Julia Hederus 'New Faces' Interview

Hidetaka Furuya | Would you like to introduce yourself?

Julia Hederus | I’m 27 years old, and have always worked with fashion, as far as I can remember. I’ve always been making clothes since I was little. When I was 18, I started to study fashion design. Since my BA in Denmark, I've only designed menswear. I did my MA in 2005 at Central St Martins, and showed my final collection during London fashion week in 2007. After that, I designed sneakers for K-Swiss, a limited edition called Hederus for K-swiss. Now I have my own label and design studio in Stockholm. 

So, what got you into fashion? What are your roots?

I won an amateur contest in fashion illustration, and got a free trip to Paris to see some fashion shows. After that, I just thought that I actually might be able to do it myself! I was always sketching ideas for clothes anyway. And I think I was also influenced by my mum. She was always encouraging me to do something artistic, being incredibly supportive.

What aspects are important in designing menswear?

There is always more functionality involved in menswear, which I really like and hate at the same time. Menswear always has to be much more wearable than womenswear, although I really try to work against that every now and then. This importance of wearability in menswear is killing fashion sometimes. There has to be more uncertainty about it.

For whom do you make clothes?

I make clothes for the man who’s very interested in the present, art, and music. And I’m sure that this man also has lots of ideas of what he would like to wear, but those clothes on his mind would probably be quite unreachable or not just designed yet!

So is what defines Hederus as a brand? How would you define it?

It’s a young label that takes inspiration from architecture, and street/black culture. It’s also a sportswear in a new context when I, for example, use felt in caps and more luxurious wool jersey for a pair of trousers. I always aim to make garments with a new kind of cut and more volume than usual menswear. I love experimenting with size, pleats and inside-outs.

Your latest collection 'KITES' for aw09 is very conceptual, where did the inspiration come from?

I was inspired by the construction of kites, the wind, the air, the threads and the thin material, the cross. It’s full of playfulness and simplicity, something with a very strong origin. Kites can look so different, and be very individual and poetic. I tried to work with my first idea of what a kite looks like, mostly the diamond shape in collars, cuts and caps.

Do you work on anything else other than your own brand?

YES! I also design jeans for Noko Jeans in Sweden. It’s a project that involves going to North Korea, where the jeans will be produced. There will be one women's fit/unisex and one men's. Read more about it at www.nokojeans.com

What are you working on at the moment?

A new line with silk for men, and some quite basic garments with peculiar details. They will be launched during this autumn.

What’s your future plan?

To travel more to those places with other kinds of civilisations than the western, and visit more places where there is less technology, and more nature and religion. I’m very interested in Arabic and Indian clothing and textiles. So I would love to research on these more, and collect a bit more... And of course, I always want to continue to design menswear, shoes and caps!