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Henry Holland sent out a lazy collection, focused on flowers, but without the irony that gave earlier House of Holland collections their wit and edge.
The storyline was supposedly young groupies out for a good time at seedy backroom gigs. But the problem with floral is that flowers are intrinsically innocent, and also a staple of summer fashion. A designer needs to radicalise or digitise the concept.
That is why when Holland abstracted flowers like a Matisse cut-out, worked them into crunchy lace or created floral star patterns, the effect was more inspiring.
The real irony was that Henry Holland’s own smudgy-flower T-shirt, as he took his bow, was one of the more original pieces on the runway.