Desmond & Dempsey x H&M: Casual wear for summer
Just in time for the upcoming summer season, the luxury pyjama brand Desmond & Dempsey opens the bedroom door and steps out into the bright sunlight. Together with H&M, they have created a capsule collection featuring laidback dresses, kaftans and other warm weather essentials, all in unique prints created by hand and inspired by the Desmond & Dempsey founders Molly Goddard and Joel Jeffery’s birthplace Australia. Palms and botanical elements flourish in repeat patterns or Toile de Jouy-like prints in a colour palette of saffron yellow, dusty pink, azure blue, forest green and soft beige.
We met up with Molly Goddard to chat about the prints, the collab and why Sunday is the most casual and best day of the week.
YOUR PRINTS ARE ONE OF THE KEYS TO YOUR SUCCESS. TELL US A BIT ABOUT HOW THEY ARE CREATED?
“Our prints start with an adventure. It doesn’t always have to be far, but a visit to somewhere that has triggered our imagination. I have scrapbooks full of notes and stories. They are the starting points of our prints. From there our team somehow—I think with magic—turns them into artworks which they paint, draw, screen print or sometimes even carve, and eventually that process becomes a print.”
THE DESMOND & DEMPSEY LOVE FOR SUNDAYS IS WELL KNOWN. YOU EVEN NAMED YOUR MAGAZINE AFTER IT! WHY IS THIS YOUR FAVOURITE DAY OF THE WEEK?
“Where do we begin!? Everyone does Sunday differently, but it’s special to almost everyone. It’s universal. It is a day of freedom, to do the things that bring you complete joy and make you feel most like yourself. It’s a day when only the most special people are allowed in. There’s a universality in sinking into the warmth of the best day in the week. Whether it’s embarking on an adventure, a day of eating delicious food or staying under the covers for hours. We want more people to embrace quality time off, to do what brings complete joy while connecting with the places we call home and the people we feel close to.”
HOW DO YOU SPEND A PERFECT SUNDAY?
“Joel and I have very different ‘perfect’ Sundays, so we have combined them. It always starts with coffee and then, depending on where we are in the world, some sort of stroll, swim or ski. We are both from big families and Sunday is our family day, so lunch is with them, followed by an afternoon siesta!”
WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE PIECE FROM THE COLLABORATION?
“Oh tough, I love the green maxi dress and think the kaftan is a great choice. I know I will end up living in the linen shirt though.”
The Desmond & Dempsey x H&M collection is available from 23 April.