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Business News/ Mint-lounge / Features/  Youthful to a T
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Youthful to a T

English designer Henry Holland on the common thread between Indian fashion and the House of Holland, and his forthcoming collection for India

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In 2006, when English designer Henry Holland couldn’t find a T-shirt of his choice, he decided to launch his own collection. Adorned with satirical messages and wordplay like “Do Me Daily Christopher Bailey", “Uhu Gareth Pugh" and “Cause Me Pain Hedi Slimane", the tees both celebrated, as well as poked fun at, fashion designers. What he didn’t know was that his collection would lead him to London’s fashion runways and subsequently, to the launch of his own brand, House of Holland, in 2008. It was picked up by Harrods in London (UK) and Barneys in New York (US). Soon, designers and celebrities, like Lindsay Lohan, Jaime Winstone and MIA, were sporting his collection.

“Suddenly everyone wanted those T-shirts," recalls Holland. “I remember going to the buying director for Barneys with a bag full of T-shirt samples. And he ordered thousands of them," says the 31-year-old designer, who was working as the fashion editor for a teen magazine at the time, having studied journalism at the London College of Communication.

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Holland is ready to make his Indian debut with a capsule collection for the India-British fashion website Koovs.com; his collection will be launched on the website on 15 May. At the Leela Kempinski hotel in Gurgaon in March, wearing his trademark colourful skinny trousers and sporting a quiff hairstyle, the Lancashire-born designer spoke about his forthcoming collection. Edited excerpts:

With so much competition in online retail and fashion buying, how do you specifically aim to connect with the Indian buyer?

According to my research, Indian people love vibrant colours and prints, something that we do at the House of Holland as well. So the idea is to create a “special" line for the Indian market, but introduce my work and bring the street fashion of London to the Indian customer at an affordable price.

Will House of Holland be affordable in India?

I never really wanted to create a brand that is elitist. I do create luxury fashion and clothes that are highly priced, but my range also has affordable clothes. Price revolves more around the fabric and techniques of the collection; however, I personally believe in creating a character and then building a wardrobe. However, one constant element that remains is the tone and the personality, which is humorous, fun, and has a playful tone. And how do you put these elements under a price tag?

How would you define your brand? Is it young, easy-to-wear and stylish?

My brand is not young but it is definitely very youthful. My 70-year-old mother wears all my clothes. You don’t need to be young to be able to identify with my clothes, but you definitely need to have a youthful, more expressive and more experimental attitude to be able to relate to my creations. My creations are all about telling people how you feel that day.

Do you think India is a potential market for satire in fashion?

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Rope print boxy shirt

Another reason for keeping the satirical slogans was because of our decision to take elements from my archival collections and recreate them into a collection based on four different print and embellishment stories, with bold colours, that would suit the Indian market.

Bold colours and polka dots exist in your fashion DNA. They also exist in Indian fashion. Yet there must be a cultural difference in the way you explore colour.

It is not much about the use of colours. Rather, it depends upon whether that particular market accepts the colour or not. For instance, as per my brand experience, people in Thailand embrace colour. In America, however, I have been trying and trying to make people accept colours as all they want is black or white or denim.

I have never approached the Indian market before, but from my experience I know that Indian women embrace colours and prints. So it’s more about me coming to the Indian market and understanding what the Indian customer wants.

The pricing for Holland’s capsule collection starts at 1,695 for womenswear and 1,195 for menswear. The collection will go live on Koovs.com on 15 May and will stay till stocks last.

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Published: 06 May 2014, 07:21 PM IST
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