It’s the latest news in the world of high-street fashion: H&M X Glenn Martens is live.
It was actually back in November 2024 when H&M first announced a partnership with beloved Belgian designer Glenn Martens – the Creative Director of Maison Margiela and Diesel, who is perhaps best-known for his 11-year tenure at the now-discontinued Y/Project. And despite having long string of buzzy partnerships under their belt (with Magda Butrym, Rokh, Balmain, Mugler, Moschino, Simone Rocha and Maison Margiela – where Martens has just presented his debut ready-to-wear show as Creative Director), this is H&M's first affordable and customisable range.
Cast your minds back to before the launch of the latest designer collaboration to be announced by the Swedish stalwart, and I visited the H&M showroom on London’s Oxford Street for an exclusive try-on. The topline? I've been counting down the hours to its launch ever since. Here, find everything you need to know about H&M X Glenn Martens, as well as an account of my exclusive try-on.
The best of H&M X Glenn Martens, according to Glamour:
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Who is Glenn Martens?
For the uninitiated, Glenn Martens is a Belgian designer; currently Creative Director at Maison Margiela. He started out in the fashion industry back in 2008, when he joined Jean Paul Gaultier as a Junior Designer. He then served an 11-year tenure at the now-discounted Y/Project, perhaps his best-known gig to date, before later being appointed Creative Director at Diesel. Martens has since taken on the aforementioned role of Creative Director at Maison Margiela – and worked with H&M alongside it.
When does H&M X Glenn Martens drop?
Today! H&M X Glenn Martens goes live in-stores (selected stores only) and on hm.com on Thursday 30th October. As we well know with H&M's hot high-street collections, thanks to huge social media noise, it’s guaranteed to sell out. Be very quick if you want to get your hands on your favourite pieces.
Why can you trust my review?
I've been a fashion and beauty journalist for the best part of a decade, working as Commerce Editor at Glamour UK since the beginning of 2020. During that time, I've seen countless trends come and go; covered a multitude of fashion designer collaborations, including GANNI X Barbour, Marks & Spencer x Olivia von Halle, M&S X Bella Freud and Mango X Victoria Beckham. I've also attended many press days, interviewed stylists and kept an eager-eye on industry bestsellers – so I know more than your average fashion fan on whether H&M X Glenn Martens is worth shopping.
H&M X Glenn Martens – Glamour's First Look:
When I stepped inside the H&M showroom to preview the collection for the first time, it felt immediately obvious that it is Martens' time at Y/Project which influenced the collection the most.
Martens went back through all of his Y/Project drawings at the dawn of this partnership around two years ago, H&M's Showroom Manager told me – a time when reports of Y/Project's struggling cash flow started to circulate. Marten's work at Project/Y was all about celebrating individualism and youth – where pieces bent familiar forms into something smart, subversive, and quietly rebellious. If he wasn't able to use all of his material at Y/Project, he decided, he'd redirect them into something fresh.
But it wasn't just his own Project/Y backlog Martens trawled through in the creation of this collection. The deeply researched-process saw Martens explore H&M’s archive to select a range of key pieces that consumers already adore, too. Think: best-selling t-shirts cuts to checked shirts, high-waisted jeans, denim dresses and bomber jackets. In his upcoming collection of unisex pieces, womenswear, menswear and jewellery, each pleasingly-affordable piece has been reimagined as an extraordinary newly-designed item. And each plays with trompe-l’œil and customisation.
“I see this collection as a big family of garments, all of which have multiple purposes and personalities: like people, they grow and change each day. I am always interested in the clothes that we really live in, and the idea of archetypes and wardrobe staples was the starting point for this very special and joyful project with H&M,” says Martens.
“I truly think this is one of the most creative collaborations we have ever done," H&M's Ann-Sofie Johansson added. “Glenn is such a talent and a radical thinker, and these are exceptional designs that play with archetypes and the very essence of what it means to get dressed each day.”
The question on everyone's lips: does the creative collection actually translate into real life? I, Glamour's Senior European Commerce Editor, and Georgia Trodd – Glamour's Senior Fashion Commerce Writer – tried on the entire collection ahed of the launch of 30 October. Ahead, our very honest thoughts.
