So Comme des Garcons‘ collection for H & M launched at the Oxford Circus branch this morning. I can only imagine the bloodshed..! Brave Susie at Style Bubble decided to take one for the team and head down their to make a video report of proceedings, hoping that she’d avoid injury if she was too busy filming to get drawn into the various tug-of-war battles for items.

Personally I always appreciate high street brands collaborating with big designers to give those of us who have to be strict with our budgets (- who doesn’t right now?) the chance to get a piece of the design action. However I’ve never actually braved the crowds to purchase anything, always too disorganised to plan ahead for a launch and slightly nervous from the stories I’ve heard.
Having been bombarded with ads in the free papers yesterday this particular combination has stuck in my mind a bit and it got me thinking about H&Ms other collaborations. They seem to either be very fashion savvy or incredibly lucky – having chosen to work with designers who aren’t necessarily household names at the time – Viktor & Rolf in 2006 and Comme’s is hardly a headline grabber in the same way Lily Allen or Kate Moss would be.. Of course they don’t always go for the more obscure choice – last year’s collection was with Roberto Cavalli and previously Stella McCartney and Karl Lagerfeld have provided instant sell-out successes.

From what I’ve seen of this new collection I have a feeling it will be joining the list of successes but, perhaps selfishly, I hope it’s not so successful I completely miss out – as I did with all of the aforementioned collections! – may the shopping fairies smile on me and grant me a jacket in my size when I do make it down there!

More info on the collaboration at Telegraph Fashion and images on Nitrolicious