London Fashion Week Day 2 - House of Holland

Henry Holland signaling the end of rehearsal

I went backstage at House of Holland and that was a very good thing, as this show somehow managed to get so over hyped it opened Fashion's very ugly Pandora's box, and made everyone show their darkest side. The photographers were going insane over the front row celebrities, despite having been told to keep themselves in check by the show producer. On the door  people who didn't have tickets were being let in, despite the massive queue of people with tickets waiting outside, cold and angry. 

Photographers mobbing Pixie Geldof and Alexa Chung

Inside, nobody seemed to care about organization either, it was all either chaos or "darling darling". As I sat there, waiting for the show to start and getting worried about my friend getting in, I felt increasingly angry and disgusted. After reading this article about bloggers at London Fashion Week causing shows and the press area to be over subscribed, I feel like the solution would be to simply remove from LFW all the people who are there to parade around and do nothing. How are designers going to get coverage if journalists get stuck outside of shows because someone with one ticket lets 5 people in with them? I've seen some nasty things in the past 48 hours. Girls sneaking into the BFC tent while the security guards weren't looking, people screaming at other people over nothing, babies being dragged through crowds, paraded as accessories... But I digress, as I would really like to talk to you about the House of Holland show (and all the backstage preparation I saw).

Henry Holland and one of his models

Henry Holland helps dressing a model

Charlotte Olympia shoes

Accessories at House of Holland

Nails at House of Holland

The show itself was fairly predictable in that it matched the invites (bandanas in various colours). Before I even set foot backstage, I knew it would be a very very 90's affair. And it more or less always is with HoH anyway. Bandanas, jersey, shearling jackets were all teamed with the most impressive wedges by Charlotte Olympia, which looked a lot like liquorice all sorts, in the best possible way.

Again, I really loved the hair, strange mixture of ghetto ponytails and schoolgirl chic. 

I am not the biggest HoH fan as I think his success goes far beyond the actual quality of his designs, but some pieces of the collection would be great once reinterpreted a little bit less literally. 

Thanks to My Beautiful Fashion for letting me do some backstage coverage.

Video courtesy of Bitchbuzz.com