The Five Minute Interview: Henry Holland, fashion designer

"I wish people would take more notice of my fantastic business sense..."

(02)

Henry Holland, 25, is a fashion designer from Ramsbottom in Lancashire. He shot to fame in 2007, on the back of his Frankie Goes To Hollywood-style tee shirt prints which featured slogans such as “I’ll Show You Who’s Boss, Kate Moss”. The House of Holland was recently awarded ‘Best Tartan’ at ‘Scottish Fashion Awards’ 2008/2009 and has picked up a devoted fanbase, including Alexa Chung, Nicole Richie, Gareth Pugh, Richard Nicoll, Pixie Geldof, Kelly Osbourne and supermodel Agyness Deyn. Henry has also designed an exclusive House of Holland O2 Mobile Broadband Pay & Go stick, which will be available from 27 February at O2 stores and from the O2 online shop; www.O2.co.uk .

If I weren't talking to you right now I'd be…

Working on my new collection for London Fashion Week. Three weeks to go and counting.

A phrase I use far too often...

An unenthusiastic “wow”. Apparently I say it when I’m uninterested or not really listening to somebody properly.

I wish people would take more notice of...

How hard I work and the fact I have fantastic business sense.

A common misperception of me is...

That I go out all of the time and don’t do any work. It’s not true at all.

The most surprising thing that ever happened to me was...

Getting a call from Sarah Mower the day after Giles and Gareth wore my first tee-shirt designs for the bows at London Fashion Week. I was sat at my desk at Bliss magazine and everything started from then on.

I am not a politician but...

If I were I’d do my best to make taxis part of public transport.

I'm good at...

Gymnastics. Believe it or not, I was a competitive gymnast until the age of thirteen and even competed in national finals.

But I'm very bad at...

Nothing!

The ideal night out is...

All my friends meeting up together and then going out for dinner and wine.

In moments of weakness I...

Go out with my friends for dinner and wine!

You know me as a fashion designer but in truer life I'd have been...

A journalist. I studied journalism at university and have always wanted to be a writer of some description.

The best age to be is...

24 – well at least it was the best age for me. It was definitely my favourite year so far and I don’t really like uneven numbers so I’ll be pretending I’m 24 until I turn 26.

In a nutshell, my philosophy is…

Just have fun.