HOLLAND FASHION

FIRST LOOK: House of Holland

'It's my birthday TODAY!' announced Pixie Geldof at the House of Holland S/S'12 show. And not just any birthday, it's the big (okay, not so big) 2-1. It's really hard to imagine a better special-birthday present for the sometimes-model often-girl-about-town, than sitting on the FROW of her BFF Henry Holland's catwalk presentation next to Jade Parfitt, Nicola Roberts, Marina (and her Diamonds), Eliza Doolittle, Nick Grimshaw, Ellie Goulding and all the young cool London show-offs (oh, and Lorraine Kelly).

And when you hear that the clothes included pastel-punk tartan trousers, pinafores and mini-kilts, worn with lurex open knit cardigans and vests and rubber bra tops, as well as stretchy maxi-dresses and 80's style boilersuits in a range of tropical sunset shades bursting with gigantic leopard print spots, you just know that Pixie will be wearing something straight-off-the-catwalk for her party tonight.

Meanwhile, there were clothes for pretty-pretty girls too; Sunday-best tea dresses, and looser maxi dresses, which would be totally retro-hippy were it not for Henry's signature bright palette and relentlessly modern prints. There were also genius tote bags shaped like string shopping bags in pastel shades of softest leather.

Snakeskin is a major theme for accessories next season and Henry's got them too; not just waist-cinching belts fastened with elegant gold padlocks, but wrist cuffs with padlocks that are very likely to top a few wish-lists (and break a few hearts on the tail end of the waiting list) in the coming months. Not everyone could carry off the snakeskin skinny jeans, with zip around the knees and upper thigh to convert to shorts or hotpants, but that is exactly the point. These are clothes for this 2011's answer to London's Bright Young Things.

Sure enough, after the show, Ms Geldof declared that this had been 'the highlight' of her special day. Many happy returns.

- Angela Buttolph