The Big Bang before a Century of Style
“Such amazing things are going to happen to you that you never would believe them, unless you saw them in Vogue,” readers of British Vogue’s September 1916 launch issue were informed. One century, two world wars and thirty Kate Moss covers down the line, Henry Holland and super-stylist Kate Phelan (who dressed Lily Donaldson in House of Holland’s debut offerings for February 2008’s ‘Anarchy in the UK’ editorial) meet The Guardian’s Jess Cartner-Morley to chew over British fashion’s past, present and future, with reference to their favourite images from the National Portrait Gallery’s Vogue 100: A Century of Style exhibition. Their first choice? Cecil Beaton’s iconically defiant 1941 image, ‘Fashion is Indestructible’. As designers down tools, murmurings of catwalk crises become more urgent by the minute and print is declared, if not dead, then at least on the critical list, does this claim still hold true?
Whilst each of our team may have their own ideas as to how British fashion can be ‘saved’, when it comes to the things that make it worth saving, they’re all in agreement. So what makes it so special? For Jess, those wartime Beaton images sum it up perfectly. “British fashion says more about Britain than just what we wear,” she says. It’s about a sense of “self-possession”. And “survival,” Kate adds. But “in a nuanced way,” Jess elaborates. (What should one wear on a bomb site? A ballgown, of course.) For Henry, this sense of narrative is key - to both British fashion imagery and the industry as a whole. Jess agrees, adding that it’s never “straightforward … there’s always a bit of a twist”. She points out that, “in tandem to the real world, zeitgeist” stuff, the Vogue archive is packed with “classic eternal references from literature, fairytales and fantasy - which bring such richness to British fashion and storytelling,” pinpointing the Narnia-like pairing of British country house with “something otherworldly” in Tim Walker’s Roald Dahl-inspired ‘Tales of the Unexpected’ shoot (styled by Kate).
British design, too, say our trio, is characterised by narrative-inspired innovation, and the creation of original ideas from the combination of existing ones. “When you speak to people about what makes fashion in London special,” Henry muses, “in one day you can see six completely different shows communicating six completely different ideas. They’re not necessarily British people, the people who show in London - it’s more about a sensibility. The city of London is instrumental in that process”. His own designs, he says, “come from putting the House of Holland girl into certain scenarios. I love bringing two things together to create something new”. His most recent collection “combined 1920s detailing with 1970s silhouettes and fabrications,” bringing elements associated with two groups of liberated women together - “flappers and slappers” according to some critics, he chuckles; “capturing a sense of freedom and a state of mind in a garment” according to Kate. Something else you’ll never have to look too far to find in a House of Holland piece, or in British fashion more generally? Humour. “My humour comes from growing up in Ramsbottom,” Henry declares, which can be a problem when it comes to creating a global brand. “People don’t necessarily get or want that level of humour in their clothes,” he laments, which has led him to take a more covert approach.
If self-possession, innovation, nuance, narrative and humour are the five eternal pillars of British fashion, the issue of globalisation leads us on to consider the ways in which things have changed over the past century. For Kate, being called in to sub for Lucinda Chambers on Kate Moss’ first Vogue cover shoot was a key moment, and not just at a personal level. “It was Corinne’s first shoot for Vogue and it was a real shifting time. I’d started work at the magazine when it was still very glamorous. It was still ruled by the House of Chanel in a way - it was all about power dressing, all the models were the uber-supermodels who all looked almost older than their years in a way, and very glamourised. And then this new quake came into Vogue and this was a real turning point,” she tells us. “This was all shot around Croydon and for me really encompassed a new era in British fashion … This was about urban cool … where you saw the first elements of grunge coming in … the big bang.”
“Corinne turned up on the shoot with this little sort of bin liner with all these little sort of rags in the bottom of it and everyone sort of sat around smoking. It was a very different vibe, all listening to Nirvana and psychedelic fuzz and Stone Roses … so sort of unglamorous, but so interesting,” she says of the iconic shoot. Asked about the key to the success of her namesake - arguably the most prolific figure in the history of British Vogue - she tells us that Ms. Moss “could take on any fashion idea and make it feel incredibly … sort of like the volume had been turned up. I think she really wanted to be the best model in the world - and she succeeded”.
