When he was fashion editor for teen magazines Sneak and Bliss, Henry Holland, 24, did not intend to be a fashion designer. But, as a joke, he married journalism with design and created a range of witty slogan T-shirts that became an underground hit during London Fashion Week last year. His clothes are now stocked everywhere from Barneys, New York, to Harvey Nichols. Henry’s best friend is the model of the moment, Agyness Deyn, who is also his muse. House of Holland now shows at Fashion Week under the Fashion East umbrella.

The first T-shirts I made were a disaster. One was about Coleen [McLoughlin] and the other about Lindsay Lohan. I got them into Heat magazine but only sold about six. It became a bit of an in-joke among my friends about how bad they were. Then Gareth [Pugh] came over and I was winding him up, saying, “I’m going to make a T-shirt about you”, and he was like, “yeah, because that will sell”. I designed one with “UHU Gareth Pugh” on it and it just started from there.

I did slogans for all my favourite designers and started selling them on my MySpace page. I went to Gareth’s show a couple of weeks later and his flatmate said, “Gareth’s wearing one of your T-shirts today”, and I was like, “Are you having a laugh? Are you joking? Is he going to come out in it at the end?” I sat there having a mild panic attack, thinking “Oh my God, its going to be really embarrassing”. He wore the one about Giles Deacon that said, “Get Yer Freak On Giles Deacon”. Giles then asked for a Gareth T-shirt so that he could return the favour. I went to Giles’ show with Agyness’s boyfriend, who had come down from Hull to see her model in it, but we didn’t get in. So he climbed up some scaffolding opposite and sat there relaying it to me from 20ft up. Giles did wear the T-shirt and the next day, I got a phone call from style.com. It was totally crazy. I’ve had a style.com moment every week since then.

The label kind of happened in reverse. London’s Dover Street Market started stocking the T-shirts the same day as style.com’s call, so I had a stockist before I had a proper collection. I ended up doing all my shipping, mail orders and send-outs from the fashion cupboard at Bliss, where I was working at the time. It wasn’t exactly the classic way to start a fashion house.

I call Agyness my muse because she is the inspiration for the collection and for the label itself. It’s her individuality, her sense of fun and the way she throws all her clothes together. She just looks so good in all my stuff. Plus, seeing as she’s Britain’s hottest model, as a designer, you couldn’t wish for a better friend. We met when we were about 13 back in Ramsbottom. We shot my first images on her the week after she’d had her hair cut into the blonde crop thing, which was when things really took off for her. It was just coincidental that everything happened at the same time.

London is massively important to my brand. I’ve got where I am today with the help of other designers and people in the industry. There is definitely camaraderie among the designers. I mean, I go clubbing with Christopher Kane, Gareth Pugh, Richard Nicoll and Jonathan Saunders. We hang out at the same pubs and go to the same parties. There’s no competition because everyone is doing their own thing.

The British public really gets my sense of humour so, in terms of sales, that has helped. I wasn’t sure how well the T-shirts would be received in the States. But it turns out that Americans love being part of a fashion in-joke. Wearing one of my T-shirts is a bit like saying “I know what’s going on in fashion”, and they like that in America. The sexual innuendos work better in Britain, though.

Aggie and I met Anna Wintour last year, which was crazy. We approached her with great trepidation but I don’t think there was any need to. We were just like “Oh My God! Oh My God!” And both of us just stood there, squeezing each other’s hands and Agyness was completely mute and unable to speak. Anna asked me for a business card, and I didn’t have one. I thought: “Oh my God, I’ve just ruined my career.”

Henry Holland has designed a T-shirt in collaboration with MySims PC game. The capsule collection is available now at: www.thesims2.co.uk/mysimscapsule

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