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How to Shop Fall's Best Collabs, From Yeezy Season 1 to H&M x Balmain

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Uniqlo and Lemaire
Uniqlo and Lemaire

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High-low designer collabs have wavered in relevancy — and in sales — since the concept was popularized by H&M and Karl Lagerfeld in 2004. In the decade and change since, some cool, innovative projects have debuted (prayer hands emoji for Uniqlo and Jil Sander), but there have also been moments of intense over-saturation. Despite the sputters, the world of high-low designer collaborations continues to evolve, and this fall there are a few capsule collections actually worth getting excited for.

The classic formula of high-end designer and accessible-to-all retailer lives on with Balmain and H&M, and gets a thematic twist with Target and Adam Lippes (more on that below). We have Kanye West, designer, paired with Adidas for Yeezy Season 1 (which finally has an in-store date) to check off the requisite celebrity collection. Uniqlo has a duo of interesting collabs as well; one with a fancy French designer, another with a fancy French editor.

Below, find everything you need to know about the five best collabs hitting the market this fall, from when they'll be available to who, exactly, is behind each. They are listed from soonest to hit (this weekend!) to farthest out (early November), so you can create iCal alerts accordingly.

Adam Lippes for Target

Coat, $70; Backpack, $40

Who: American designer Adam Lippes worked as the global creative director of Oscar de la Renta before starting his own line in 2004.

What: 50 items in total; everything is done in Buffalo plaid. Pieces include clothes for men and women, shoes, accessories, and home. See the entire lookbook, including sizes and pricing, here.

When: September 27th

Yeezy Season 1

tink-cr-fashion-book-yeezy_2015_09

Tink, Vic Mensa. Photos: CR Men's Book

Who: Kanye West's first collection for activewear giant Adidas.

What: Clothes and shoes for men and women. A number of sneaker styles from the collection, which debuted in February during New York Fashion Week, have been made available, but none of the clothes have hit racks yet. Barneys and Mr. Porter have confirmed that they'll stock the pieces, which include a $405 thermal shirt, $585 sweatpants, and a $2,210 camo jacket (see all of the confirmed pricing info here).

When: October 29th

Carine Roitfeld for Uniqlo

Left: coat, $200; sweater, $60; Right: coat, $200; skirt, $50. Images via IMG

WhoCarine Roitfeld, ex-Vogue Paris editor in chief (now EIC of her own title, CR Fashion Book), teams up with Japanese fast-fashion super-brand Uniqlo.

What: Clothes and accessories (like belts and tights) for women. In a recent interview with the Observer, Carine made note of the wearability of the collection (whose pieces have not been entirely released yet), saying, "It's not a jacket with three arms. I can wear everything. They are clothes a mother can share with her daughter." A press release from Uniqlo makes a point of the versatility of the pieces, which "combine sharp-cut outerwear with feminine styles underneath." Pricing breaks down as such:

  • Outerwear, $130 — $200
  • Skirts and pants, $50 — $70
  • Shirts, $50 — $70
  • T-shirts and tops, $20
  • Sweaters, $40 — $130
  • Dresses, $60 — $80
  • Accessories (belts, bags, and scarves), $20 — $50
  • Tights, $13

When: October 29th

Uniqlo and Lemaire

Coat, $70; Sweater, $50

Who: Carine isn't the only one scoring a Uniqlo partnership this fall. Former Hermès designer Christopher Lemaire, who left the French fashion house to work on his own namesake label, is working with the company, too.

What: Clothes for men and women, starting at $39.90 for leggings. A number of the pieces can be worn more than one way (a short sweater that can also act as a scarf; outerwear with removable hoods or sleeves) and materials are premium, like lambswool and cashmere. See the entire lookbook, including pricing, here.

When: October 2nd

H&M x Balmain

via @ElleUK; @HM

WhoBalmain, the 70-year-old French couture house run by the very modern Olivier Rousteing, and Swedish megaretailer H&M.

What: Clothing and accessories for men and women. So far we've seen head-to-toe looks on Jourdan Dunn and Kendall Jenner at the Billboard Awards and on Gigi Hadid during Fashion Week. The pieces have been near-identical — at least visually; we can't speak to materials or details quite yet — to what has walked Balmain runways since Rousteing took the reigns in 2011. The only styles we've seen with pricing so far are men's items, care of GQ UK. Of the seven items the magazine previewed, pricing started around $45 for a military-style shirts and topped out at $225 for a leather biker jacket (all listed here).

When: November 5th