From Warsaw, with love. That could have been the footnotes for the Polish brand Magda Butrym and Swedish behemoth H&M’s celebration of their collaboration, which is set to debut on April 24.
The celebration took place in an architecturally stunning former bank reminiscent of European spaces and was attended by a mainly female crowd with VIP guests such as Chloë Sevigny, Iris Law, Irina Shayk, and German influencer and model Nara Smith. It featured performances by Charlotte Lawrence and Kelela.
FashionNetwork.com caught up with the designer and H&M’s creative advisor, Ann-Sofie Johansson, to discuss this latest pair-up.
“She’s brilliant and the first Polish designer we’ve collaborated with. It’s great to find talent all over the world, outside of the four fashion cities, and show their creativity,” Johansson said in between photos of VIP guests. “It’s also nice to pick someone that might not be known outside of the fashion industry, and she is also a woman owning and operating an independent brand. Her designs are beautiful and feminine, and our customers will love them,” she added.
Despite collaborating with designer brands for over 20 years, the Swedish retailer still finds each unique. “With Magda, it was quite intimate because she has a small team of designers and pattern makers. Our first meeting was in Warsaw; our team had never been there. So, it was nice to see her within her city and vibe,” she added.
Seeing her in her element influenced the event, as did serendipitous logistics as Butrym headed to New York for her project. “It all came together here, and New York is New York. Everyone wants to come here to experience all the energy here, including all the people,” Johansson continued.
Despite being in New York City, the Swedes and Butrym gave the event a magical fantasy vibe. As guests entered the landmark 1929 Byzantine-Romanesque-style former Williamsburgh Savings Bank located in Fort Greene, Brooklyn—with its cavernous 60-foot vaulted ceilings, arched windows, mosaic floors, tinted glass windows, and a 17-year-old Polish opera prodigy from Chicago singing from the balcony—it was easy to mistake the space for a church. The room was bathed in pink lights and adorned with fresh rose sculptures, and the furniture was draped with white fabrics. As a centerpiece and nod to Butrym’s signature rose was a massive pink fabric sculpture resembling a rose that hung from the ceiling.
“Each event has to reflect the designer,” Johansson said of the ambiance. “We want to enter the designer’s universe, their world. The rose, for example, is one of Magda’s signatures. So, what she wants that can ‘rhyme’ with H&M is what we stand for. In her case, it’s about beauty, and we need some beauty right now,” she added.
For Butrym, the past week spent in New York—with husband and child in tow—has been a bit surreal and busy, as she just opened a Magda Butrym pop-up store in SoHo, marking her second retail venture, as she opened a flagship store in Warsaw last year.
“When we drove over the Brooklyn Bridge to get here tonight, it hit me, and I still don’t believe it even now that I’m saying it. It’s overwhelming,” Butrym said, describing her awe of being in the Big Apple for such important brand moments. “The pop-up is so adorable; it’s all done in crochet and really romantic,” she added.
According to the designer, the Swedish team at H&M made things seamless. “They sent us a document of their thoughts about the brand and what they love. Since I am making a new collection every three months, it was really helpful because I didn’t have time to go back to the archives,” Butrym said as her guests posed for photos in front of the giant rose and sipped pink cocktails and champagne.
“It was a great exercise for me and my team because when you do the main collection, you are constantly pushing the thing. It was revisiting these styles and imagining them differently. So, let’s show the flower in a different way or a different style in a new shape. This was adapting it to something else, thinking, what would people love to have? The clients see my designs on celebrities; now they will have this part of my world. This project was a pleasure for me,” she added.
The collection includes a sexy, clingy red dress with rosettes on the bust worn by Law and another rouge style worn by Smith, recalling a bouquet of roses. Shayk wore sharp black tailoring, while Gray wore a black jersey top with a sculptural flower detail at the neck and a matching long-line skirt. Valentina Sampaio wore the collection’s striking burgundy leather trench, and Sevigny wore a stretch mini dress with the collection’s iconic rose print.
Butrym was also thrilled about bringing the opera singer to share some Polish culture. “She was singing in Polish, so it’s very important to me. You hear Polish songs. It’s amazing that this little country has a moment here in Brooklyn,” she reflected.
With the return of Stockholm Fashion Week, it would seem fitting that the designer shows there, but Johansson doesn’t imagine that happening. “She’s on the official Paris schedule and has shown there for the first time. That is a big thing, so I am sure Magda will continue with that,” Johansson said. In any case, while it sounds like she will stick with her European allies for her new collection debuts, thanks to Sweden, the rest of the world will have a chance to discover Butrym’s oeuvre.
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