The newest base layer brand on the block and I am impressed. Having worn them on many ski trips they have performed as well as looking good, something that sometimes is not the case with base layers!
H. Holderness was born out of the founder, Henrietta Holderness, whilst living in the French Alps noticing that there were not base-layers that girls wanted to wear. She noticed that women she was skiing with were choosing to wear their gym leggings in lieu of ‘traditional’ wooly thermals because they wanted to wear the same thing from breakfast to bed (piste to party). The luxury of gym leggings is being able to wear them all day long, hidden under salopettes during on the piste and without ski trousers when relaxing back at the chalet or hitting après. Unfortunately, moth-bitten thermal long johns do not have the same stylistic appeal?
So gym leggings have evolved into the new under-layer of choice for the ski market? Problem solved. Well, not really. Although these beautiful leggings look great, gym apparel is not designed to be worn underneath ski wear, nor in cold climates. So all those design elements that are great in London – the zipped pocket for your keys, the decorative stitching and excessive panelling – suddenly do not work so well in the mountains. The stitching embeds itself into your calves under your ski boots, the zip digs painfully into your back and you quickly realise that these gym leggings are not even keeping you warm.So with the two options available, girls were either sacrificing aesthetics in favour of warmth or vice versa. So founder Of H. Holderness, Henrietta, decided to create base-layers that combined the functionality of traditional wooly thermals and the aesthetics of beautifully designed gym leggings. Base-layers that perform on the piste and look good enough to show off afterwards.
Since conception, the brand has expanded their collection to include everything from sports bras to beanies, but their base-layers remain the heart of the brand. Their base-layer leggings are proudly designed for girls by girls and are packed full of ski-specific design elements to help women get the most of their time out on the mountain and keep them going from breakfast to bed, piste to party.
I can attest to the fact you can wear them from piste to party having taken them with me on many ski trips! Also not only is this brand fashionable and functional but they are also vegan. For their performance wear (i.e. the base-layers) they use a mix of polyester and elastane, their down jacket are synthetic and their casual wear is predominately 100% cotton. They have never, and never plan on using animal based products. As such we nominated them for our Slow Luxury category in the Eluxe Awards and they won!To celebrate the win H. Holderness is giving away a New Zealand Set (leggings plus sports bra) to one lucky person! If you would like to WIN these amazing base layers, then go to our H. Holderness post on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, follow Bespoke Black Book and post the answer to this question in the comments:
Which award did H. Holderness recently win?
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For UK residents only. Competition closes on Friday 15th March at midnight. Winner picked at random.
