The secret is out Balmain is H&M’s next designer collaboration. It all started with a big fashion bang. The creative director Olivier Rousteing, was on  the red carpet at the Billboard Music Awards together  with his friends Kendall Jenner and Jourdan Dunn. They were all dressed in Balmain x H&M- revealing the first pieces from the designer collaboration.

The collection will be in stores November 5th and will feature clothing and accessories for both women and men. How to prepare for #H&MBalmaination ? I am so ready for #H&MBalmation.

Under the creative directorship of young Olivier Rousteing, Balamin- the epitome of French luxury- has grown into a global pop culture phenomenon, with modern day icons marching in the fore front.

In the early days of celebrity collaboration Madonna was one of  the first with H&M collaboration collection of 2007. The Kaiser of fashion himself Karl Lagerfeld  lead the way for designers  with his 2004 collaboration with H&M. I was chanced to shop the Versace  H&M  collaboration in 20111.  In general I normally avoid crowds and at the time felt that I did not have  a chance to score any of the great clothes. However after months of build up and hype and previews and parties Versace for H&M finally came to the stores. I was pleasantly surprised here in New York as to how orderly everything was. They had ground rules, which made me think I was participating in a realty show. This was because the retail chain anticipated the crushing crowds and had released a set of ground rules for shopping the collection. The first of which was you received  a colored bracelet that gave a specific time for shopping in the designated area. When your time slot arrived you were allowed to enter the designated area and shop for just 15mins. So my strategy at the time was to grab as many items as possible in two sizes. Then try them on and return any unwanted pieces , so as not to miss out on anything given the  short time frame.

Here I  wear a  Versace ensemble from the 2011 Versace H&M collaboration. I have paired the dress over the leggings and tied them both together with the black Alexander McQueen belt  . Each piece of the collection represents a mile stone in the Italian house design wise.

These H&M collaborations allow the unique possibility of experiencing the world of a designer  luxury goods at the fraction of the cost. In essence you are able to get a piece of the dream that the designer creates .

I hope to snag some pieces in November from the Balmain collaboration with H&M and will be sure to share them with you.