Article from The Sunday Times {timesonline.co.uk}
The two of us
Going it alone is so last season. Ruby Warrington asks some of fashion’s most successful double acts why two heads are better than one
Henry Holland, designer of House of Holland, and Agyness Deyn, model, collaborators and flatmates
Henry We formed a bond before we even knew what fashion was. We used to live in the same street, and we would meet up for a quick *** away from our parents. I guess our fashion connection developed when we started fighting over which room in the flat had more wardrobe space.
Ag has far more fashion contacts than I do. She has got this naive thing where she just talks to anybody, which can be very useful. She runs around and doesn’t really care, attracting all the attention, and I just stand there going, “Hi, I’m Henry.” She’s like bait. When we’re together, we look like fun people to come and talk to. We’re just genuinely happy in each other’s company.
Recently, she modelled for my first House of Holland campaign: she’s my muse and the face of the label. It’s not a t*t-for-tat relationship, where I use her for something and then she uses me. We just do what friends would generally do, but it just so happens that we work in the same industry and can help each other out.
Agyness House of Holland has been good for me, because it’s a really cool association, but being a double act has been helpful for both of us. Recently, when we went to New York, all sorts of amazing things happened, like meeting Anna Wintour, being invited to the American fashion-council awards and being shot by Steven Meisel. Everywhere we went, we would just be ourselves and chat away to anybody, which people seemed to warm to.
We are good on our own too, but, together, it feels like the two of us are unstoppable. It’s just nice to have someone you know really well at an event where you have to put yourself out there. Of course, it’s a lot more useful when that person happens to be in the industry and knows how it all works. Although, to be honest, we don’t work the parties much: we just jump around and get pissed.