House of Holland SS11 London Fashion Week

Walking up to the House of Holland show at the Old Sorting Office on New Oxford Street, I could see what type of show I was going to - Young, fun and accessible - all key traits of the Henry Holland look. The attendants had a variety of looks, the one thing in common was that none were boring.

Standing outside, the papparazzi was crazy. Hoards of photographers stood at the entrance waiting for celebs (Lily Allen, Aggy, Nicola Roberts, Amber Rose, Jamie Winstone etc) to pass by - usually the least interesting subject to photograph. I decided to hold back before going into the show, chatting with the passers by and photographing the clothing. Waiting until the last minute to go in seemed to pay off, when a relaxed and dressed down Agyness Deyn sauntered by. Messy (shaved) hair, ripped jeans and tank top.

In the end - I slipped into the huge warehouse greeted by a light at the end of the tunnel. The space was filled with people, crammed along the catwalk.



















Considering the show it's clear to see that if there is one thing that HoH do well, it's colour. The fushia pink fringing, clashing next to tropical green palm prints worked well and made me feel like booking a flight to somewhere hot and sunny the minute I left the building. It's quite retro and I like it - especially in the form of jump suits and lamp shade skirts.

My favourite moments from the show had to be the jumbo leaf print. The jewel green colour looked illuninescent under the bright catwalk lights and as each girl stomped, my finger held harder on the shutter to capture the next dazzling look. The issue with this much 'bright', is sometimes you can have too much of a good thing. In my opinion, the fringing effect often looked sloppy and the demin looks with star applique had a home-sewn feel which distracted from the rest of the collection. Overall thought, it was a step towards a more mature collection (minus text abreviations and the like), using pattern and cut better than ever before.





On the way out, I started chatting with another photographer, Mikey Kay. He had stopped some street stylers just after I had to take some photos and thanked me for making his job that little bit easier. After a great conversation and an invite to the HoH afterparty he asked to take a snap of me. Here's the result:



Mikey Kay has a selection of photos from LFW which are worth checking out.


-- GarconJon