With an abundance of design experiences up his sleeve, FFORME Creative Director Paul Helbers stays true to form as he continues to build on the emerging brand’s sartorial foundations.
What do the first 30 minutes of your day look like?
I like waking up extra early, before having breakfast and before the ‘rest of the world’ wakes up. Silence is a strength and a form of concentration. To be in the state between sleeping and waking up makes you dream. It’s a combination of starting the day with optimism and clear thinking without being too troubled by reality, it’s a moment for myself.
What are the core DNA pillars that define the brand?
A thoughtful approach to timeless clothes, understated yet expressive – with the belief that what you wear is all about letting your personality and individuality shine through. Exuding a calm sense of assured sensuality celebrating the female shape, through studies in form concentrating on unconventional essentials, wardrobe statement pieces and uniquely crafted underpinnings. A bold and structured femininity driven by real life. A reduced aesthetic, a stripped-down, put-together elegance with a back-to-fabrics mentality where the touchable aspect and the very desirability of wearing and living in such materials are at the forefront, making ease a second nature. Carrying a curatorial and curious eye finding visual rhymes and resonance which reflects today’s cultural diversity across all generations of women, allowing them to find an elegant proportion working in harmony with their body.
How do you balance the creative demands and the commercial rigor of the fashion business?
Creativity is about desire and intuition. Intuition is the avant-garde within us, we put the women who wear our clothes at the center of our thinking and this way we try to find answers to their needs.
From your past experiences at Maison Margiela and Louis Vuitton, how did that lead to the start of FFORME?
The more you make and produce ideas, the more you find your own voice. Having had the privilege to work with artisans and skilled teams has been an incredibly rich experience shaping my vision, finding myself and it has contributed to formulate FFORME.
What is most important to you when starting a new collection?
To find beauty and strength through simplicity.
Who is the FFORME woman?
A woman who recognises the importance of self-expression, inspiring other women and the moves they make.
Now that FFORME has grown into a major emerging brand, how do you maintain an independent attitude?
We are too busy building the brand and working from a unique perspective which is sculpting the clothes directly on the body. Our focus is very much introspective and experimental, it reinforces our goals, but it also keeps us curious. We consider our collections as a body of work; it grows and it’s about building a library of shapes over time. The exchange with our clients enriches this process and delivers back to the client what we have learnt. The wardrobe we create is characterised by discipline and restraint and the flexibility of modularity. Within this lies our outcome, regardless of how the outside world looks at us.
How do you create and maintain authenticity for yourself?
Authenticity means for me knowing what your principles are and staying true to them, it’s about a longer vision. We are a forward-thinking design company devoted to those who are cultured, discerning and expressive. We focus on clothing designed to celebrate ease and movement, driven by obsessive details, couture techniques and sculptural forms. We create a product with longevity. We will remain faithful to our craft, our planet and our women.
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