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TopStylista’s Interview with Henry Holland & Gemma Cairney from Channel 4’s Frock Me!

Posted by Chantelle on Wed 19th May 2010 at 06:59 AM, Filed in Hot News

Last week I met with Henry Holland and his partner in crime Gemma Cairney at the Zetter in East London to talk about their fashion show on Channel 4 ‘Frock Me’!

Frock me explores the link between fashion and music and with the help of Henry, Gemma and Alexa Chung, the series goes through different trends, fashions and styles and their influences and links to the music scene. The trio investigate the musical origins of romance, prints, military, underwear as outwear, Americana and festivals and features some amazing live performances from Tinie Tempah, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Gabriella Cilmi, Futureheads and Paloma Faith, to name but a few. Here are some little snippets from the interview…

Who has been the favourite guest on the show so far?

Henry Holland: Apart from Tinie Tempah? Well Sophie Ellis Bextor was good because I know her, Paloma Faith was good. Marina was really sweet as well.

Is there anyone you would really love to interview on the show in the future?

Gemma Cairney: Jay Z

HH: O my god… I’d be too scared though. Jay Z and Beyoncé together- frock off! Imagine!

GC: yeah, in high street shops! I wouldn’t be able to speak. We’d have to all be there en force. And Rhianna as well.

HH: Yeah, love Rhianna. I reckon she’d be less scary. I know that she has a woman that follows her around the world and just does her nails! I wanna be that woman!

Which celeb or musician would you most like to give a style makeover?

GC: Mine’s Alesha Dixon. Obviously everyone’s a Mystique fan. She’s really good fun so you’re always gonna laugh if you’re working with her. But I just don’t think her outfits are… I don’t particularly love her tunes… But she’s so beautiful and she’s so hot that she could be a British equivalent in terms of style to some of the big US examples like Rhianna. They’re kind of self made style icons and she could be too.

HH: I’d second that. I was at a party the other week and I bumped into her and she was carrying a handbag with my face on… that was embarrassing! You know that handbag that I did at Debenhams, the Bagazine? That’s got my face on it. I had a picture taken with her with it, obviously. So no actually, I wouldn’t give her a makeover at all!

So you’re focusing on a different trend each week- what are your top trends for spring/summer 2010?

HH: I like print. I quite like military but I don’t do it. I think it can look a bit fancy dress unless you do it properly. I quite like nautical, which we’ve not done on the show, like Breton tops and boat shoes.

GC: OK, I think that everyone has to be so aware of underwear as outerwear, even though I like a lot of the pieces on the high street… A lot of these pieces put together on a night out in a night club on a Saturday night is just gonna look seriously wrong. And if you’re not lady Gaga that is gonna be… mmm not good. You’ve got to be careful. But I’m still heralding it in a sense that you can get inspired by hints of and you can really take note of the way that magazines are doing it.

HH: I think there are ways of doing it. There’s a lot of stuff on the high street that was on the catwalk, like panelling and underwear shapes and silhouettes and stuff rather than actual bras.

GC: Yeah, so beware!

HH: I just don’t want to go out and see you in your pants! The world has gone Gaga though. All the musicians! You can look at a massive cross section of female artists, look at them pre-gaga, look at them post-gaga and there is definitely a move to the more extreme. Like, look at Fergie from the black eyed peas- since when did she want to be a robot? What is with space costumes!?

What’s your own personal music taste?

HH: I like hip-hop and I like dancehall and I like R&B and I like Sh*tty pop. I don’t really have a very sophisticated music taste. I like Mylie Cyrus. I like Jay Z , I like all sorts. I’m one of those people that just have the radio on all the time and if I like something then I’ll buy it on iTunes.
What was the last thing you listened to on you iPod?

HH: Well this year I’ve been around the world and every single place that I have been, the whole time, all anyone’s played is Rhianna rude boy and I’m literally just obsessed with it! I just love it. (Henry breaks into song…)

Do you think that the relationship between music and fashion is really important?

