Just kidding: forget growing up it's time to embrace your inner child

Mr Men, Barbie and the schoolbag you carried when you were seven set the style tone this season. Life is a playground, says Karen Dacre
Child’s play: Left, models channel Barbie at the Moschino show in Milan (Photo: Catwalking.com)
Right, Henry Holland’s Mr Quiffy collaboration is available in Liberty and at houseofholland.co.uk

There is a lot that’s childish about the fashion world at the moment. And I’m not just talking about the front-row freak show that is the Kardashian Wests and their accessory du jour — also known as one-year-old baby North — but about something far sweeter and, since you asked for my opinion, a lot less disturbing.

You see, spurred on by nostalgia, a host of designers are embracing the kid within this season, with collections that take their lead from their own childhoods. Big kid Henry Holland serves as a perfectly juvenile example. Inspired by a lifelong appreciation of the Mr Men and Little Miss books, Holland, who’s as famous for his hair as he is for his House of Holland brand, has joined forces with the folks behind the iconic publications to tell the story of Mr Quiffy. The dapper little dude — recognisable by Hollandesque, thick-rimmed specs and his decidedly loud choice of socks — is brought to life in a new House of Holland collection, which is available to little girls as well as their grown-up counterparts.

Encompassing everything from jeans to jumpsuits to cute clutch bags, the range is likely to delight loyal fans of Holland’s label who go to him for his refusal to take fashion or, in fact, life too seriously.

Quiffy, who’s mission when he joins Holland on a world tour later this month is to tell the planet that it’s cool to be different, has already given Holland more than a few laughs, and the designer admits that he sees himself in Mr Quiffy. “He is slightly autobiographical in that his power and intelligence is all in his hair,” says Holland. “He’s an advocate of being individual.”

For Holland, a childrenswear novice, the draw of this collaboration was undoubtedly the chance to speak to a new customer. “The oohs and aahs in the office when the samples came back were deafening,” he says, “I don’t know what the big deal is about little things but it’s just so cute.”

Get the look: sticker bag by Anya Hindmarch (anyahindmarch.co.uk)

Of course, he’s not the only designer approaching the stony-faced world of fashion with a sense of humour. Accessory designer Anya Hindmarch took a school satchel adorned with stickers and swinging leather pencil case as the starting point for her latest collection, while Moschino’s Jeremy Scott gave Barbie the leading role in his latest catwalk production. Lulu Kennedy’s sweetly designer Lulu & Co label is another embracing its childish side this season, and then there’s the shoe designer Sophia Webster, who counts accessories that indulge the kid within as part of her design DNA.

But what does it all mean? Cynics might say that this cutesy moment is little more than a clever marketing ploy — after all, what could be more enticing than the chance to live the simple life you enjoyed as an eight-year-old — but there’s more to it than that. In a day and age that’s weighed down with sobriety, our designers have woken up to a crucial realisation: all fashion is futile if it can’t make you smile.

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