The Bite Magazine Issue 17

degree in Journalism, and this is how his career in fashion began. While working as a fashion editor he started making the “Fashion Groupie” t-shirts for fun, his way of showing respect for those he admired in the industry. The turning point of his career came when Gareth Pugh wore one of the shirts that read “Get Yer Freak on Giles Deacon” to his own show and Giles Deacon (in an act of friendly retaliation) bought the equivalent t-shirt with “UHU Gareth Pugh” written across it, the very next day and so responded in kind. This put Holland firmly in the fashion spotlight out of almost nowhere and two years later, after two seasons with Fashion East, House of Holland held its first solo show at London Fashion Week in autumn 2008. Progressing in a similar fashion to his career, highlights of his second collec- tion at Fashion East were followed by two striking purple and yellow tartan outfits from his first solo show. The first was a seriously cute punky outfit consisting of a grey t-shirt with a ‘coat of arms’ printed on the front with a matching tartan mini-kilt, jacket, hat (a cross between a tam-o-shanter and cowboy hat) and ankle boots. The next dress, arguably the most famous look from the collection, is one I like to call the ‘anti-wedding dress’; a layered floor- length dress (in full tartan of course) with pleated tiers, topped with matching tartan antlers and a neon multi-coloured veil (worn off the face). I’d like to think if someone had let Vivienne Westwood design their wedding cake back in the day it would’ve looked something like this outfit. Both outfits were originally modelled by Agyness Deyn wearing an iconic tartan eyepatch and the prom- inent fake crest from the collection features her figure and is another symbol of her and Holland’s friendship. Of the next few outfits I especially liked the black, white and grey shaggy coat with fishnet tights and black knee high boots. I would love to own this coat (or the similar black and red one that appears later in the show), it looks fab- ulous and very warm! The look that followed also stood out, a purple mini- dress that only had one long sleeve with two white bands across the dress and sleeve, purple sequins embellishing the top of the dress and a gorgeous pair of bright red patent boots with multi- ple straps. The combination of colour scheme and style reminded me of a bite fashion