Spirals and ouroboros are a recurring theme this spring, in set design and product. At Heliot Emil, the models walked a labyrinthine path that brought them in close proximity to the audience and the show’s centerpiece, a hanging “chandelier,” created in collaboration with the Swiss design studio Encor, and made of square sheets of electrochromic glass. Simply put, the transparency of the glass reacted to the soundtrack. From the get-go Copenhagen-based Heliot Emil has aligned itself with technology and espoused an industrial, protective, hypebeast-meets-motorsport aesthetic. There have been 3D printed accessories and a made-for-meming model walk of flame. This season the Juul brothers, Victor (business director) and Julius (creative director) dialed down the pyrotechnics in order to put more attention on the clothes. Said Julius: “I wanted to create something that was a bit more intimate this time and a bit more personal, where people could really see the work we did with the textures and the fabrics.”
On the heels of a spring collection co-designed with AI and presented on virtual models, it was a wise decision to bring things back down to earth, and show how the clothes can exist in a real-life context. Ten years ago in Louisiana, the designer saw Olafur Eliasson’s Riverbed, a site-specific installation of stones and a stream in the museum. This inspired the patterned knits with meandering lines, and the somber palette of the collection. Rocks strung onto necklaces and left on guests’ seats suggested a return to nature as well, but it wasn’t as straightforward as that: the stones were sourced on the internet. “It’s kind of ironic to sell stones or to buy stones online; it seems like something so futuristic and so old at the same time,” Julius said. “It’s a really weird construct, but I thought that that was an interesting concept and obviously a reflection of what Eliasson did [in bringing] the stones from outside into the museum and giving them a different context or perspective.” Another example of reversal in the collection was bulbous sneaker shoes, made with Italy’s Staccato, inspired by the 3D printed shoes of past collections.
Julis noted that as he’s able to indulge his penchant for defensive, motorsport designs through Heliot Emil’s ongoing collaborations with Alpine Stars, this collection was more about layering and texture mixes and the puffy, protective elements were toned down in favor of a more bodycon silhouette, with the notable exception of a padded jacket with a sort of anatomical vibe made, the designer said, with about 70 pattern pieces, with slits between some of them for an airier effect.
Clothes that catch the wind are a big story for this season, and the show opened with a suit made of deadstock wool with a sculptural boomerang closure (curved lines were a recurring motif). A floaty draped silk scarf was wrapped around the model s neck, another around her waist. The pants she wore had a V-like cut at the mid calf that revealed an insert of a different material. Zippers, yet another spring 2025 trend, were put to good use on pieces like a sleeveless top with a fold-down flap, and they spiraled down the legs of pants. Skirt pants, like much of the collection, were unisex. The thinness of the models of both genders was notable—and not only here. There are guidelines for working with models that on-schedule designers must comply with, Julius said. I mention this here because Heliot Emil stands out in this nostalgia-steeped moment for it’s focus on a future world that avoids the retro-futurism fashion usually leans into. Hopefully the new world will not be populated by clones, but make room for individuality.
The final look, a to-the-floor tank dress with godets was “a little hint of what the future holds,” said Julius. It was actually a 3D printed design with the pattern of a rubbery spike that suggested musculature or the rib cage. Another surprise was the metal-seeming accessories (look 31) that were actually made of glass by a Spanish artisan. “Innovations like 3D printing or the glass sculptures push the collection a little bit further into a world of what is possible,” said Julius, whose goal this season was to find a balance between the out-there and the right here, right, now; and for the most part the clothes did look ready for earthlings to wear.
