The latest designer collaboration from H&M is with Erdem, the Canadian Turkish designer known for his work with textiles, prints and ultra-feminine gowns. Expect faux-fur coats, jacquard dresses and florals for men. But is the high street ready for a £150 ballgown?
Go big or go home: that is the new party dress code. Forget the little black dress, and get ready for the grand gown. When Erdem x HM drops on 2 November, the smart money will be snapping up a £149 party dress with intricate snowdrop embroidery on formal stiff jacquard, embellished with a traditional grosgrain bow and falling from a precisely gathered waist into a voluminous, ankle-length tiered skirt.
The November issue of British Vogue features Claire Foy in a floor-sweeping, dusty-pink ballgown by Christian Siriano. As the star of Netflix drama The Crown, Foy is no stranger to a ballgown. The Crown, Downton Abbey, the Queen’s 90th birthday last year, Gucci’s sponsorship of an exhibition of English aristocratic style at Chatsworth House and the resurgence of Princess Diana as a style icon that has accompanied the 20th anniversary of her death are combining to revive the ballgown, a style of dress that until recently seemed as anachronistic to modern entertaining as the bouillon spoon.