HH: Massive. I mean the Gaga effect again. Look at the catwalk as well. There is the Gaga effect on the catwalk. It’s a two way street and for something that is so focused on image, like music, it is very much a crossover. With musicians, you get more of a feel about who they are. I don’t know who to say when people ask me who my style inspirations are.

GC: I say my friends.

HH: I say the Olsens, which is embarrassing! I don’t know I don’t really look at magazines. I look at fashion shoots and see stuff that I like and I look at the catwalk but I don’t necessarily look at any famous men.

What about fashion houses then?

HH: I’d love to have a bit of Givenchy at the moment. Prada always. But then obviously can’t afford either of them, which is why I’m down American Apparel!

GC: What are my style icons? Literally, whatever’s clean…!

There’s a lot more showmanship in fashion in our generation. Is that really important to you; is that something that you intend to create on your shows or does it come naturally?

HH: I don’t intend to create it I don’t think. I think I’m just a bit of a show off.

GC: It’s a good thing though – it’s to be celebrated.

HH: I think as well because I’ve worked on the other side of the industry, I’ve worked as a fashion journalist, I’ve got a much better understanding of how to communicate my stuff through the press and through that side of things than perhaps other designers do, which I think is quite a useful skill to have. I understand how that side of things work… A lot of people go on about me and the new digital era and all that stuff, but I think it’s just because it’s natural. I use Twitter because my generation uses Twitter. It’s how we communicate, it’s how we speak to our friends, it’s how we find out what our friends are up to. For our generation I think that’s just a natural thing. I think we just know how to do it. I think our generation consumes fashion in a whole different way and the whole concepts of blogs is putting fashion out there as a point of discussion rather than dictating to people what’s fashion and what you should buy and what you should get. It’s more about telling a story and giving an opinion and telling your side of fashion.

GC: We have a blogger judging each frock off and they are always so open, less stuffy than a lot of people I have met in the fashion industry. They can speak really eloquently about trends and where they come from etc and have genuine expertise but that kind of extra accessibility, which I think is very new.

HH: Because you don’t have to answer to a big publisher and you don’t have to answer to a boss and you can literally give your honest opinion.

Where have you found to be the most stylist cities that you’ve visited on the programme so far?

HH: For the programme I’ve been to London and New York and I think London is more stylish. I think that New York style is London style six months ago.

When you interview bands on the show you usually ask them what is their most embarrassing fashion moment. What is yours?

HH: I always say my most embarrassing thing is a shell suit – which is such a cop out. There is probably like an entire year of new rave that I could probably forget quite happily. I had a pair of bright yellow chinos that I used to wear with a leopard print shirt and a fluorescent pink tie and a waistcoat.

GC: I bought this pair of shoes from a charity shop when I was a student. I think they were about 3 quid and I thought they were really vintage looking. Uuurgghh they were like PVC brown, with gold leaf on them.

Let’s talk beauty; you’ve had hair stylists in the first few episodes. Have you got any make-up episodes?

HH: Yes, we’ve got how to do an eye flick. And there is the nails one.

GC: Print nails. It’s possible.

Do you find that beauty and grooming is as part of you look as clothes?

HH: I don’t feel like I’m dressed until I’ve got my quiff. I literally don’t see anyone.

What do you put in it?

HH: Off the record, Bumble & Bumble Surf Spray and Red Dax. On the record I use Sebastian Potion Nine with Sebastian Mud Wax. They sponsor my life so Sebastian. I used to have curtains when I was about twelve, but I’ve had this since I was about sixteen. I went through a phase of it all being different colours, which is slightly embarrassing, I had like stripes and all sorts. Oh and Dame Edna purple for Glastonbury a couple of years ok. But yeah, the quiff is very important.

Frock Me with TK Maxx airs Sundays on Channel 4, for more information check out www.facebook.com/tkmaxx
http://www.youtube.com/lovetkmaxx
I highly recommend that you follow @henryholland on Twitter!

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