Pierce Mattie Public Relations New York & Los Angeles

Who doesn’t Heart H&M? It’s the eclectic retailer of affordable, mass-produced individuality. Whatever the trend or style, it seems they’ve got it, and it’s been that way since they Hennes & Mauritz ventured Stateside around the turn of the century. They sent New Yorkers into a tizzy when they had a brief, but successful affair with Karl Lagerfeld. That launch saw lines around the block. Then they had a tryst with Stella McCartney. Now, they’ve selected a new mistress, and it’s none other that the Material Girl, Madonna. While on one hand I love both Madge and her new business bedfellow for their ability to be so many things to so many people, I am a bit angry at their joint role in one of the most unflattering trends of summer ’06: Leggings. Yes, I loved them under my skirts as an 80’s/90's kid. Yeah, it was a bit cool to see the woman who inspired me to wear them back then wear them again. But no, IT IS NOT FUN to see everyone jump on the bandwagon. It’s said that she will have her own specially designed track suit at the stores. Let’s all hope it’s more flattering than the noisy ones my friends and I wore in ’94. Madonna and her back-ups will also be given entire offstage wardrobes and will wear H&M accoutrements in the upcoming ad campaign, which launches in August and will run through the fall. I can’t lie… I’m dying to see what it looks like.