Mr Quiffy moves to Bangkok

Henry Holland, regarded as a member of the global fashion royalty, has opened his first shop outside Britain – not in Paris or Milan or New York but Bangkok – at Siam Paragon. And right off the bat it has three outstanding collections in stock. 

The Manchester designer and wonderfully opinionated blogger first gained attention a decade ago with his bold, 1980s-inspired T-shirts that bore rhyming provocative messages like “I’ll tell you who’s boss, Kate Moss” and “Get your freak on, Giles Deacon”. 

In 2006 he launched his own label, House of Holland, with outfits for both men and women – dresses, T-shirts, jumpers, underwear, eyewear, scarves, earrings, necklaces, iPhone cases and lots more. His flair for nostalgia in particular made him a favourite of young-in-spirit fashion hounds. We popped into his Paragon shop.

 

Tell us about your latest collection. 

It’s called Rave Nana, designed for ladies who like to go out raving. It’s inspired by a friend of mine we call Nana, and she still raves. She’s not that old, though, but she’s the caring mother in the office. 

The prints are supposed be references to old ladies’ brooches but they’re actually rave symbols – cigarettes, pills and bumblebees, which is slang for Ecstasy. The line is also inspired by 1970s fabrics, which again references Grandma’s house. One dress is made of a kind of silk called “oil slick” which has a very old-school texture.

 

You do realise that there is no “winter” here, right?

I know! But I also have T-shirts and long-sleeve dresses you can wear here. Anyway it’s all about the textures and colours, which we tend to explore from season to season and find different points of reference and ideas. 

But the signature is probably our tongue-in-cheek style of clothing and our sense of humour, which you’ll find every collection. 

 

Who are your main fans?

We get a really broad range because the things that identify us are the tones, the sense of humour and the personality of the clothes. 

With this collection we want to say that people can have that kind of personality at any age. If there’s a grandma who’s still out there raving, then here’s her collection. 

Generally our clothes tend to attract a younger audience, mid-20s to early 30s. Our prices are slightly lower and more achievable for that age group. We’re still a catwalk brand, but we’re creating something for younger girls, really. And I think that’s what makes us unique, because lots of high-level designer brands focus on older customers because of their prices. 

 

One of your most iconic prints is an ice-cream-cone character. Who is he?

We created these characters, Mr and Mrs Quiffy, and developed it in this collection, which only has about 12 pieces, all unisex. 

I wanted to open a store but I didn’t know where, and I didn’t have the money to just try different locations, so I opened the store in the back of an ice-cream van that I bought. We parked this van in different locations in London for three months to see which areas brought better sales. And then we launched the caption collection to go with it, using iconic prints like polka dots, stripes and Mr and Mrs Quiffy that we’d used in previous collections. 

We called the ice-cream truck Mr Whipping because of the whipped ice cream. And my hair was too much of an opportunity not to take advantage of. We came up with this character and called him Mr Quiffy.  

 

How many collections have you had so far?

About 14. We started in 2006 and this year we’ll do four collections for the first time. For the last couple of years we’ve done three per year. 

I want to create fun and enjoyable clothes to wear, and I think colour is the best way to inject humour and personality into it. It makes you feel a certain way when you wear bright colours. 

Each collection we do is a very different idea. We’re hoping to launch bags early next year, and we’re working on a way to get our shoes here. We still have a long way to grow to offer a full range. 

 

How do you feel having Bangkok as your first overseas base?

It’s interesting that Bangkok is the first place where the opportunity came up. The Asian market is very strong, unlike Europe, where the economy is not so good. But it’s good to be so far from home and have this great reception.

 

Do you have a problem with people making fake copies of your merchandise?

We’ve had problems with our eyewear already, and not just here but all over the world. We have everything fully trademarked, so we have the power to go after these people. 

This is a very difficult industry and we’ve put a lot of work into it, and it’s very disheartening and upsetting when someone comes along and recreates something you’ve worked really hard on. I think it’s nice to support the people who create something that you love to buy.  

 

Have fun with Henry

_ The House of Holland is on the M floor of Siam Paragon. Find out more at www.HouseOfHolland.co.uk.