Jess argues that, following a brief reversion to “high octane glamour” during the noughties, British fashion has now moved a step further in its reflection of current concerns and ‘street style’. While she points out that there is “something inherently democratic about fashion, because it doesn’t become fashion until people are wearing it,” Kate adds that social media has turned the industry into a “two way mirror,” asserting that “it’s about you [and] not necessarily about fashion but style … casual wear is moving into a position of luxury in magazines like Vogue”. Coupled with contemporary society’s ever-more-pious worship at the altar of celebrity, the fact that, as Henry puts it, “anyone with a keyboard can have an opinion about fashion” has led to an explosion of interest in the industry. What with street style stars and red carpet mania, not to mention all those pop stars-turned-designers, “it’s almost like the music industry,” he marvels - a far cry from the days of the private salon show.
Of course, the pros, cons and potential implications of such sea changes are hotly contended. What do our panel (who, by the way, still happen to favour note-taking and sketching over watching shows through the lens of an iPhone) have to say about fashion’s future? Henry refers to high street copycats as “a necessary evil,” admitting that, whilst it is “frustrating” that “big companies can turn things around quicker at a better price point and get them out before you can,” there is also “an element of flattery” involved. “There is a customer who will wait and buy the real version … I don’t get really riled up about it. It’s always been a part of the industry as long as I’ve been part of it”. But, as Kate points out, social media’s facilitation of instant access to catwalk imagery has exacerbated the problem exponentially.
So where do they stand on the great ‘see now, buy now’ debate? House of Holland are “definitely looking at how we do it … Because people consume your shows the days they happen rather than three months later it would be amazing to offer the product when there is that level of traction and excitement about it … We did ‘see now, buy now’ with our menswear and just showed the clothes to buyers three months in advance in a closed environment,” Henry tells us. He thinks that a closed, embargoed show, giving press three months to interpret collections editorially in advance of a consumer facing show would constitute “the best of both worlds,” but worries that “no one’s going to be able to afford to show twice, so who gets the best show - consumers or the industry?”. Jess muses that, although “on one hand it makes so much sense,” as “the idea of a six month gap makes no sense in our culture,” she is worried that a ‘see now, buy now’ model would cause “storytelling” and new voices to suffer. Kate, meanwhile, believes that simply “flipping the names of the collections,” so that they are relevant to the seasons in which they deliver to stores, could solve many problems. And, since the industry’s globalisation has caused our traditional conceptions of seasons to fall away, as “a collection has to be wearable wherever you are in the world,” it might be feasible to include “elements of ‘see it buy it now’ and elements available three months later” within the same collection, she ponders.
No one is in favour of removing the consumer-facing element of the collection showcase entirely, though. Henry speaks up in support of luxury fashion exhibitions, arguing that whilst they are, no doubt, commercially motivated, consumers benefit from “the experience [of attending a fashion show] that the industry experiences,” in which every element of the environment is curated. Jess refers to the ‘slow fashion’ movement, arguing that British consumers are increasingly willing to invest in luxury. “I think there’s room for both,” Henry says - a love of luxury doesn’t preclude the purchase of the odd £3.99 T-shirt. Yes, Jess agrees, “high-low” is perhaps the quintessence of British style.
Will British style, then, be affected by the outcome of the forthcoming EU referendum? Yes, say the panel - they’re just not sure how. “Margaret Thatcher wigs,” Henry suggests, tongue firmly (I’m 98% sure) in cheek. “I think it focuses the mind on what ‘Britishness’ means,” says Jess, pointing out that, whilst the three European fashion capitals have historically been credited with very distinct “personalities,” the links between them are also extremely strong, with British creatives populating continental ateliers across the board. Are they confident about the future of British fashion publishing? Kate is adamant that print magazines “will still be important in the years to come,” reminding us that, despite the advent of television, radio is still going strong. Henry agrees: “magazines like Vogue are mini microcosmic history books … visual history books”. So, is British fashion indestructible? Let’s say cheers to the next hundred years.
Vogue 100: A Century of Style runs until May 22nd at The National Portrait Gallery, London http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/vogue/exhibition.php
Samantha Simmonds
