For the first time after Paco Rabanne's design creations in the 1970s, the house of Rabanne is imagining decorative pieces in collaboration with H&M Home. AD sat down with Rabanne's artistic director, Julien Dossena, and Evelina Kravaev-Söderberg, head of H&M Home's Design & Creative division, to discuss this collection.
Comme des Garçons, Versace, Maison Margiela... This is not H&M's first collaboration with a renowned fashion house. As H&M Home's Director of Design & Creative puts it so well: "We're looking for more opportunities to build bridges with the fashion world". Now it's Rabanne's turn to imagine a fashion and home collection, paying tribute to its founder, Paco Rabanne, who passed away last February. Julien Dossena, Rabanne's artistic director for the past ten years, puts metal and a touch of the seventies at the heart of this collaboration.
Paco Rabanne x H&M Home: affordable deco pieces
The main reason Rabanne decided to collaborate with H&M Home was to "democratize the Paco Rabanne name", says Julien Dossena. Indeed, thanks to this collection, which celebrates pool party of the 1970s, it's more possible to "treat yourself to an iconic piece at a (...) affordable price. "Pieces that the artistic director would have liked to enjoy, since he has created "the kind of object that [he] would have liked to acquire as a fashion student, or as a young man living in Brittany."Evelina Kravaev-Söderberg points out that the appeal of these glamorous, modern creations lies in the possibility of"buying a single object to add a little charm to [a] mantelpiece". The metal vase in this capsule is inclined like a Leaning Tower of Pisa.
A festive seventies collection
"The fashion collection was inspired by the idea of a glamorous poolside party, and the elements [dedicated to the home] are in keeping with this mood," explains Julien Dossena. Stainless steel glasses and bottles, card decks and dice made from recycled zinc, as well as bath towels and logoed indoor slippers are all part of the design. While metal, which gives the collection its sought-after luxurious atmosphere, is the real thread running through the collection, the artistic director also worked on the fabrics, highlighting the Maison Rabanne logo. "I wanted to embrace the spirit of the 1970s and French art de vivre, with some elements of the 1980s, in a black and white color palette for the textiles with touches of light green". A nod to the creative years of designer Paco Rabanne. These objects, like tributes to the designer who died earlier this year, are at once retro, "modern, glamorous and generous", as H&M Home's Head of Design & Creative puts it.
An iconic collection in tribute to Paco Rabanne
Julien Dossena's creations pay homage to Paco Rabanne, mainly through the use of metal. " Paco Rabanne was obsessed with materials, and this aspiration remains at the heart of the company today," he says. Indeed, the Spanish-born founder made chainmail an iconic and representative element of the Rabanne house. But if fashion is the main domain of this label, the couturier "also developed metal furniture in the 1970s", points out Evelina Kravaev-Söderberg. Julien Dossena, following in Paco Rabanne's footsteps, is thus perpetuating this appetite for interior design through this collaboration with the Swedish brand. He adds that "although updated with modern codes, we find [a visual strength and an intellectual radicalism, but without artifice] at the heart of this collaboration with H&M Home", notably through the table lamp made of metallic pastilles or the rain-like curtain of glittering sequins.
The collection will be available from November 9, 2023 in selected H&M Home stores and online.
This story originally appeared on Architectural Digest France.
