Shop: Style-watching at H&M

Glasgow City Centre now boasts 3 H&M stores within a stone's throw of one another (2 out of the 3 are huge), the most recent addition comes as part of the newly-refurbished St Enoch Centre. I like the big shiny store on Buchanan Street - it opened last year just in time for the madness of the Jimmy Choo x H&M collection and as well as being well laid out, it's conveniently located right next to the subway station, so going in for a look is almost mandatory on a day at the shops. The store also carried both Sonia Rykiel Pour H&M collections and over the weekend, I popped in-store to have a nosey at what H&M has to offer for the upcoming season.

Animal print was abundant - on knitwear, dresses, tees and one very nice coat (which had leather accents not unlike a recent 3.1 Phillip Lim coat seen on the runway). All this leopard print is reminiscent of looks by the likes of Dolce & Gabbana at the moment. In particular, I loved these leopard print cardi's:

More animal prints:


While wandering round the store I also couldn't help but notice these two cute knits. The horse one immediately brought to mind my beloved Luella (who, by the way has a new book coming out this October), while the sparkly Mickey Mouse ears on the other just made me smile:


Horse motifs were seen on a few other items, like cardigans. Other trends I noticed in H&M were ruffles, trenches, denim, camel coats and grunge. Take this floral printed denim jacket for example:


This nails the grunge look perfectly. Layer over a cotton t-shirt maxi dress, throw on a pair or army boots and you're good to go!

With the party season up ahead, there will no doubt be more dresses, embellished pieces and accessories to come. One show-stopper I noticed in-store already was this Balmain-esque jacket, for those brave enough to wear it:


H&M tend to blaze the trail when it comes to designer x high street collaborations (who could forget Jimmy Choo, Karl Lagerfeld, Viktor & Rolf and Stella McCartney, to only name a few), so I'm looking forward to any upcoming announcements. The most recent rumour is that Shiatzy Chen, a Taiwanese fashion house, may be collaborating with H&M on a collection due to be released this November. There have also been rumblings of Lanvin for H&M. We will be hearing who the next collaboration will be with very soon - announcements are said to be made on Sepetember 9th!

With 3 well-stocked H&M stores to choose from in Glasgow, shopping there couldn't be simpler, right? Probably not. But from September 16th, H&M will be launching their online store, so stocking up on basics and quirky updates can now be done from the comfort of your own desk/ home. Easy.