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Kate in Moschino for Palace Forum & How to Shop Erdem for H&M

We are back with news about a previously unannounced engagement for Kate today, and a look at shopping the Erdem for H&M collection for those with the patience to brave the online and in-store crowds. First, a look at the new engagements added to Kate’s Calendar.

  • Wednesday, November 8:  The Duchess will attend the Place2Be School Leaders Forum in London. She will open the conference; this year’s theme is ‘I’m Fine!” This is the Forum’s third year; Kate attended both of those Forums. She is Place2Be’s patron; the organization offers school-based mental health support that reaches more than 115,000 children.
  • Thursday, November 14: Kate will visit the Hornsey Road Children’s Centre, “a welcoming environment for expectant and new mothers, and an outlet for children to play.” Family Action is a charity providing services at the Centre and Kate will learn more about the organization’s perinatal mental health services. HM is Family Action’s patron.

Kate was scheduled to do the Family Action/Hornsey Road engagement in September but had to cancel because she was ill.

This afternoon Kensington Palace announced that the Duchess hosted a roundtable discussion about maternal mental health.

More from Kensington Palace:

The Duchess is keen to develop an understanding of the issues surrounding maternal mental health, and to learn what support is available.

At least 20% of women are affected by mental health problems during pregnancy or in the first year following the birth of a child. If left untreated, maternal mental health problems can have significant and long lasting effect on the woman and her family.”

Representatives from several groups attended the forum, including the Anna Freud Centre, as well as Best Beginnings and Family Action. Experts from King’s College London and the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists also took part. At this point we do not have any more info or photos; I will update the post if either becomes available. I think it is possible the Duchess is planning greater involvement in Family Action, seeing the Hornsey Road engagement and their participation in the Palace event.

It looks like the Duchess wore a Boutique Moschino cardigan sweater for today’s engagement.

The piece is a wool/cotton blend featuring the distinctive contrast trim at the collar, cuffs, pocket flaps and the front placket with bows.  There is a similar style at Farfetch ($475), although the placket doesn’t have the concealed snaps like the longer cardigan. A Tip of the Tiara to Middleton Maven on Twitter for IDing the piece. She also noted that it looked like Kate wore this piece just before Pippa’s wedding; The Daily Mail has a photo here. Thanks also to Giulia and to Christin on Twitter for their input on the identification.

Moschino is an Italian brand offering men’s and Women’s collections. Boutique Moschino is the secondary line for women with the same whimsical, quirky design elements of the primary line but prices that are said to be about 30% – 40% less than Moschino; this line was previously called Moschino Cheap and Chic.  Love Moschino is the least expensive of the three lines, with styles for both women and men.

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Also today, an update on the Erdem for H&M collection which launches tomorrow. Two weeks ago there was a big bash in Hollywood celebrating the collaboration, complete with a runway show. 

For many of us, the collection won’t be available in local stores. If you are going to shop online, plan on coping with some frustration. Hopefully, H&M will be able to keep the site up; with some of its previous designer collaborations the site has crashed. There’s every possibility many of us will see this.  

If you are going to brave the online experience here are a few tips:

  • Online shopping starts at 8 am EDT/5 am PDT in the US.
  • In the UK the collection is available both online & in-store from 9:00 GMT.
  • Scroll to the bottom of the post for a short list of in-store *and* online shopping times in other countries
  • You can now see all of the styles and prices online: the women’s collection is here and the men’s collection is here. Have your list ready of the specific items you want (and backup pieces if so inclined).
  • Log in ahead of time and have your shipping/payment info saved (if not registered you can do that here).
  • Many customers multitask, using two or more devices to shop online. You can also try ordering by phone at 855-466-7467 at the same time, but be prepared for insane wait times.

There are rules:

  • Both in-store and online purchases are limited to one item per style; this includes shoes, accessories and bags.
  • Stores will use the colored bracelet system again. More from H&M: “Customers in line will be given a colored bracelet; there are 14 colors with one for each group of 30 customers. Your color determines when it’s your time to shop in the designer collection area. Each group will have 10 minutes to shop, with 5 minutes between groups.”

