Hollywould

Holly Dunlap, the Creative Director and Founder of Hollywould, began her career in fashion at the young age of 16 as an intern for the socialite designer Carolyne Roehm. Although Holly was not really paid a salary during her time with Carolyne, she was paid with the next best thing: Manolo Blahnik Shoes. From her first pair of Manolos, Holly realized that there were shoes and there were shoes.

From there onwards she attended a design school in Paris and landed her dream job, which was to work for Christian Lacroix following her graduation. After an amazing couple of years in Paris, Holly moved to London in order to work for her long-time fashion idol, Vivienne Westwood. Although Holly enjoyed working for Vivienne, London’s dampness did not hold much allure for this West Coast girl. After a year there, she chose to move to sunny Los Angeles where she began working on the other side of fashion as a stylist. Holly quickly fell in love with the city of Los Angeles, and her time there continues to inspire all her designs.

After a year spent in LA, Holly was ready to move back to the design side of fashion and won the position of Head Designer for Lilly Pulitzer. Having grown up in head-to-toe Lilly, Holly jumped at the chance to revitalize the line which had been going down for almost 15 years. She revamped the entire line of Lilly silhouettes and designed her own version of the classic Lilly prints. Her preppy but modern designs made Lilly Pulitzer a household name once again and after a few years as head designer of the company, Holly felt she was ready to start her own line.

Though Holly’s background was mostly in clothing & prints, when it was time to begin her venture she was drawn towards accessories. Hollywould’s first collection of preppy but sexy shoes and handbags hit Bergdorf Goodman shops in the Spring months of the year 2000. Hollywould is currently sold in over 100 better boutiques and department stores world wide including Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, Harrods, and Takashimaya.

Once Hollywould shoes & bags established a solid and cult following, Holly could no longer resist her desire to also design clothing. In the Autumn season of 2004, Hollywould kicked off with a superb dress collection, sold exclusively to Saks Fifth Avenue. The silk jersey dresses hearken to childhood memories of her mom donning long, bright dresses while entertaining poolside during the mid 1970’s. The colourful, and audacious collection has been successful around the jet-set crowd and with Hollywould’s Fall 2005 collection, Holly tried to introduce a full ready-to-wear line. The collection will be celebrated with Hollywould’s first ever runway show during the Olympus Fashion Week in February of 2005.

The Hollywould flagship shop and corporate headquarters are located in Nolita, New York City.

Find fashion by Hollywould @ the following eshop: