Nineties hip-hop blared as fashionistas and music lovers congregated at the intersection of Westwood’s Broxton and Le Conte Avenues on Wednesday for the H&M; Loves Music’s Runway Remix College Tour’s first college campus stop at UCLA.
The tour’s events will run at the same location from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on both Wednesday and Thursday as part of a course through select colleges. The program will be used to promote the H&M; brand as well as to collect footage for rap artist Kilo Kish’s new music video for “IOU.”
The event showcases a makeover station for guests to receive free hair and makeup, a virtual runway and a parked trailer full of H&M; clothing. Guests can be styled in H&M; brand clothes, and those who walk the virtual runway have the chance for their camera footage to be featured in the Kilo Kish video.
“Fashion is so much inspired by music,” said Rachel Veiga, advertising specialist at H&M.; “(That’s why H&M; Loves Music) works to support a lot of DJs and artists and up-and-coming artists.”
On an elevated table in the middle of the event is DJ BJ Panda Bear, who sets the musical energy with old school ’90s hip-hop music.
Inside the shining silver trailer are modern white walls adorned by monitors featuring H&M; runway shows as well as apparel. Stylists bustle around the trailer, dressing guests in H&M; clothing to prepare them for their virtual runway.
All clips of guests on the virtual runway are uploaded to H&M;’s Tumblr site to share on social media such as Instagram and Facebook, even if these clips are not selected for Kilo Kish’s video.
Fourth-year anthropology student Vivian Kwang said she was swayed to participate in the virtual runway to receive a free “swag bag.” Inside the “swag bag” are summer essentials, including nail polish, T-shirts and a 25 percent-off discount on the guest’s next H&M; purchase.
In addition, guests can trade in old T-shirts and tank tops for a white H&M; brand T-shirt that they can transform using do-it-yourself supplies, such as scissors and puffy paint also provided at the tent.
H&M; marketing intern Tyrah Winfrey said the donated T-shirts will be recycled as part of their goal to become more environmentally conscious.
H&M; Loves Music previously hosted a tent setup at both weekends of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. After UCLA, it will take its tour to the University of Texas at Austin on April 30 and May 1, and then Pennsylvania State University on May 6 and May 7.
“We’re obviously in the business of selling clothes, but it’s really about selling our brand,” Veiga said. “This is who we are.”