H&M has to be the cleverest chain on the high street when you think about the thrill of its collaborations over the past few years

Last year, luxury brand Hermès opened a pop-up store in Liberty selling its famous scarves overlaid with a Liberty print.

The collaboration worked very well for Liberty and gave Hermès exposure to Liberty’s younger and equally discerning customer.

Geoffroy de la Bourdonnaye, chief executive of Liberty at the time, was very clever in choosing the partners with whom the store could collaborate. He was able to do it very well both at the high end and at the value end. For example, the pop-up Target/Liberty shop was a great hit in London but worked even more brilliantly across the Target stores in the US.

H&M has to be the cleverest chain on the high street when you think about the thrill of its collaborations over the past few years -Jimmy Choo and Jil Sander last year and Lanvin arriving in November.

In a price bracket on its own, and with the celebrated designer Alber Elbaz, Lanvin is a label most people can only ever dream about owning. This retailer has been instrumental in changing the face of fashion - driving the idea that the influence can come from anywhere.

Fast forward to Topshop, which Retail Week recently reported was to part company with Kate Moss after a three-year partnership spanning 14 collections and earning Moss about £3m.

Sir Philip Green said: “About two or three months ago, we came to the decision that it [the collaboration] had lost that edge, and we’d lost what our purpose was.” This made me wonder if these collaborations have a natural life span and if so, what is it?

It’s hard to forget the day that Kate Moss launched her range and made an appearance in the Oxford Street store. There was a queue around the block and the excitement reminded me of the day The Beatles played on the roof of the HMV store.

The notion of a celebrity becoming a brand or enhancing a brand has been there forever: just think back to the Kelly bag, originally designed in 1936 but made famous and named in 1956 after Grace Kelly. Or Air Jordans, first launched in 1985 when Michael Jordan was a world star. Even though he has long retired, new Air Jordans come out every year because everyone still believes that if they wear them, they will be able to play like him.

Celebrities becoming brands was taken to new heights with the Beckhams. Victoria Beckham’s fifth collection, presented in New York last Sunday, has proved that she is able to stay in step with fashion’s demands for something new.

So, should Topshop have just used Kate for a season and then moved on to something else? It seems to me now that with the internet, Twitter and instant pop-up shops, brands need to offer something new and different continually to prevent the customer becoming bored and looking elsewhere.

I think that H&M has probably got it just right; it’s in and out of a collaboration very quickly with a big build-up, huge impact and then it’s on to the next big thing.

Moira Benigson is managing partner of MBS Group