H&M's 'slightly absurd' Girl With the Dragon Tattoo fashion line
The Swedish retailer will soon flood stores with clothes inspired by edgy heroine Lisbeth Salander. Brilliant marketing — or just strange?
The image: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo star Rooney Mara is already making fashion waves for her magazine photo spreads in costume as bisexual, computer-hacking heroine Lisbeth Salander, sporting the character's punk-goth wardrobe, severely cropped hair, and bleached blond eyebrows. Now, Swedish clothier H&M has announced that fashionistas around the world will be able to emulate Salander's style, too. H&M's new fashion line, inspired by the upcoming film adaptation of Steig Larsson's best-selling murder mystery, will be sold in select H&M stores and online starting Dec. 14, a week before the film debuts. The collection of tattered jeans and cropped leather jackets was conceptualized by the movie's costume designer, Trish Summerville, who calls it a "more fashionable version" of the film's wardrobe. (See an image below.)
The reaction: These clothes really do produce that "quintessential Lisbeth look," says Christopher Rosen at Moviefone, though her "bleached eyebrows, tattoos, and piercings" are probably not included. It at least "makes perfect cross-promotional sense," says Sarah Anne Hughes at The Washington Post. Once the film hits theaters, girls everywhere will likely be inspired to ape Salander's fierceness. Still, the line is "slightly absurd" — Salander isn't exactly a "fashionista." And let's be honest, says Kevin Jagernauth at Indie Wire. More-or-less identical clothes can be found on "your average rack at Hot Topic." See for yourself:
H&M/Andreas Sjödin
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