Opening Thursday, November 13th at noon in the Coronado Mall, H&M finally arrives in Albuquerque. The significance of this (to me at least) is that more and more fashionable businesses are starting to find a market in Albuquerque and I for one welcome their ingress. H&M has become a staple in the fashion world by combining the world-class appeal of top fashion supermodels and photographers in it's advertising along with chic and stylish garments with insanely-low prices. It's a perfect storm of image and affordability. At just about any time one can open an issue of Vogue or look up at a giant billboard in Times Square to see a photo of Beyoncè wearing a bikini on an exotic beach with a simple "Bikini: $9.99" inscribed on the ad. Not many labels can combine the advertising firepower of top fashion houses with actual great-looking apparel at prices similar to outlet stores, but H&M have figured out how to do it. They even have top fashion designers such as Versace and Alexander Wang designing garments exclusively for the H&M label. I for one fully support the methodology of this effective advertising and I've seen how it works since I began my career as a fashion photographer.
So I'm happy to welcome H&M to Albuquerque and I'm sure the city will start to look a little more stylish as the months pass. I know I'll be a headed in for some updated wardrobe as the seasons change and who knows, maybe some of their fresh designs will make it onto the pages of the editorials I shoot, as they have in the past. ;-)
*Post script- I wasn't paid by H&M to say any of this but I wish I had been.
