A Date With Mr Holland

by Emily Fermor

Picture taken from FRESH magazine blog: http://www.freshmaghk.com/2012/09/house-of-holland-underwear.html

She’s standing at the bar. Well-dressed, smiling, she flicks her hair as a giggle escapes those coral red lips. He braves the approach; he’s got great shoes and even greater hair. Queen of Hearts’ Neon plays fashionably in the background and a flash of scallop-trimmed lace later, we’ve got a perfect match. He’s young, toned and sporting pink ‘tiny trunks’, while her chemise is star-print purple.

Is this the “cheeky mood” Selfridges had in mind when they launched House of Holland’s lingerie line Neon Range: To Be Worn to Be Seen? The range features polka-dot lace in neon lime, pink and coral, “cutesy” bows and scalloped hems for the girls and matching neon briefs for the guys. With these bright but risqué garments as the main feature, a Holland date-night would surely go something like the scene above. And the emphasis in a date with Mr Holland is most definitely on the end. Because for Holland, glow in the dark underwear isn’t the result of a good night, it’s the beginning of one.

Holland has created a line that throws underwear to the start of the seduction game. Forget subtle and teasing, this is playful and fun. House of Holland tells you what you’re getting yourself in for with a flash of neon purple brassière peeping from beneath a black lace camisole. A Holland date sounds exciting. It sounds like dimples and grins will be aplenty, and awkward fumbling forgotten.

Now, Rosie for Autograph (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s lingerie collection for Marks & Spencer) is stunning, but it doesn’t give me that foolish confidence that only sets in chez Holland. Instead, it makes me want to seduce a man over Bordeaux and Brie. I’d happily do either - both in one day even - but there’s a time and a place and I’m feeling 19 at the moment, not 29. Holland reminds us what fashion is really about: fun. The lure of showing onlookers what you’ve got, what you’re really made of, is why we buy into the brand

Because the brand gives us dreams of moments only neon underwear could create for us.

So Henry Holland has done it again. He’s fab. I can’t resist him. But can I see myself in a glow-in-the-dark, unsupported, neon green bra? Well, no.

Holland has dangled a svelte Cara Delevingne in front of us, all long bronze limbs draped in neon coral lace. Cara in coral is exciting, tempting and more importantly fun - and isn’t that what all of us want to feel on a first date? That first-date feeling is the reason I have fallen for him and his bright blue underwear. The truth is that I’d much rather see Cara in neon knickers anyway. I like to think I can pull off a bold colour, but neon underwear? And yet, by parading Cara in front of me, Holland has led my mind astray with thoughts of warm summer evenings on lawns... and hitching that coral bra strap up and back onto my shoulder on the 5am walk home. Blissfully happy and playfully sexy: thank you, Henry, for getting our pulses racing and our knickers in a twist.

Well if this is what neon underwear can do to a girl, I’ll happily buy into the whole House. So, Mr Holland, how about a date?