H&M will return to London Fashion Week on 17 September, and this time the Swedish giant isn’t just staging a show, it’s questioning the format. The brand is partnering with photographer Nick Knight and his digital fashion platform SHOWstudio for what’s being described as a bold rethink of how a runway presentation can work, built around self expression, human connection and opening fashion up to a wider audience.
Knight is a pointed choice. Few people have spent more of their career pulling fashion imagery away from convention, and he said the collaboration would explore fresh ways of showing fashion while asking questions of what a runway show can be.
The bar H&M set itself is high. Last September’s H&M&180: The London Issue at 180 Strand was the brand’s first proper runway in seven years and one of the most talked about events of the week: 700 guests, three acts, a front row featuring Emily Ratajkowski, Central Cee and Little Simz, and Lola Young closing the night performing Messy in a look from the collection. Ann Sofie Johansson, H&M’s creative adviser and head of womenswear design, called that show a defining moment for the brand and said the team is returning to shake things up again.
The September date lands H&M on a suddenly stacked spring 2027 calendar alongside Mulberry, Alexander McQueen and, in a genuine milestone, Marks & Spencer’s first ever London Fashion Week runway, timed to the retailer’s 100th year in fashion. New British Fashion Council boss Laura Weir has been promising a revitalised London week. On this evidence, the high street is doing a lot of the revitalising.