The Stella McCartney H&M Collection is Super Iconic, But is it Sustainable?

H&M practically invented the designer collaboration, with a history of marrying high-fashion edge with high-street realness (read: more affordable price tags). And for its next, the retailer is revisiting a homegrown design talent who it first partnered with in 2005: the one, the only, Stella McCartney.

Stella McCartney H&M, dropping on 7 May, showcases this legacy, with a collection that combines established house codes and early archival hits—exactly what fans of the label will be wanting to hear. “I see this collection as a journey through my fashion history," says McCartney. "It is a true mix of current classics and some of my old favourites that showcase my first forays into fashion and the development of my signatures. It’s playful, strong, sparkling, joyful, refined.”

Past designer collections haven't just sold out in record time, but have created in-store stampedes (seriously). So what will the shoppers be shopping from Stella McCartney H&M?

As a tailoring connoisseur, the collection's grey pinstriped blazer—double-breasted and styled in the campaign with a crystallised mesh bodysuit—is the way to do boss-lady with bite this summer. A Stella McCartney H&M trench will always be a good investment; this one features a funnel neck, shoulder loops, a waist belt and storm flaps, a mix of the classic and the modern in one coat.

Perhaps you're in the mood for party dresses, especially after a parasocial experience of last weekend's Coachella. You'll find a draped LRD—that's little red dress—with a monochrome polka dot as opposed to something contrasting makes it a mini worth adding to your line-up. I'm also drawn to a long-sleeved, snake-print column dress, designed to be sculpting but comfortably so.

And then you've got the slogans, which are unmistakably Stella. From a studded tank spelling out "Rock Royalty", to a ribbed white bodysuit emblazoned with a cursive "Stella", they're sexy, shouty and perfect for this summer's festival circuit.

But what about its sustainability credentials? As a designer who is as much an environmental pioneer as a fashion insider, McCartney has always beat her own drum when it comes to not using animal materials but their mindful alternatives. So it won't come as a surprise that she's very much sticking to her guns with Stella McCartney H&M (the collection prioritises recycled content, organic cottons and wool certified to the RWS Standard, as well as the use of feedstock—which means a material that is used to produce something in an industrial process—for coated materials such as industrial corn and recycled vegetable oil).

As McCartney told The Guardian: “Fashion is one of the most harmful industries to the planet and I’m trying to bring that awareness to the high street." She added that, while she questioned whether or not it was appropriate to collaborate with a high-street brand, she decided that, “infiltrating from within and having conversations with people who are like ‘the devil’ in a sense and then trying to change them into a more conscious way of working”, was a more positive step towards change than simply not doing it.

Stella McCartney H&M will be available from 7 May

Preview The Stella McCartney H&M Collection Below