Net-a-Porter to Launch Hunger Games Capsule Collection

Must admit, we kind of saw this one coming. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire costume designer Trish Summerville has teamed up with online fashion retailer Net-a-Porter to produce 16 ready-to-wear outfits, leather goods and jewellery tied into the film.

These ensembles will available exclusively at Net-a-Porter while being simultaneously promoted through Lionsgate’s Capital Couture website. Summerville, recently honoured as Costume Designer of the Year at the 10th Annual Style Awards, commented she’s “extremely proud of the designs that we created for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and there’s no partner more appropriate for Capitol Couture than the world’s most cutting-edge luxury retailer”.

If anyone can make such a collection work, it’s Trish Summerville. Although her tie-in range for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and H&M did not exactly set the world alight, this was probably due to poor marketing than anything else; consumers really do not like to be told what is cool by a multi-million dollar film studio, they like to find out on their own. Catching Fire on the other hand is inextricably linked to fashion, something that clearly switched on a light bulb in Lionsgate’s Chief Marketing Officer, Tim Palen’s, head: “In the world of The Hunger Games” he remarked, “one of the ways the Capitol defines itself is through fashion. When we launched Capitol Couture online, it took off and quickly became an out-of-world experience for both fans of the franchise and those obsessed with the future of fashion. Trish Summerville’s Capitol Couture collection for Net-a-Porter is a brilliant, elegant and chic extension of this effort”.

Costume sketch by Trish Summerville for her Net-a-Porter capsule collection. Read more about what to expect from the range HERE.

As for our opinion, we’re divided. On the one hand this collection is the perfect fit for Catching Fire and obviously a smart way to promote the movie, but on the other it does feel rather contrived. Fashion inspired by film is at its best when the movement is organic, such as with Black Swan or Boardwalk Empire. Jacqueline Durran’s range for Anna Karenina and Banana Republic for example, pleasant as it was, felt like a real strain to connect with the source material. Even fellow costume designer Stephanie Collie (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) was not impressed by the idea, “(a capsule collection) can be just such a tenuous link that it doesn’t really make sense” she commented, “The Banana Republic one for Anna Karenina was just so tenuous. To do it with that real old period stuff is very difficult”. Yet Catching Fire is futuristic fashion, and with the film’s HUGE teenage female fan-base, this is who Net-a-Porter’s clothes will be aimed at. Plus Summerville is an excellent designer with her finger absolutely on the pulse of contemporary trends. This could be the movie capsule collection to buck the trend.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire range will be available at Net-a-Porter just in time for the film’s release on 22nd November.

Source: The Wall Street Journal