Returns:

  • For purchases made in store:
    • H&M will offer an exchange or refund in the “original form of payment, with or without a receipt, until November 8th. After November 8th returns of ERDEM X H&M collection will no longer be accepted.”  (Pierced earrings are not refundable.)
    • Any purchases of the collection made after November 8th are final sale.
    • All merchandise must be returned in original selling condition. Purchases must be returned to an H&M store. Valid photo ID required for returns without a receipt.
  • For online purchases:
    • H&M will do returns or exchanges in the “original form of payment on the items that are returned within seven days of the order date. After November 8th orders will no longer be accepted in stores and must be returned via mail.”

In terms of the quality of designs in the collection, H&M says:

“By using guipure lace shaped like ERDEM’s signature florals, hairy wools, handmade Scottish tweed, organic cotton, and mulberry silk, much of the range is in premium quality.

In terms of prices, here is The Telegraph’s assessment.

While the prices might be higher than your average H&M purchase, for those who have long oogled Erdem’s intricate frocks and lace blouses but have never taken the plunge and bought one (most of us, presumably), this collection is worth every penny.

Here are some of the accessories. A Leather Handbag, the Floral Slip-On ShoeLeather Pumps with Rhinestones and the Small Leather Handbag.  

Other accessories include the Rhinestone Clip-On Earrings, along with a Bow Hair Clip and Rhinestone Brooch and Brooch with Grosgrain Bow. 

There are also tights and knee socks

The packaging on the accessories is nice, a step above what I expected.

Now we look at some of the apparel. Below, two Patterned Tops in 100% organic cotton.  The Silk Blouse with Lace is done in a jacquard weave with openwork lace and a standup collar; it comes in both black and natural. The Lace Top with Flounces is a cotton/nylon blend.  

The Pattern Blouse has a stand collar, lace, and grosgrain elements, while the Lace Blouse has contrasting trim and pleated cuffs.

Three of the jacquard pieces in the floral pattern: the Patterned Blazer, a pair of Trousers and a Jacquard Skirt.

There are more jacquard pieces, including a Coat and Dress. I included a closeup of the fabric in hopes it will provide a sense of the material’s texture.

A Wool-Blend Jacket and matching Wool-Blend Suit Pants are crafted of an 80% wool/20% nylon blend.  

A view showing the garments on a model.

In the outerwear category, the faux fur Leopard Print Coat is a straight cut silhouette with a removable grosgrain ribbon tie at the neck; the dark blue Wool Blend Coat is a double-breasted style with notched lapels and covered buttons.

The Wool-Blend Jacket and Wool-Blend Skirt are made from a bouclé yarn that lends a nubby texture to the piece; the skirt has a grosgrain waistband and exposed back zipper. There is no shortage of dresses in the collection. Below we show (l to r) the Patterned Dress with lace and grosgrain details; in the middle, the Lace Dress in a cotton/nylon blend; on the right, the Dress with Lace featuring a stand collar, lace, pintucks, covered buttons and other design details. On the far right, a closeup of the ‘dress with lace’. 

How some of the frocks look on a person as opposed to flat product shots.

Three more styles: the Patterned Dress with a stand collar and bib front; the floor-length Sequined Dress; and the appropriately named Pleated Dress.  

The final two dresses include the Silk Dress, winner of the collection’s “It Must Look Better When It’s On” award; and on the right, the Jacquard Pattern Long Dress. On the far right, a closeup of the ‘jacquard pattern long dress’. 

The Silk Shirt and Wide-Leg Silk Pants feature a floral print with contrasting piping.  

Those ready for something with a snuggle factor might like the Mohair Blend Sweaters

Things that I think are likely to sell out quickly:

The silk and silk-blend scarves.

