H&M Atelier’s FW2025 Collection Is a Masterclass in Menswear Essentials
Last year, Swedish fashion giant H&M launched H&M Atelier, their bespoke, high-end menswear brand aimed at a more refined consumer. The male counterpart to H&M Studio, the Atelier label focuses on elevated essentials—stalwart pieces that are meant to round out any person's wardrobe, but touched-up with a modern flair that keeps the materials, designs, and silhouettes fresh and exciting.
Atelier’s Autumn-Winter 2025 collection is the epitome of this ethos, blending traditional workwear designs with contemporary flourishes like ultra-soft Italian wool, structured shoulder shapes, and unusual neutrals. Think Brokeback Mountain meets Rebel Without a Cause, with a healthy dollop of Scandi sophistication thrown in to balance out the Americana vibes. The pieces form a commendable foundation for any well-curated winter look, while keeping in touch with what menswear enthusiasts actually want to wear.
“We love to look at menswear codes and iconic archival pieces, but in contrast with something that feels very surprising and exciting in terms of more opulent fabrics or different silhouettes,” says Ana Hernández, Menswear Designer at H&M Atelier. “We want to create tension between the different references that we work with, but in a way that is very accessible and easy to tap into.”
Menswear itself has been on a redefining journey as of late, with gender lines becoming more and more blurred in fashion in general. The idea of what constitutes “traditional” menswear has been drastically shifting. Hernández recognizes these trends, and has designed a collection in line with where she sees both menswear and the Atelier label resting in contemporary fashion.
“As a designer, I find menswear so interesting, especially in recent years,” she explains. “It feels like menswear labels and brands have been so good with tapping into culture and community—the community around menswear feels much more genuine, and very loyal. I'm also very attracted to, again, the rules and framework that you have with menswear, which are now opening up so much.”
In the collection, the utilitarian aspects of workwear live alongside softer, more detailed pieces, all while retaining a core masculinity. A rough-looking cotton canvas jacket is topped with a velvet collar; a chunky, rust-colored cable-knit sweater slouches nonchalantly; a pair of sleek, straight-cut black trousers are given oversized pockets that mimic cargo bottoms. Even a simple cream-colored T-shirt has a warmth and coziness to it, thanks to a heavy cotton fabric and wide box cut. The pièce de résistance, however, is an almost floor-length chocolate-brown Italian wool coat, a winter essential that is so difficult to nail down, and yet here seems effortlessly chic.
“On a personal level, I love the outwear,” Hernández says of the coat. “I'm always so fond of these standout pieces. With this one, the starting point was probably the silhouette and the quality. It's a really nice wool blend that is almost like a bouclé-ish kind of structure—it has a softness, but it's still quite dense. We really wanted to make it almost floor-length, and emphasize the shoulder quite a lot. It’s a good example of taking a spin on something that's very classic and that you would probably want in your wardrobe for quite a long time. It’s a piece that is very current, but that you would still go back to season after season.”
As Atelier continues to grow as a brand, Hernández and her team will keep mining the H&M archives for inspiration on how to keep pushing their vision of menswear forward. It’s a difficult balance to strike, but given this collection, it seems like diving deeper into their less-is-more approach is the key to designing pieces that will stand the test of time.
“You need to have that sensitivity when working with classical references: how far do you want to push it without making it too difficult?” states Hernández. “I think this collection is a really good example of how to take pieces that are very well-known, and probably in some form in every man's wardrobe, but still give them some new life.”
H&M Atelier's Autumn-Winter 2025 collection will be available to shop October 2 on hm.com/atelier.
