VISITORS WHO STEPPED into fashion retailer H&M’s showroom in New York City on April 4, were confronted by a pile of castoff clothing reaching to the ceiling.
A T.S. Eliot quote stenciled on the wall (“In my end is my beginning”) gave the showroom the air of an art gallery or museum. In the next room, reporters and fashion bloggers sipped wine while studying the half-dozen mannequins wearing bespoke creations pieced together from old jeans, patches of jackets and cut-up blouses.