Has H&M got really good lately?

[laundryhamper]

Has H&M got really good recently?
I always thought it was a bit flimsy/tacky/polyester, but I just went to a huge H&M in Melbourne and got loads of good stuff, mostly H&M Edition.
A structured white cotton shirt with cropped sleeves and little tufts of thread all over it, a blue striped shirt, a pair of off white embroidered jeans…I am most impressed. This comes after a skirt I bought last year that was a suspiciously good Zimmermann knock off.
What is going on??! Or am I just very late to the party (wouldn’t be the first time)…

Here’s the tufty/cat claw shirt now I’ve ironed it…

I am really pleased with it - it looks like the sort of thing you pay 4x for in Cos

I think they do nice cotton little tops in Broderie Anglaise in the summer that look nice with jeans.

I’m on the mailing list, H&M appear to run sales weekly now , I do wonder if they are losing customers to shein. I’ve been a fan of their basics for years - classic linen or viscose button down shirts and the cigarette /slacks trousers .

😂😂 I was just thinking it looks like the school shirt of a child who’s been in a fight!!

sorry op, I’m sure they’re all the rage, I’m not an especially fashionable person so just ignore me. I’ve just bought a pair of dungarees and dh can’t help but fall about laughing when he sees me in them!
I’m glad you’re finding things in there you like, I do find it quite hit and miss, more miss than hit but the occasional gem is great.

H+M used to sell amazing longline stretchy vest tops with adjustable straps for £2.99 that you could wear underneath everything and now don’t, which is very sad!!

This!! Use the filters.

I have just done a large H&M shop, 90% will go back but the good bits are great.

Keeping: some barrel leg jeans, surprisingly fit perfectly. An Arket chunky knitted cotton jumper. Two H&M Premium cashmere bits - a black cardigan and a short sleeve red sweater. Possibly a fitted cotton summer dress although annoyingly I am between sizes (the smaller size looks fab but I can’t breathe, the larger is baggy…)

There were also a few nearly rights but not quite. A lovely embroidered fine cotton top which is just too voluminous on me but would look fab on someone apple shaped with good legs. A short embroidered cotton summer dress, lovely fabric and shape but again needs good legs/apple shape. A black denim skater dress which is a great shape for me but looks silly if I’m honest - would have been good 10-20 years ago.

I didn’t even look at tops this time but in the past it’s been a great source of cheaper linen t shirts and good vest tops.

Here are two more things I bought online. Looove the top. Jeans are a bit long - in two minds about whether to keep as they always look a bit weird when you take them up.

I’ve spent a fortune in H&M over the last couple of years but they’ve gone a bit too whacky now for me. Ridiculously oversized, made for giants, baggy, and silly puffed sleeves 😩 I look round and people don’t actually wear this stuff in real life - it’s mainly big trainers, jeans, fitted tops and puffa jackets.

I’ll keep an eye on the odd piece (like that lovely cream blouse op has) but I’ve deleted the app.

I wouldn’t count as ‘people’, then, @Screamingabdabz - as that’s never been the way I dress!

What is the white blouse with the drawstring waist like in the flesh, @laundryhamper? 100% cotton, including the lace? Wearable proportions? Well finished French seams inside? These are some of the things I mostly wasn’t finding with H&M clothes 25 years ago. (And the shops were like jumble sales even then.) So I stopped considering them. Whenever I pass a shop window the stuff looks limp and uninspired - but that’s the same with Zara, where I rely on finding the needle in a haystack only on their website.

@Faineante Am travelling now so will have to give you a full report on seams at the other end. I only had it on briefly but my quality antennae weren’t triggered. It was one of those bits that you try on and instantly go, yep, having that. I actually liked it without the drawstring tied.

I just looked it up in the website (it’s sold out in cream but still available in black) to check materials and it says 55% linen 45% viscose. Technically I think it’s broderie anglaise rather than lace - don’t know if that makes a difference? You can see it better in these pics

Thank you! Yes, I wasn’t sure whether to call it broderie anglaise or not. I know linen / viscose can be a nice cool fabric mix.

(I have a nearly ten year old white cotton broderie anglaise blouse from MSGM; quite beautifully French seamed inside, and so well made it still looks almost new, despite having been worn probably a few hundred times. I judge everything vaguely similar against it.)

The place I go to for alterations does jeans brilliantly - they chop off the existing hem then shorten as needed, then invisibly reattach the original hem. Maybe look into that because those jeans are fab.

@HarryPotterandtheClimateofFear A little old lady does everyone’s alterations round here - very plain vanilla - she’d probably have palpitations and keel over if I asked her to do that! Maybe I could send them away to someone to do…