For all its merits, the high street isn’t a welcoming place for grown-up women with refined taste. If you’re a teen queen with an addiction to bubble dresses, it’s heaven, but if you are in the market for a chic silk dress or sleek trench with just the right witty detail, you can sing for it. But Viktor & Rolf, the Dutch designers known for their avant-garde take on fashion, are aiming to change that. They have teamed up with H&M to produce a one-off collection for men and women that brings a new sophistication to the high street. They follow Karl Lagerfeld and Stella McCartney, whose H&M collections prompted shop-floor hysteria.

Known for their conceptual couture, Rolf Snoeren and Viktor Horsting have designed clothes to be worn upside down, dipped a whole dress in liquid silver and smothered models in bows. They have played the celebrity game, too: Tori Amos sang at one of their shows, and they based one collection on Tilda Swinton’s androgynous chic.

Their real success, however, has been in taking a high-art aesthetic to a wider market. Behind the theatrics, there are always exquisite, utterly wearable clothes. The link with H&M is their latest step in a more mainstream direction. “Viktor and I show that you can be very creative and very commercial at the same time,” Snoeren says. The idea of marriage inspired their H&M line. In keeping with the Cupid theme, witty heart and ribbon motifs decorate women’s pieces, while the men’s range features arrows. There’s even a £220 wedding dress. But the bow-necked knits, silk dresses and sharp tailoring all recall Viktor & Rolf’s grown-up signatures. For the discerning shopper, V&R plus H&M is a match made in heaven.

Clothes by Viktor & Rolf, from H&M; 020 7323 2211. Available from November 9 at selected stores

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