For $349, `I do'

THE lawn was scattered with white rose petals, Pachelbel's Canon and Beyonce's "Crazy in Love" were being played by a string orchestra and the bubbly was flowing, and French by God, served in crystal flutes. Last weekend, H&M threw a wedding -- and maybe the ultimate cheap-chic affair: The venue was a Bel-Air manse, but the "bride" wore a $349 gown by Viktor & Rolf.

The party was a blowout premiere for the store's newest designer collection for men and women. It arrives Thursday, the same day the chain opens its new outpost in the Beverly Center. Naturally, the designers, Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren, were outfitted in modern tuxedos and two-toned wingtips from the collection.

The 600 guests -- including Owen Wilson, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, China Chow, Lara Flynn Boyle, Kanye West and Chloe Sevigny -- wound their way around the Champagne fountain to a tent that had been erected over the tennis court. Truffles were passed, cigarettes smoked, and finally the runway show started.

Models descended a staircase that curved around a 12-foot-tall wedding cake and onto the runway, wearing filmy blouses, flirty dresses and the ultimate high-low piece, a denim tuxedo, all from the fabulous forthcoming collection. White confetti rained down on the crowd at the close of the show. Then a bouquet toss and cake cutting capped the affair, the biggest H&M has ever produced.

I got a preview of the clothes earlier in the week, and up close, they look even better. They reflect the girlish aesthetic that Viktor & Rolf have become known for in the six years since they launched their own collection, and the quality is better than you'd expect for the price. The fabrics are sturdy, and plenty of attention has been paid to details -- arrow-print silk linings, heart-shaped buttons, quilting.

This is the third designer collection H&M has produced. Previous partnerships with Stella McCartney and Karl Lagerfeld were enormously successful, with pieces selling out in a matter of hours and lines snaking around the block at stores.

"These collections have become iconic in fashion," Horsting said, sitting on a couch in his Chateau Marmont penthouse room. "We tried to avoid doing the 'best of' Viktor & Rolf," added Snoeren, who was wearing some killer Kermit the Frog sneakers. "We wanted to create a new story."

It's a love story that began with a wedding dress. "We thought it was symbolic of the union of the democracy of H&M and us coming from the other extreme," Horsting said.