Meet H&M’s Most Fashion-Forward Collection, And The Top Model Who’s Fronting It

These days, retailers across the price spectrum are forgetting their places — which is a good thing for us consumers. High-fashion labels are putting out affordable capsule collections, and fast-fashion brands are investing in quality construction and materials for high-end lines, like H&M, whose Studio Collection delivers runway-worthy fashion at prices more manageable than what you’d normally expect from luxury labels. For its latest fall ’15 campaign, shot by Dan Jackson, H&M asked one of the world’s most prestigious young models, Edie Campbell, to do the honors.

Campbell, who recently graduated from the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, with a degree in History of Art, says that her education has helped make her a better model: “I definitely look at fashion photography in a much more analytical way. I spent a long time [in university] working out how artists represented the three-dimensional world, or an idea, or a mood, in two-dimensional forms. So I spent a lot of time thinking and writing about why and how two-dimensional images work, which has definitely helped me when it comes to my work.”

Not that she really needs the help. Campbell was named the British Fashion Awards’ “Model of the Year” back in 2013, and has fronted a slew of luxury campaigns including Burberry, Dior, and Louis Vuitton. Her highbrow pedigree has made her an unconventional but clever fit for H&M’s Studio Collection, the fast-fashion retailer’s high-fashion capture. Says Campbell about her entrée into mass fashion, “Brands are more aware that the fashion industry is becoming more democratic, and that people are not so snooty about only wanting luxury brands. Customers want to have the freedom to mix and match. And people are much more discerning now — they want the best designs and beautiful fabrics, so high-street stores have to offer that, too. It’s great that the middle market is being filled with beautifully made things.”

Campbell closed out H&M’s most recent fall ’15 show in Paris last season, wearing leather snowpants, an oversized ombre sweater, and crimson-red socks with straddle-stiletto sandals. The collection itself is filled with lovely, 1980s-meets-2080 outerwear, beautiful tanks, melted chevron prints, and retro-futuristic accessories like moon boots, sport duffels, and leather aviator caps. Click through to see the entire campaign, as well as some of Edie’s favorite pieces from the fall collection.