Shhhh….

It's high-low designer collaboration pandemonium at the moment with queues for Versace for H&M snaking their way around the world, moistened lipped anticipation for Mary Katrantzou for Topshop and distant grapevine news of the mighty Tom Ford perhaps having his high-street collaborative cherry plucked.

Anthony Vaccarello coming out with a small capsule collection for La Redoute though has come as a pleasant and quiet surprise.  It's always been a weird slippery slope with La Redoute designer collaborations, something I hope has been rectified since the days when I'd go on the site looking for cushions to furnish my student dorm room.  They've been pounding them out for ages, on the down low with the likes of Christian Lacroix, Jean Paul Gaultier and Tsumori Chisato as past collaborators.  I vaguely remember trying to hunt some of this stuff down on their then-slightly clunky websites without successfully procuring anything.  This was before the time I was plugged into the PR system and had zero information so I'd go onto the site day after day, clicking aimlessly hoping for a Breton tee to pop up.  They've gone for the non-shouty, low-key approach with their collaborations and their recent back catalogue include unexpected collabs with Cathy Pill, Robert Clergerie and Tila March.

I quite like this spectrum of designer-high-street collaboration.  The lack of fanfare means that the chances of buying stuff are actually a-ok and instead of panicked purchasing, I can chow down a cup of tea and think about what to buy.  Vaccarello also makes the task handily simple by boiling his capsule collection down to an assymetrical dress, a matching shirt and skirt ensemble, a great trouser, a great jacket, a trench, a bat-winged sweater-dress and a bandeau that ranges in price from EUR9 to EUR179.  The collection has a lot of recognisable details from his past few season's work that has seen him crowned the winner of the 2011 ANDAM prize and strong support from press and buyers alike.  I still get the good sort of shivers when I see his work in person even though I've been at close encounters with his work for a number of years now.  If his La Redoute pieces have even a tenth of an effect of what his mainline pieces have on the bod, then I'll be a happy gal.  Anja Rubik might be a slightly lofty height to reach as she models the collection here so well but again, a tenth of this visual effect would be more than welcome.  

The collection is I believe available on La Redoute on December 15th and will be on all their sites   

Photography by Karim Sadli and art direction by Atelier Durand