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Did H&M's carefully orchestrated reveal of its Balmain collab just hit a snag? The Cut reports on a treasure trove of photos tagged #hmbalmaination on Instagram that seem to preview many of the yet-to-be unveiled pieces. The Instagram account belongs to a writer named Kathryn Swartz Rees from Chicago, who told The Cut that "all images were taken from that H&M URL" and that she uncovered them after the photos were indexed by Google. Rees said she just happened to be searching for the photos at the right time, as the site where she yanked the photos from is no longer live.
We don't know for sure if these H&M x Balmain collab images are legit, but the photos do show some of the few pieces that H&M has previewed, like Gigi Hadid's long-sleeve tunic dress, the pieces worn by Hadid, Kendall Jenner, and Jourdan Dunn in the collab's print ads, and the furry jacket and sparkly pink cocktail dress shown in the October issue of Elle UK.
See what are allegedly womenswear pieces from the collab below, and click over to the Instagram account for even more photos. Rees's Instagram shows nearly 100 images, and she told The Cut: "The images are the vast majority of the collection. There are some additional colorways — bandeau top in white and ring in clear for example — not pictured."
Update, per Fashionista, H&M released a statement confirming that the images are legit. "Images from our Balmain x H&M collaboration have surfaced," a spokesperson for the company said. "We are pleasantly surprised by our fans positive reaction to the collection and we look forward to share more from the #HMBalmaination in the coming weeks." In related news, Rees announced on Twitter that her Instagram account has been disabled.
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