diverse fashion commercial EVER. In this age of a quixotic demand for size zero and swelling pressure of being fashionably correct, this comes as a breather.
The advertisement stems from H&M’s initiative of “Close The Loop”. It aims at promoting recycling in fashion industry to make fashion and style more sustainable. The ad features 69 models; all shapes, sizes and colour. There are blondes and brunettes, muslims and sikhs, young and old, skinny and plus-sizes. As the closing line says, “There are no rules in fashion; except one.”
This commercial is priceless for more than one reason. Apart from unveiling a brilliant idea of recycling, its imparting new fashion goals to the world. It’s liberating and transcends borders. And these are not just geographical borders, but borders surpassing the lines of inhibitions. It is keenly emphasizing on idiosyncrasies.
The ad presents few recognizable faces like that of Tess Munster, the fashion sensation and the famous menswear blogger Pardeep Singh Bahra. An exclusive effort to be inclusive, H&M has also included a muslim model ‘Maria Hidrissi’ along with featuring a transgender model and an amputee.
The commercial is garnering an amazing response online and it’s essence to ‘break-free’ is being widely appreciated. A muslim blogger commented on this high street style’s video as ‘awakening’. She says, “Maria’s feature in a headscarf made others look at a muslim woman without fear but with a healthy curiosity. It has awakened people.”
H&M has asked interested fashion peepers to drop in a bag of old clothes or even curtains, as long as it’s any fabric to recycle, and get a £5 voucher off on their next haul.
The interesting part is that H&M is all set to launch it’s first flagship store in India THIS October 2. The store will be located at a suburban high-fashion mall ‘Select City’ in New Delhi.
With such an exciting news on one hand, the timing of this commercial for Indian audience just couldn’t be better!