H&M X Glenn Martens – My Favourite Pieces
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Many of the pieces in Marten's collection be transformed by the wearer thanks to the use of reshaping techniques such as foil and wiring. Take the hero blue and white striped shirt, for example. The collar has been fitted with flexible wiring to allow the wearer to twist and lift into endless sculptural forms. It made an otherwise simple shirt feel really fun and original. I also loved the boxy fit and the embroidered logo on the chest.
My colleague Georgia loved the black jersey mini dress for the same reasons. It's super simple, but eyelet clasps can be opened to the waist to allow you to wear it atop jeans or wide leg trousers. We styled it here with white jeans.
Joanna Lumley wears the oversized, thigh-high boots in the campaign – so as the most expensive piece in the collection, I was very keen to try those on. I styled them beneath the thigh-split denim skirt which Lumley also wears in the campaign imagery. Did they look cool? Yes. Were they comfortable? Yes, surprisingly. Would I actually wear them out and about given how long they look to take on and off? Probably not – but they'll be on my mind daily.
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I'm six-foot, so on me, the trench coat didn't look as oversized as it does in the campaign. I still loved it, though: the waist tie, the cool-toned camel colour, and the “sculptable” collar which uses the same wire motif as the blue shirt. I'd use the wire to point the corners of the collar upwards if I wanted to mix things up.
“Next up, the most epic denim menswear co-ord. Straight-leg jeans which fit my tall frame perfectly, and a fantastically-boxy over-shirt (which could totally be layered over knitwear),” Georgia said. “If you like getting dressed in the morning to be easy, this ‘fit is for you. Throw on and go – and you’ll easily make a statement.”
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In a similar vein, if jeans-and-a-nice-top evening outfits are you vibe, there's a solid handful of mesh tops in this collection which fit the bill. Plus, two cami tops with invisible straps. One in black; one in white. I loved the creativity here: it looks as though the straps of the vest are going in and out of your skin. I was slightly concerned that the straps would snap, but the Showroom Manager at H&M assured me that they've been rigorously tested. I trust him.
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You can shop more of my favourite pieces below – of which there are many. I loved the silver baby-tee, the accessories are epic (note: the oversized tote bag which would literally store your entire life), and the black wool coat is a moment in itself. Oh, and the hoodies and trackpants – as featured in varying designs in all H&M collaborations – are the upgrade your loungewear collection has been calling out for.
H&M X Glenn Martens: Inside the Launch Party
Playing on the fact that humour is such a central part of Martens’s work – and he wanted the drop to embrace wit and self-expression – Marten's campaign presents a twist on the royal family portrait, featuring Joanna Lumley and Richard E. Grant as the matriarch and patriarch of an anarchic/parodic multiverse reflection of said royal family.
The casting nods to Martens’s fascination with British humour, and the various UK references that run through the collection.
“It was great fun to be a part of Glenn Martens’s and H&M’s special family portrait," Joanna Lumley said. "I always say that the best fashion is rule-breaking - people should wear whatever they want to wear - and I admire Glenn’s daring spirit and eye for twisting things in unusual ways.”
Lumley celebrated the forthcoming launch of the
H&M Glenn Martens collection with a joyfully exuberant event in London on October 22.
Guests including Cynthia Erivo, Milly Alcock, Richard E. Grant, Shygirl, Jodie Turner-Smith and Joe Locke attended dressed in the collection. The event was a twist on the classic British house party, and featured a dessert table packed with cakes and jellies and a giant topiary-style pigeon. The evening featured a surprise performance by the British pop icons Sugababes, as well as music from DJs including The Dare, Chloé Caillet and Kirollus.
Fancy a look back at previous H&M designer collabs and Studio collections? Discover the H&M AW25 Studio collection, H&M Rabanne, H&M Anamika Khanna and H&M Vampire's Wife.
And for more designer collaborations, see adidas Originals x ASOS, M&S x 16Arlington, and Wales Bonner x adidas.
