You've seen the John Lewis ad, Burberry's cinematic festive trailer and the string of short films from leading retailers, created to fill us with Christmas cheer/spend our cash before it's barely touched our bank accounts. Today, H&M have unveiled their holiday commercial and it might just steal the Christmas ad crown, thanks to a collaboration with one of our favourite film visionaries. This year, the Swedish clothing giant has enlisted film director Wes Anderson to create a stylish short entitled Come Together, which succinctly encapsulates his signature aesthetic, all wrapped up in H&M knitwear.
Anderson has a long history of collaboration with the fashion industry. In 2007, Marc Jacobs, then the Creative Director at Louis Vuitton, designed period luggage for The Darjeeling Limited, taking inspiration from the fashion house’s archives. In 2013, Wes Anderson partnered with Prada on an eight-minute short, Castello Cavalcanti, and the following year Miuccia Prada again collaborated with the cult director on costumes for The Grand Budapest Hotel.
In this four-minute film, Adrien Brody (who regularly pops up in Anderson's films) stars as a train conductor on the H&M Lines Winter Express, who manages to salvage Christmas after a blizzard delays the train’s arrival, meaning the few passengers miss part of their festive plans.
"The winter train ride, under Wes Anderson's direction, is the perfect setting for H&M's holiday collection full of relaxed, wearable elegance," explains Pernilla Wohlfahrt, H&M's Head of Design and Creative Director. "It's about mixing the informal with a sense of occasion, capturing the holiday mood for both dressing up and getting cosy with loved ones."
"This story may resonate more than ever at a time in the world where we could all do with giving a stranger a hug," added Adrien Brody. This year's advert is in stark contrast to the 2015 H&M Holiday advert in which Katy Perry played a glittery fairy joined by dancing gingerbread men.
Watch Come Together below.
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