Emilie Helmstedt Is Writing Her Own Danish Fairy Tale With Whimsical Clothes

Emilie Helmstedt’s work space is like something out of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, except instead of fizzy lifting drinks and everlasting gobstoppers, she’s surrounded by clothes. The 26-year-old, who was born and raised in Copenhagen, has recently set up a new atelier for her burgeoning fashion label in the city center of the Danish capital, on a quiet, affluent street near The King’s Garden. Inside, she has built a gorgeous microcosm that reflects the colorful inner workings of her brain: papier-mâché boxes and globes strewn about, waves painted on cardboard cutouts leaning against the walls, DIY fish toys on top of shelves, and her clothes, her candy-like, whimsical clothes, all held up by hangers that Helmstedt constructed and painted herself. “I wanted to create a space where abstract thoughts and illusions are allowed to just be,” she says. “I always start my collections with thinking, brainstorming, walking. Then I go back to my studio and I draw or paint what I dream. After, I’ll choose fabrics and translate my art onto the garments that are comfortable and that you can wear for any occasion.”

Helmstedt launched her eponymous brand in 2017 and has since expanded her collection to include furniture and home decor as well. Last year, she received the Magasin du Nord Fashion Prize, presented to her by Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, and this year, she hosted her first official runway show for Fall 2019 at Copenhagen Fashion Week. The collection, which was shown at the Design Museum and was partially inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s The Princess and The Pea, was a thrill to behold, overflowing with Helmstedt’s vibrant, charismatic personality. Before the models stepped out from backstage, the designer appeared with a long scroll of paper. She began to read a poem she had written about dreams and her imagination. In the center of the room was a set that she designed with her close friends and her boyfriend, Neils Monies: a pile of mattresses plopped onto a bed frame with geometric posts in bright pink and blue and yellow. Once Helmstedt finished her reading, the models walked out one by one wearing the collection, which included pajama pants and tops in mismatched stripes, long dresses with ruffled necks and sleeves, and a puffer jacket decorated with psychedelic circular motifs. There were also tall, gilded headpieces inspired by the princess who slept on the pea, made in collaboration with her boyfriend’s mother, Gerda Monies, a very well-known Danish jewelry designer. “Andersen’s fairy tale is a bit absurd,” Helmstedt says. “But I’ve always loved the illusion of the story and the idea of a deep, deep sleep and dreams that come from that kind of sleep.”

Helmstedt has always been driven by her own dreams, even when she was a little girl who struggled with math and grammar in school and found relief from her studies by crafting and learning to sew. “I grew up with a grandmother who was an artist,” she explains. “She made these huge wall paintings out of fabric and thread. Her mother was a haberdasher, and my dad’s mom was a seamstress, so the idea of using your hands to express yourself has great history in my family.” Once Helmstedt finished high school, she went on to study tailoring and intern for a Belgian designer. While the experience was certainly worthwhile, she quickly realized that being focused solely on fashion was not something that fulfilled her. “I started painting a lot,” she remembers. “I took a break from fashion and went to art school. Only after a few months there did I realize that what I really wanted to do was to combine the two mediums.” Helmstedt eventually left art school as well in an effort to break out on her own. “I dropped out because I felt like the school set too many boundaries and put up a barrier between art and design,” she explains. “They also told me not to follow my intuition, and I couldn’t do that.”

Now, day to day, Helmstedt is completely engrossed in her art, so much so that she’s been living in what is largely considered Denmark’s largest artist commune for the last several years. Though she moved her atelier into the city for practical purposes (she wanted a place that was more convenient for all of the meetings she is having now that the business has taken off), Helmstedt still resides in Christiania, which is about a 15-to-20-minute bike ride to The King’s Garden. Christiania is Copenhagen’s “freetown,” where marijuana is legal, residents don’t pay taxes, and many have built their own homes and buy food and clothes by trade. In the summertime, Helmstedt can usually be found in her neighbor’s garden, constructing and painting a new, elaborate set to showcase her fashion collection. “It’s a place with no rules,” she says with a laugh and her wide, beaming smile. She is captivating not only because of her charm and her big, blue eyes, but also because of her passion for what she does and the freedom she finds while doing it. As is true in both Christiania and her atelier, she explains, “It’s about taking your dreams into real life, it’s about imagination. For me, it’s about being in another world.”