Winona Ryder teeters atop high wedge-heeled sequined sandals, her hair affixed with a tiara, her slender body in a chic polka dot ensemble. Later, Drew Barrymore appears, wearing knee-high boots and more polka dots.
The two are among a gathering of celebs in prettily printed dresses and separates that will soon be seen on fashionistas everywhere - those who can get their hands on them, anyway. The occasion is the recent unveiling in Los Angeles of fashion empire H&M's latest designer collaboration, this time with Italian label Marni.
The Swedish fashion house, together with Marni's creative director Consuelo Castiglioni, joined forces to throw the A-list bash, also attended by actress-du-jour Jessica Chastain, Milla Jovovich and Freida Pinto. The location: the aptly chosen Sowden House in Los Feliz, designed by Lloyd Wright, known for its Mayan architecture and 2.4-metre gas torchieres - all of which served as a dramatic backdrop for the collection.
The Marni at H&M line - which goes on sale on Thursday in Hong Kong, along with 260 H&M stores worldwide and online - comes after the hugely successful collaboration between H&M and Versace. In the past, the clothing giant has forged partnerships with some of the world's most noted designers, including Roberto Cavalli, Matthew Williamson and Stella McCartney. Dyed-in-the-wool fashion fans have been known to take the day off work to queue up for the hot new offerings, and entire stores are usually cleared of new merchandise within days. When H&M had its first guest designer - Karl Lagerfeld - in 2004, everything sold out in an hour.
'It's nice to have it for spring,' says H&M's creative adviser Margareta van den Bosch in her suite at the Thompson Hotel in Beverly Hills, hours before the Sowden House party. 'The jacquards, the prints, the mix of fabrics, the styling ... they are so suitable for this season.'
In shaping H&M's pedigree as a partner with some of fashion's most sought-after names, Van den Bosch has become one of the world's most influential style makers. In each pairing, the Swedish conglomerate, known for its inexpensive renderings of catwalk trends, fuses with a prestige designer name, offering the label without the hefty prices.
The trend has been successful in many ways: designers previously inaccessible to legions of shoppers can now acquire a whole new fan base, while, for H&M - well, few things are more precious in fashion than anticipation.
