by Flora Edmiston

It breaks my heart to say this. As you all obviously know, I have a real love of all things House of Sunny. I own a few carefully chosen pieces that have not made too much of a dent in the student loan. My latest purchase from House of Sunny is the Paradise Party Pants, which really do what they say on the tin. They fit almost magically… but I think House of Sunny have got it wrong.

Specifically, with the now famous green Hockney lily pads dress. Based on the artwork of David Hockney, this dress is the one that started it all for HoS. Everyone who is anyone online has worn it. If you search ‘House of Sunny’ in TikTok, you get a hashtag with 26.2 million views and pages and pages of videos of this specific dress. It has become a cult item, ever-present in clothing haul videos made by those who can afford to buy ‘seasonally’ from small businesses and wear something once. For every search for ‘House of Sunny Hockney Dress’, there is one for ‘House of Sunny Hockney Dress dupe’.

The whole ethos of HoS is limited drops of unique clothing, made to order to reduce waste and environmental impact. By continuing to release drops of this dress for over a year, they’ve inadvertently promoted the kind of overconsumption they set out to avoid. Overconsuming from small businesses is still overconsuming, and HoS isn’t even a small business anymore, largely thanks to the success of this dress.

I personally think they could do better. I am always amused by their new colourways and patterns that they’ve released on the same style dress, especially the Good Vibrations dress. But isn’t the original green Hockney a bit last summer? And when places like AliExpress are churning out dupes of the green Hockney for next to nothing, I think it’s time to move on. The overproduction of the dress is undermining the appeal of the limited edition drops that HoS does so well.

Don’t see this as me ‘cancelling’ House of Sunny. I still stand by everything positive I’ve said about the brand and I will definitely still buy from them in the future. I just think they should stick to their established business practices that create a refreshingly new consumer culture. I also understand that the demand is clearly there for this dress, but why not continue to move away from the “I have to have it” sentiment and towards a more conscious way of buying. This is where the pre-order system really comes into its own, as there’s no instantaneity of purchase; you have to be sure about a purchase before you make it. House of Sunny have such potential to keep innovating; their online AW’21 show Ride a White Swan is an example of this! The behind-the-scenes videos of how they hand-made the set really emphasised their ethos of making the brand feel accessible and desirable. Their innovation, however, should take them in a direction that leaves the Hockney dress behind. Its day has been and gone.

Also, I’d love to give credit for the idea of this article to a TikTok I watched half asleep, forgot to like or save and now can’t find again. If you see it, please let me know!