Balenciaga had the double T-shirt, Nordstrom had the muddy jeans, and now H&M has the hooded skirt. Fashion brands continue to churn out apparel pieces that leave us scratching our heads, and for the life of us, we cannot understand why.
H&M’s latest apparel launch is confusing consumers left and right, and we can understand why. Its gray cotton mini skirt features a hood that literally cannot be used. Think about it: How can you lift up the hood? The look is reminiscent of our childhood when our moms would force us to wear a hoodie even though we weren’t cold. As soon as we hit the schoolyard, we wrapped that hoodie around our waists and continued on our merry way.
The skirt is actually a part of the H&M x Moschino collection, and the description describes the hood as a “decorative, double-layered drawstring hood at the top.” But nowhere does it explain why.
Naturally, Twitter was inundated with confused shoppers. Here are some of our favorites:
Acc offended that the H&M algorithm has calculated that I want to see a skirt with a hood on my timeline pic.twitter.com/1RWVs2Yxhw
— cheriè (@jade_nixonn) December 10, 2018
Ok, yes women want pockets on our clothes. And while I appreciate your enthusiasm, H&M, a skirt with a hood is for my what, exactly? The disembodied head I trail behind me? #pockets #skirthood pic.twitter.com/OEcYpQ4wzR
— Kristen Perrin (@Kristen_Perrin) December 11, 2018
At this point, we’re starting to think brands are just trying to make headlines and push the envelope, but at what point is that strategy too much?
Either way, there’s an important lesson here for promotional apparel, and that’s that functionality trumps fashion. It’s important for pieces to look good, of course, but fashion for fashion’s sake will always raise eyebrows. Your end-users are looking for apparel that combines fashion and functional features, so there’s no need to attach a hood somewhere it doesn’t belong.
