Simon Holloway

Simon Holloway
Born	02 December 1971 (1971-12-02) (age 53) Newcastle Upon Tyne, England
Occupation	Fashion Designer
Years active	1995–present

Simon Holloway is an English fashion designer, as of 2015 he is the current Creative Director at Ermenegildo Zegna-owned womenswear brand Agnona. “Simon Holloway, the perfectly put-together British creative director of Agnona, is one of those rare designers who knows how to dress himself as well as he knows how to dress other people.” said British GQ

Career

Holloway’s fashion journey began in Paris in the ’90s, where he interned at Chloé for current Chanel designer Virginie Viard. He then move to the United States in 1994, when he began designing menswear for the Australian-born, L.A.-based Richard Tyler, his career began to accelerate. Julie Verhoeven, whom he hired at Richard Tyler, remembers the period like a fever dream: It was “highly charged—extensive collections, travel, fashion shows, fittings and late nights.” A subsequent, no less febrile-sounding tenure for Holloway in New York for Narciso Rodriguez (whom he first met on a plane; “I was like the third person he hired”) was followed by a time with Ralph Lauren, with whom he worked closely on the womenswear collection from 2004 to 2007. Holloway said “When I worked for Narciso, I was the slightly more conservative presence, and he would make fun of me for it,” says Holloway. “And then at Ralph, I was probably the more modern person on the team. But I never wanted to impose. I always wanted to make things the best that I could.”

In 2010 he was made Creative Director of Jimmy Choo. It was here he creatively managed the brand in preparing for the sale from Towerbrook to Labelux for $900 million, including the successful launch of the house's first Men's collection.

Holloway joined the iconic Italian fashion fabric supplier and fashion house, Agnona as Creative Director in 2015. To celebrate his fall 2016 collection, Holloway made a short film, Await, with Guadagnino’s partner and assistant director, Ferdinando Cito Filomarino, starring the model Malgosia Bela. Holloways time at Agnona has received wide critical acclaim. Luke Leitch for Vogue wrote of the Spring 2017 Ready-To-Wear "It’s hard to argue with a collection full of clothes beautifully made to be beautiful that succeeds as well as this. The only possible caveats to proffer are that a) this uptown cracker of a collection from Simon Holloway will almost certainly be fiendishly expensive (I felt a sense of impending doom just to be near a double-faced, tortoise-shell-detailed jacket in Agnona's finest gauge cashmere) and b) this was not a collection that said much apart from “I am very rich and beautiful, and I am dressed accordingly.”

In a 2019 interview with Vogue Runway he explained how he raised the bar on the label's responsible sourcing. "In reality, we already start on a very good base in terms of responsible use of fabrics,” he explained. “Nearly everything in our collections has always been natural.” But since the sustainable game is getting tougher, Agnona is responding with an even keener awareness of best practices. To start, it is addressing more responsible sourcing of synthetic yarns. “For example, the viscose in our viscose cady is now sustainably sourced; that is, the trees from which it is harvested are replanted, instead of leaving a barren forest,” said Holloway. Cotton shirting is also almost completely organic and responsibly farmed; the polyester blended into wools to make the fabric stretch has been replaced with recycled polyester; and the nylon used for the inside of quilted jackets is now only recycled. “We no longer use synthetic padding or down feathers for filling puffer jackets; we use only recycled cashmere,” continued the designer. “We can’t fix everything overnight, but this season we’ve tackled every single aspect that we could in a more cohesive way.” The company’s approach to responsible luxury is a praiseworthy example of commitment and engagement on issues crucial today for the fashion industry—and for the world.

Suzy Menkes for Vogue said of Holloway "The designer seems exceptional in that he does not chase rocker or street styles, but rather a youthful smartness.” and “The show was presented in an empty area, with only pillars to break the space in which the models walked at a leisurely pace. The quiet colours and tailored shapes – drawn as if with a compass rather than a set square – produced a fine collection of tailoring for both sexes. As the models walked quietly by in wrap coats, sky-blue cardigans, and jackets that seemed as soft as shawls, the clothes seemed elegantly reassuring: calm clothes for tough times.”

Holloway's first Men's wear collection for Agnona was Fall/Winter 2020. GQ style editor announced “Agnona, the new daddy of all cashmere brands" and went onto say “Appointed at the Ermenegildo Zegna-owned womenswear brand in 2015, Holloway – who has previous at Hogan, Ralph Lauren and Jimmy Choo – has in the past five years imbued Agnona with enough slouchy sophistication to put it on par with its haute luxury Italian cousins Loro Piana and Brunello Cucinelli (no small feat).”

External links

https://www.vogue.co.uk/ https://agnona.com/ https://www.wsj.com/