I love Henry Holland. In the same vein as my affection for Isaac Mizrahi, the English designer just seems to have a wonderful ebullience that gives great energy to his designs (though whether I’m just caught up in an elaborate marketing ploy or not is debatable).
Holland’s ready-to-wear collection this season showed that the designer’s strongest suit is in designing his fabulously cheeky t-shirts. While I love what Holland has done with polka dots, geometric shapes, and colors in the past – think MIA’s VMA ensemble when she performed nine months pregnant – his collection this season felt redundant, often too literally 80’s. Nearly every look was un-wearable (even by MIA’s standards I would assume) although it’s worth noting that model Agyness Deynhas already been widely photographed in some of the house’s Spring/Summer 2010 looks – of particular note, the color-blocked dress Chanel Iman walked down the runway wearing.
Holland’s House of Holland has grown quickly and steadily these past few season and he’s amassed quite the following along the way. Among those seated front row at his show this season were Alexa Chung, Leigh Lezark, Pixie Geldof, Estelle, and Kelly Cutrone who was there filming her upcoming reality show. Also present was Holland’s good friend Agyness Deyn, who for the first time did not walk in the show, but sat front row. Clearly, there is plenty of hype and excitement around the designer and while most of lthe .ooks may not be wearable, I think that it’s his t-shirts that drive the house’s sales anyway. I applaud the designer for daring to be different, fun, and exuberant even in these trying times.
