Fashion Designer, Henry Holland, who founded his own fashion house, House of Holland in 2008 talks to the younger generations at GFW about starting a career in fashion.
Walking on the stage of the GFW Live! Talk Space in his wedding suit, Holland started his conversation with journalist, Hillary Alexander OBE.
They began by discussing his career and the inspiration behind his collections. More specifically, he talked about how his latest show was aimed at reflecting the global political scene, through the cross-cultural referencing of Mexican and Chinese-inspired patterns.
Reflecting on how the UK, and in particular London approaches other cultures, Holland suggests that “London is so unique, because everywhere you go you’ll have the chance to come across so many different cultures. That, as a designer and as a creative in general, is priceless, and young designers should take advantage of it”.
Reflecting then on his recent travels to China, he says “travelling helps creativity, because it gives people a bigger vision of the world, generates open-mindness, and allows you to have a more varied flow of ideas”.
Moving on from this subject, Holland and Alexander discuss the importance for young creatives to take part in events that, like GFW, allow them to expand their network, and “break the gap between the students and the industry professionals”.
Speaking of his background as a Journalism student at LCF, and how he then moved on to study Fashion Design, he says: ”I started a t-shirt brand almost as a joke, but I think that my studies at LCF allowed me to work on my brand with a different approach to the industry. My journalistic background helps me understand what will work for my customer and what won’t”.
Known for his many collaborations, with multiple different houses, Holland opens up about how useful they are from a business point of view, and he reveals his collaboration with a house of sparkling wine that will be launched tomorrow on the last day of GFW19.
Speaking of his future plans for the brand, Holland suggests that he will be exploring the world of online shopping, as he suggests that most of the consumers nowadays prefer e-commerce.
Finally, Holland gives a word of advice to young graduates, and says “know your value, learn to negotiate and sell your name to the price you are really worth, even higher if possible. Be a control freak, have your eyes on everything that has your name on it. Be true to yourself, always create a product that you are proud of putting your name on, because you do not want your name to be printed on something that will sell in many stores worldwide if you are not happy about it. When creating something, consider that it needs to be something you would buy yourself. Young generations have a power, which is their own self. Look at yourself and decide what people your age need”.
Written by Sara Liberati
Photography by Deborah Iona