Your First Look At The TOGA ARCHIVES x H&M Collection

Get ready for yet another sell-out designer collab, coming to you on September 2.

By Shermin Ng - published 1 Aug 2021

Brace yourselves for yet another sell-out H&M designer collaboration, coming to you on September 2. Hot on the heels of its highly successful capsule collections with Irish designer Simone Rocha and L.A.-based label Brock Collection this year, H&M has announced an upcoming collaboration with Tokyo cult brand TOGA that "draws on its avant-garde-yet-accessible archive with reimaginings of TOGA signatures."

Founded in 1997 by Yasuko Furuta, TOGA has received critical acclaim and amassed a devoted international fanbase for its experimental take on everyday classics. Defined by a genderless, fiercely individual approach to fashion, Furuta's aesthetic hits the sweet spot between contemporary cool and playful sensuality.

Related article: Inside The Simone Rocha x H&M Collab

The designer—who studied fashion design and patterning in Japan and Paris, presented her collections in Paris in 2005 and started showing at London Fashion Week since 2014—is also known to marry traditional Japanese elements with Parisian elegance and London punk.

“Fashion can communicate ideas and interests immediately and non-verbally. With TOGA, I have explored the concept of the customer having agency over what they are wearing, a decision that conveys their personality instantly: they can choose to have bare skin underneath a hole in their skirt, or put trousers underneath. I would love for this H&M collection to introduce that idea to a global audience,” says Furuta.

Set against the raw, brutalist architectural backdrop of London’s Barbican Estate, the campaign—styled by Jane How and photographed by Johnny Dufort—features "exciting reimaginings of TOGA’s archival hits for men and women, given contemporary twists."

For womenswear, expect hybridised trench coats, deconstructed shirts, plissé skirts, dresses with clever cut-outs and bold prints, and exacting tailoring with dashes of eccentricity. Accessories such as mesh pumps with cool cowboy heels and studs, bugle-bead earrings and collar necklaces are feminine with a touch of tough glamour.

Meanwhile, TOGA menswear signatures like the blue striped shirt and transparent V-neck jumper are reworked in clever cuts and iridescent colourways respectively, while the reversible bomber jacket comes with a vintage scarf lining.

See the full collection and prices below.