He had me at hello. Well, almost. I think it was "It's all about Beverly Hills, 90210" that really tugged at my heartstring.

It's not exactly a state secret that I unabashedly and unironically adore 90210: Original Flavour. It appears that House of Holland head designer Henry Holland shares my zeal for retro teen melodrama - his Spring 2009 collection was entitled "Sex, Lies, and Volleyball", obviously an allusion to The Summer of Deception wherein Brenda Walsh "Dubois" had a French fling with Reeeek, while her boyfriend and best friend were sexin' it up all over The Beverly Hills Beach Club.

Inspiration that springs from popular television shows or movies is nothing out of the ordinary. The muse for Alexander McQueen's Fall 2005 show was Hitchcock's films of the 1960s, including Vertigo and The Man Who Knew Too Much. Rodarte drew inspiration from both Japanese anime and Buffy the Vampire Slayer for its Spring 2007 collection and Michael Kors tipped his hat to the women of Mad Men in his Fall 2008 show.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, or so one assumes. All the aforementioned collections managed to pay homage to their forbearers in a tasteful, elegant and understated way. I wish the same could be said for House of Holland. To be fair, it's difficult to employ words like 'elegant' and 'understated' when these are your raw materials:

If you were a designer, would you not want to stay far away from a show that thought scrunchies, Lycra spandex and Baja ponchos were the height of couture? I mean seriously, people - Steve Sanders tried to make a sports bro happen. Read that last sentence back to yourself and cry.

But Henry Holland took his lemons and concocted some vile, esophagus-burning lemonade. Some 'highlights' from House of Holland Spring 2009.

Not even Steve Sanders, with his mullet-'fro and proclivity for neon man tanks, would be caught dead in anything this tacky.

Images courtesy of www.style.com
Posted by KATHERINE