House of Holland hits London Fashion Week with an explosion of ‘NANA RAVE’ energy
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If a single show could sum up London Fashion Week right now with its vibrant energy, creative freedom, instinct for the irreverent and down right Punk do-it-yourself attitude, it was tonight’s show at House of Holland.
Henry Holland called his collection ‘NANA RAVE’ and told us in his show notes - for those reading them pre-show and not gawping at his ever-faithful fans Pixie, Daisy, Jaime and crew) that he was about to hark back to 1989, the end of the second summer of love and the acid house scene, ‘a field full of “like minded people”, a pocket full of “treats”.’
And so, on a nasty swirly beige carpet straight out of a bad sit-com and to the pumping beats of a Hacienda-style playlist, out came his powerful energy-popping clothes that fused young and street with prim and ladylike via 1970s interior prints, pops of clashing neon and crystal embellishment.
One moment we were looking at jeans printed with pink cocktail glasses, a sleeveless fur hoodie, a tortoiseshell baseball cap and psychedelic pop socks, the next we were taking in a polite swirl printed twinset or a decadent long purple dress covered in jewels. It sounds like a hysterical, mad jumble, but it absolutely rocked. What is a Nana? ‘It’s those young girls I see in the East End dressing up like old ladies, wearing nighties with bovver boots – I just wanted to capture that and elevate it.’
Asked why this season everything seemed to come together for the designer – more polish, more cohesion, more believable as a range of upmarket but fun-tastic clothes to wear, he said: ‘We just really concentrated on one theme; every outfit was about that one idea. We just really got it. I felt totally confident with it.’
Rave on, Mr Holland, rave on.
