From the Lanvin Hearts H&M campaign.

H&M, the fast-fashion retailer that has been gaining ground across all of Label Networks’ Global Youth Culture Studies in terms of youth culture’s preferences for the brand and store, finally debuted November 20th their a massive collaboration called Lanvin [Hearts] H&M that was highly anticipated the world over.

Starting with very cool viral video snippets of actors in various pieces of the collection in a variety of moody mini-films, to Lanvin’s artistic director, Alber Elbaz, shown drawing his creations as they come to life for H&M, the build-up overall was marketing genius. On November 18th, Lanvin and H&M presented a haute couture runway show version with a heightened sense of what’s in the stores in New York to mark the kick-off of the collection. As expected, a who’s-who of celebrities attended, including Sofia Coppola, Emma Roberts, Leelee Sobieski, and Anna Sui, among others.

Runway show in New York November 18th featuring heightened versions of the Lanvin for H&M collection that you can now get in stores globally. Photos by Wire Image/Getty Images, Patrick McMullan, Billy Farrell Agency, Dan Lecca.

The haute couture creations, which were customized pieces from the Lanvin for H&M collection, made their way down the catwalk with the help of famed models Asia Chow, Pixie Geldof, Dree Hemingway, Olga and Anna Dello Russo.

Guests arrived on the red carpet, which was the landmark Pierre Hotel fa%uFFFDade recreated with NYC styled graffiti, and then they entered the hotel which was swathed with flowers, trees and greenery. The Lanvin for H&M collection will be sold in around 200 stores worldwide. It launched November 20 in U.S. and Canada, with a line of people around the block at the H&M flagship in New York, and today, on November 23 in the rest of the world which again has attracted throngs of people at various H&M locations.

“It’s such a fantastic experience to see how creatively Alber Elbaz uses his designs to form a couture experience for our exclusive fashion show in New York. Working with this incredibly gifted designer has been like an ongoing fashion moment, and we’re thrilled to offer his masterpieces to our customers.” Margareta van den Bosch, creative advisor at H&M.

We love this particular look as it takes aspects of the growing trend for oversized tutu skirts paired with a long jacket, and tasteful use of accessories.

Alber Elbaz, artistic director at Lanvin, has created the women’s collection with an extraordinary ambition for H&M, bringing the codes of the house to make every single piece identifiably the work of Lanvin. For women there are dresses of asymmetrical and other interesting cuts and saturated bright colors. Basically, this is not your “heritage” collection but instead goes for the new-school emo-punk but more sophisticated. The menswear collection designed by Lucas Ossendrijver, menswear designer at Lanvin, encapsulates H&M’s vision of how men should dress. It’s a whole new wardrobe of covetable updated classics, with tuxedos made for daywear and jogging pants adding a sporting twist.

Sofia Coppola said of the collection, “I think Alber Elbaz is great, I love what he does at Lanvin, it%uFFFDs so girly and playful and confident. It%uFFFDs so cool he%uFFFDs working with H&M, it makes it so accessible to all kinds of young people to be able to afford it and wear it.”

The concept of masstige or high-end designers creating collections for mass retailers continue to not only make the designer more relevant to a greater number of people, but creates excitement for the store and the consumer’s buying experience. Such collaborations have been a trademark for H&M, and have caught on with many other larger retailers as well, ranging from The Gap to Target.

From the Portraits section of the Lanvin Hearts H&M collection.

In addition, H&M has tied in a philanthropic component with the sketches that Albar Elbaz drew in the video, going up for auction on www.lanvinforhm.com. All proceeds from the auction will be donated to UNICEF, as part of H&M’s “All for Children” project. The online auction is quite interesting to watch as you can see people interact with the video, collection, and comment throughout. It will end on November 26th at midnight.

Overall, the Lanvin heart H&M collaboration showcases a great deal of marketing skill on many levels, from the timely release of portraits, film, heightened runway show, to an interactive online philanthropic component, raising the bar on how fashion debuts may be done in the future.