When House of Holland first debuted at London Fashion Week in 2008, people loved it–but not because it was so revolutionary. Rather, because it was fun. Really fun. And Henry Holland and his friends–Aggy Deyn, Peaches Geldoff, Alexa Chung–made it quite fun because it was their party. From fluorescent purple plaids to zebra print anything, it was to be taken as a fun romp, not a rack of clothing that people would actually buy.

But something changed with Holland’s “Pantone” collection. Despite its innate unwearability, people loved it so much that they became obsessed with this particular idea of color-blocking and scooped up every pair of tights produced. Holland realized that tights were great place to make some real cash, and soon his fashion house because a real business.

This season, with the help of Swarovski–who is also sponsoring me on my trip to London, thank you very much–the House of Holland became a viable commercial player. But not to worry–there was still plenty of fun to be had.

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