Let's cut to the chase: Either you love it or you hate it. "The Garden Collection", by H&M, a Swedish retail giant, is just as the title describes: An explosion of colorful flowers, printed or embroidered onto organic or recycled pallates in the forms of long, flowy gowns, billowy tops, form-fitting skirts and flouncy shorts. The prettiest garment, in my opinion, is the most desired in the collection: the multicolored kimono-style dress (pictured above). Thing is, I could imagine myself wearing it, while lounging around in the privacy of my own home.
The dress does nothing for the model wearing it. Matter of fact, her figure is obscured in it (and some customers thought that H&M on Newbury St not carrying it was an inconvenience). Another coveted item, the Red tube dress ( shown above, also in Beige) looks surprisingly good up close. The floral detail on the skirt is well assembled, and it doesn't look cheap, especially for the price ($34.95).
The multicolored smock dress, with "ethnic floral design" as H&M's press release describes it, looks like something I donned in an elementary school art class. The floral prints are too loud, and the color combinations are so grotesque, that the garment was rightfully named a "smock" because it belongs in an art class. Maybe paint splashing all over it doesn't seem like a bad idea, maybe it will improve!! The organic shorts look like they were made from a burlap sack that once held Idaho potatoes, and they wouldn't flatter any woman, if you ask me.
However, my grief with this collection, lies in the fact that it fails to complement a curvy shape. Once again, I feel that H&M did not have a "womanly" shape in mind when creating the collection. Matter of fact, as a whole, I don't think they had anyone in mind when they decided that grandma's old house dresses should be revamped and would ever be considered vogue.