Some of the casual pieces like the sweatshirts: the Floral Cotton Hooded Top, along with the Cotton Hooded Sweatshirt.and the black version, the Hooded Top with Printed Text (men’s). They’re all made of organic cotton and they have a kangaroo pocket on the front. 

A few more tidbits about the collection:

  • 220 stores worldwide will carry the women’s collection, 177 will have menswear
    • flagship stores will offer the line, and the larger stores located in big cities
    • in NY that’s likely to be the Times Square store, Herald Square and Fifth Ave
    • in South Florida, the Miami Beach store on Lincoln Rd and Aventura Mall stores are expected to stock the collection
    • The Telegraph reports these stores in the UK will have the collection:  Oxford Circus, Oxford Street East, High Street Kensington, Manchester Market Street, Regent Street, Westfield White City, Glasgow, Westfield Stratford and College Green, Dublin.

Shopping times:

  • Canada: 8am EST online & in-store
  • Australia: Melbourne’s GPO; Pitt St Mall, Sydney; Queen St Mall, Brisbane; and Perth’s GPO from 9am
  • New Zealand: “only available at H&M Sylvia Park from 9am GMT”
  • Germany: online & in-store from 8 am CET
  • France: in-store at 9 am and online at 10 am
  • Italy: in-store and online at 9 am
  • Spain: online at 9 am and in-store at 10 am
  • Sweden: in-store and online at 8 am
  • Poland: in-store from 8 am and online from 9 am
  • Mexico: in select stores from 9 am
  • Malaysia: will be available in-store at Lot 10 and Avenue K stores starting from 8:05 am & online from 5 pm
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KateM

Wednesday 8th of November 2017

Princess Victoria wore the Lace Blouse a couple of weeks ago http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-5000270/Crown-Princess-Victoria-looks-elegant-ruffled-blouse.html

I really like it!

Larissa

Tuesday 7th of November 2017

Sigh, despite the daily ads on Instagram I had forgotten that it was time for the Erdem x H&M collection to come out. Now after a hectic week I've finally had time to check it out on the local site, and everything except one pair of men's shoes is showing me "Ausverkauft". Too bad. I think a lot of the pieces looked better on people than in the photos, and I would have liked to get my hands on an unconventional dress. Those tights were cute too!

Kate really has a knack for picking the most demure piece from wild brands. When I saw the mention of Love Moschino I remembered how bold most of those collections are, and I was not surprised when I opened the website for Boutique Moschino. There's certainly nothing left similar to Kate's cardigan! I personally don't like long cardigans, probably because they look terrible on me, but I do like the bows on this one. Plus, I'm guessing Kate has an easier time pulling it off than I do.

Fashiophile

Monday 6th of November 2017

Moschino and Erdem - don't care much for these two high-end brands. I agree with what a reader has written earlier - there is nothing in the H&M Erdem collection that I would wear. Having said that - the Duchess on the other hand would look good even in a simple tee and jeans. She has the height, face and figure that will carry off almost anything.

SaraF

Sunday 5th of November 2017

I seem to be in the minority, but I liked Kate's cardigan very much; I found it appropriate to the occasion and I would wear one like that too. Contrary to others, I found the second model more juvenile than Kate's choice.

There are one or two Erdem pieces that I can see myself wearing but nothing that screams "must have" to me. A pity.

BerlinLondon

Sunday 5th of November 2017

Moschino is quite humorous.The Problem seems to be that no one really understands that when Kate is wearing „humorous“.But I give her credit for going there anyways.I didn‘t like the pink number she wore for her last engagement, but I kind of rather like it if I consider that also with this one Kate was trying to signal „lighthearted“ and „fun“.Many designers are doing this playful thing right now, the current Gucci style being probably the most significant example.But Kate’s Position seems to limit her style choices so much, that whenever she tries to be humorous, no one buys it from her and the general consensus comes down to seriously „wrong“.This „right“ /„wrong“ thing must be such a tyranny for Kate.

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