Jamelia gets 100 bonus fashion points for this ensemble. Photograph: Jo Hale/Getty
Here's the thing. Jamelia performing at G-A-Y wearing a neon logo T-shirt printed with the words Tears for Spears was not a declaration of heartfelt support for troubled Britney. No matter what she might have told the Sun about the trials of juggling a singing career and motherhood. No, Jamelia was announcing her membership in the growing House of Holland T-shirt club.
Designed by the 23-year-old, ex-teen-magazine fashion editor and toast of East London, Henry Holland, the T-shirts are the text generation's answer to the ubiquitous Frankie Say Relax T-shirts of the eighties. Holland's original T-shirts bore rhyming phrases about a tiny group of London designers; "Get yer freak on, Giles Deacon" was one of the first. Cult status around the T-shirts grew quickly and, by February, Holland had his own catwalk show during London Fashion Week with models dancing down the catwalk wearing rave-coloured T-shirt dresses that read "I'll show you who's boss, Kate Moss." Even posh department stores like Barneys in New York have got in on the jokey, knowing banality of the brand, selling the T-shirts at inflated prices next to other designer labels.
So we know that Jamelia gets the House of Holland thing. But her T-shirt cunningly references another trend too. By now it's become a tradition for female pop stars to send messages to Britney via their T-shirts, something which Madonna kicked off in 2000. Collect 100 bonus fashion points, Jamelia.
