David Beckham joins H&M high-street revolution with underwear collection

The footballer's 'bodywear' range – and a semi-naked video featuring £7.99 pants – was launched this week

Forget Superbowl Sunday. In fashion terms, it has been rechristened Beckham in His Pants Day – the moment when the world gets to see the entire video featuring the 36-year-old footballer stretching and arching an eyebrow as he spins around on a giant turntable to the strains of the Animals' version of Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood.

Of course, this is no art project. Filmed in black and white, Beckham is wearing only a pair of £7.99 pants from his new David Beckham Bodywear for H&M collection.

According to the footballer, his sons responded to the semi-naked advert with a groaning "not again, Daddy". But widespread reaction – if YouTube views are to be trusted – is overwhelmingly positive. Hearteningly for H&M, it suggests that the reported $3.5m (£2.2m) that the high-street brand spent on securing the Superbowl ad break slot was money well spent.

This latest foray into briefs and long johns is by no means the retail giant's first brush with celebrity fashion. With a recent history that includes collaborations with Versace, Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, Comme des Garçons, Lanvin and Jimmy Choo, H&M has done for high-street shopping what Simon Cowell once did for Saturday night television, masterminding a shopping recipe that mixes mass appeal, blockbuster designer names and credible and unexpected fashion talent.

Hyped to a perfect pitch and in the main a sellout, this roll call of collaborations has put H&M's so-so main line of jersey dresses and bargain tailoring firmly in the shade.

Reaction from within the industry to the Beckham underwear collection has been kind. Suzy Menkes, respected fashion editor of the International Herald Tribune, summed up the general feeling: "Lots of people have worked with H&M, so why not David Beckham? I think it's a really good idea. It means now everybody can have a bit of him."

If shoppers present at the London launch of the collection last Wednesday – where the footballer held babies, kissed fans and signed briefs – were an accurate barometer of sales, then the pants are set to be a massive commercial hit. Paul Taylor, a 38-year old-shopper from London, summed up the appeal: "There's something very real about him. Despite being a global superstar, everyone in this queue believes you could have a good chat with him."

For designers, the attraction of the H&M machine lies in its democratic reach. Alber Elbaz, of the high-end label Lanvin, remarked of his collection of cocktail dresses for H&M in 2010: "It's like if I was living in a palace and opened some doors and said, 'Have tea with me, taste the food.'"

For Donatella Versace, the much-hyped collaboration proved so successful that it partly motivated the brand to return to the rarified world of haute couture after an eight-year hiatus. The designer told reporters after her show in Paris last month that in the aftermath of the H&M project: "I didn't want people to forget that Versace is a haute couture house."

The H&M formula is very simple. The brand searches out either a household name, a designer brand whose aesthetic is so strong that it can take being watered down with cheap fabrics without losing its punch, or an insider fashion name that adds kudos to the brand.

The juicy financial details of H&M's latest venture are a closely guarded secret at its Stockholm HQ. Within 48 hours of Beckham and his business partner Simon Fuller revealing their plans for the underwear market, H&M had convinced Beckham to sign with them in a two-year partnership.

But the success of this approach does not purely rely on a fat wallet. Clever signings are as much a part of its svengali-like approach as financial power. Next month it will follow Versace and Beckham with a fleeting collaboration with Marni, a quieter Italian label, known for its quirky prints and beloved of fashion editors. Hype is already growing online as the first pictures were leaked this week.

As for Beckham, his future plans for his underpants are ambitious. As shoppers queued to buy his pants, the footballer declared: "I want to be as big as Calvin Klein."

Contributor

Imogen Fox

The GuardianTramp

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