photo courtesy of H&M

So several months ago we braved the cold with one of our dearest friends Lori Mahoney at 6:00AM waiting for the H&M at Atlantic Station to open up. Why you ask??? Because (you may remember if you read our blog) Lanvin was the feature designer for the store last year.

Fast forward to 2011….

The highlight of the Versace men’s show at Milan Men’s Fashion Week last month was not the striped booty shorts or pink suits, it was Donatella herself. Now truth be told I (Reggie) am not the biggest Donatella fan. I think after the tragic death of her brother she just didnt prove to be the fashion forward leader that he was. — But, that being said she always still remains a larger than life figure in fashion.

So, we were a waiting to hear who the next big name designer would be for the successful chain… Talks had mentioned Tom Ford, others had mentioned YSL.

Well…the cat is outta the bag.

Versace will be the next big-name designer doing a line for the affordable chain, even though Donatella said in 2008 that she respects designers who do these lines but didn’t want to do one herself “because I work very hard to put the Versace line in the luxury section. I think to put the Versace line in H&M would confuse the brand.” Perhaps to avoid confusion, H&M is billing the line as their “Iconic Collection.”

photo courtesy of H&M

This premise goes great for her brand and for H&M as she has the CFDA’s 2011 Fashion Icon, Lady Gaga, wearing only Versace for the next couple of months.

SO WE KNOW YOU WANT TO KNOW!!!!

The collection will be big and include two rollouts, one on November 17 (Hmmmm that date sounds really familiar to me) including men’s, women’s, and homewear, and another prespring collection on January 19. The line consists of “iconic” archive Versace pieces repurposed for H&M.

The H&M’s press release says this:

The womenswear collection will be dominated by dresses that express the spirit of the season, featuring studded leather, silk and colorful prints, and accessories including high heels and costume jewelry. The men’s collection will focus on sharp tailoring, including the perfect tuxedo, as well as belts and jewelry for men. For the first time in a designer collaboration at H&M, the collection will include homeware pieces including pillows and bedspread.

H&M has not released any specific information on pricing, but that studded leather dress will not be H&M cheap. Versace cheap maybe, but not H&M cheap.

So, who’s excited? and more importantly…who’s gonna be in line with us again…. Lori?????