What’s the inspiration and mood for your collection?

Diego: “This season Helder wanted to do romance and I had thought of military inspiration, so we brought something from the two extremes to the table. There’s a lot of hard edge and utilitarian looks from the military side, but then there are a lot of soft blouses from the romance side. We played with colour palettes, from blush and military greens, to leopards and blacks and gold lames. We wanted to widen the palette and the scope of the collection.”

Helder: “It’s a combination of strength and vulnerability. When you think of military you think of someone very strong and independent. When you think of romance, you think of somebody who’s a little bit more vulnerable and innocent.”

What’s the idea behind the way you put together the looks on the catwalk?

Diego: “We styled the looks for the show as glam grunge. So one of the looks is this really cool fitted sexy dress, but we have one of our blouses tied around the waist, kind of like that throwback to the ‘90s plaid shirt.”

Helder: “It’s a balance between imperfect and perfect. We used leopard print, and we were like, ‘How can we make it cool? How can we make it different, and bring it more down to earth?’”

 

Where can I get the soundtrack? It’s like high school for me all over again!

Diego: “Exactly, we just wanted to throw it back. It’s all nineties female artists, like Portishead and Garbage.”

Helder: “We’re very specific with music. Even the lyrics play a part in the collection. I’m a ‘90s teenager. I grew up with grunge and those bands. So I can really relate to that look. And I think it’s time for it to come back.”

 

Is there more nostalgia in this collection or is it more about looking forward?

Diego: “I think it’s a little bit of both. I think even though we threw it back to the ‘90s, for us it’s always about how we can make that modern, how we can make it for today’s woman. So yeah, our woman was probably a teenager in the ‘90s, so it’s a little bit nostalgia a little bit of ‘how can I rock what I used to rock so well when I was younger’ but give it a new, sophisticated twist.”

 

See all the looks from the Helder Diego fall 2016 collection below.