Following HELIOT EMIL’s Spring/Summer 2025 fashion show during Paris Fashion Week, we got the chance to catch up with Creative Director Julius Juul backstage to discuss the intricacies of his latest collection that balances form and function creating a visual dialogue between fluid shapes and refined simplicity while photographer Tiago Pestana captures the detailing and mood.

You draw on Olafur Eliasson’s installation “Riverbed” as inspiration, tell us about your first encounter with the piece.

I went to the Louisiana Museum which housed Riverbed was there in 2014, a long time ago, a decade ago.  I didn’t think much of it then as I wasn’t really aware of the whole impact it would sort of have on me, but generally, I’ve been very inspired by Olafur’s work. I actually tried to contact his studio to collaborate on something together because I’m a big fan of his work. I’m always mesmerized by how he works with the environment, how he works with things around him, and how it interacts with people. I’m very, very curious about what he will do next and fascinated by what he has done.

What has been the most challenging part of this collection? What was the most difficult piece to work on?

We have one piece, an outerwear piece, or at least it appears to be constructed like one, with around one hundred different pattern pieces. The construction and everything behind it was extremely difficult and you would never know piece it looks very simple in the end. Then we also have a down jacket that with the different slits in an interesting sort of composition, it also took several times to get it right.

You also showed a full look from your collaboration with Puma, can you tell us a bit about working with them?

The Puma collaboration is something that we’ve been working on for two years. It’s an exploration of trail running in the outdoors and we got work with amazing materials. The whole experience working with them was amazing from suppliers, working with amazing fabrics, to construction, to creating something that can both work for the outdoor environment and also in the streets.

What did you learn in the process of working with such an iconic brand that is also known for innovation?

A lot, a lot. I would say we dug down into the archives of Puma. They led us into their basement, with gloves and everything and we saw the old Jill Sander collaboration, some of the first fashion and sports collaborations in history. We saw some of the first Alexander McQueen as well, just amazing pieces that have sort of influenced a lot of how we see fashion and sportswear collaborating today. So it was amazing just to explore that and beyond that also explored what Puma has done before in terms of material innovation and in terms of overall pushing the boundaries of sportswear.

Check out more photos from HELIOT EMIL’s SS25 collection below: