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?
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
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
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
American universities are losing ground to their foreign counterpartsThe Explainer While Harvard is still near the top, other colleges have slipped
-
How to navigate dating apps to find ‘the one’The Week Recommends Put an end to endless swiping and make real romantic connections
-
Elon Musk’s pivot from Mars to the moonIn the Spotlight SpaceX shifts focus with IPO approaching