"A Study of the Romanticism and Arts and Crafts Movement Symbols in the H&M's Conscious Exclusive 2018 Collection"

Mass production and demand growth have led to producing a huge volume of clothing and items that are environmentally harmful and have relatively irreparable consequences. The art movements' impacts on fashion industry have caused a shift from the massive production to the aesthetic approaches and emphasis on quality against quantity. As fashion in different ages has been influenced by arts, movements, social and cultural events, the main aim of this research is to consider the H&M's sustainable approaches for the realization of the 'return to nature' principle and the two Art movement's influence against rationalism and mass production. Romanticism is an emotional response to rationalism, and the Arts and Crafts movement manifested to oppose the industrialization of human lifestyle and was strengthened by the theories of John Ruskin and William Morris. The romantics were looking for a way to escape from mechanization and materialism in life, and were considering nature as the human spirit. The members of the Arts and Crafts movement chose a style that was widely known and reflected the principles of the movement: originality of the materials, simple forms, revival of native traditions and natural motifs and designs. Interestingly, sustainable fashion could be related to the values appreciated by the movements. The common feature of the movements is the utopian civilization of Rousseau and Morris, and the important attributes of this civilization include the human spirit, spiritual values and appreciating nature. In the research, we proposed how Romanticism and the Arts and Crafts movement appreciate nature and have influenced the H&M's Conscious Exclusive 2018 Collection in achieving the sustainable fashion approaches. We aim to review the theories of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and William Morris, and the way they are being related to the sustainable fashion approaches and sustainability. Since 2011, the H&M group has offered the Conscious Exclusive collection annually to achieve its sustainable fashion goals and the main concept of the collection is "good for the planet, people and wallet". Considering the concept, it can be found that Romanticism and the house of Carl and Karin Larsson has been intelligently chosen as the source of inspiration for the 2018 collection. Although H&M is a mass production company, it considers aesthetic in fashion productions. Some features of Romanticism and the Arts and crafts movement can be seen in the H&M's CE 2018 collection. The theories of Rousseau and Morris, the features of Romanticism and Art and Crafts, and their influence in the fashion history have been studied in the paper. After that, the fashion items of the H& M's CE 2018 collection have been classified in quest of the features of Romanticism and the Arts and Crafts movement to realize that how the H&M group has been inspired by the above-mentioned movements. This article is focused on the common features between Romanticism and the Arts and Crafts movement, including the appreciation of nature, the human spirit and spiritual values; the nature conservancy, return to the natural simplicity of life, and the opposition to the industrialization of human lifestyle.