Bold, poetic, and effortless cool-girls. Founders and Creative Directors Rikke Baumgarten and Helle Hestehave design timeless collections between functionality and typical Danish serenity, with that extra touch of full unexpected playful contrasts.

For Baum und Pferdgarten&rsquo;s Autumn-Winter 2022 show during Copenhagen Fashion Week we went north, to be exact to the northernmost place on the planet, staged beneath the light of a giant polar full moon, we were looking at Rikke Baumgarten&rsquo;s and Helle Hestehave&rsquo;s approach on cold-weather dressing against the elements. A place of fascination and full extremes - drifting seas of ice, unforgiving winds, and months without sunlight or pure abundance.&nbsp;

The frigid winters of Copenhagen were simply not cold enough for Baum und Pferdgarten. Instead, designers Helle Hestehave and Rikke Baumgarten cast their gaze north, to the singular landscapes of the inhospitable arctic. Their autumn-winter 2022 styles are rooted in a Nordic aesthetic that plays out in contrasts between light and dark, masculine and feminine, and the multiplicity of the seasons.&nbsp;

A collection of contrasts, nothing more fitting than for the design duo behind fan-favourite fashion house Baum und Pferdgarten from the city of Scandi style. We sat down with founding Creative Directors Rikke Baumgarten and Helle Hestehave to chat about clashing extremes, breaking boundaries, and the fun of dressing up:

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Rikke and Helle,&nbsp;how would you describe what you do? 
Helle Hestehave: We are the founders and creative directors at Baum und Pferdgarten and spend the vast majority of our time designing the collections.&nbsp; 
 
Rikke Baumgarten: Basically we work as old-school designers, sketching every single style by hand. We essentially communicate in a very visual form with the rest of the design team.

Which words describe Baum und Pferdgarten the best? 
Rikke Baumgarten: We have picked the words eclectic, artistic and open-minded to sum up everything we stand for.&nbsp;

Helle Hestehave: We are building our company on the values of inclusivity and respect. This runs through the approach for all our partnerships; towards each other, with the entire team and all our colleagues &ndash; but also extends to our manufacturers, distributors, PR agents and further to press, industry profiles, and hopefully end-consumers who see themselves as a welcome part of the #BaumFamily.&nbsp;

What&rsquo;s the difference between Baum und Pferdgarten and other Scandinavian brands? 
Rikke Baumgarten: We have always described ourselves as the Latinos of Scandinavia. Obviously, Copenhagen is the southernmost capital of the Nordic region &ndash; but our aesthetic is also more expressive, colourful, and embellished than that of most Scandi brands. Our DNA is very rooted in colour, pattern, and print.

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How did the pair of you meet? Can you give us a brief history of Baum und Pferdgarten? 
Helle Hestehave: We met at school. We were both studying fashion design at the Royal Danish Academy of Design in Copenhagen. We were in the same year and pretty fast discovered how we shared the same passion and work ethic &ndash; we were always the ones to stay late and continue working on the various projects. After a while, we started doing some of our projects together and experienced how this was a very fruitful synergy. We graduated in the summer of 1998 and founded Baum und Pferdgarten right away 6 months later on January 1st&nbsp;1999. 
 
Rikke Baumgarten:&nbsp;We now have a team of more than 40 colleagues in Baum und Pferdgarten. This allows us to focus our time and energy on what we are actually passionate about: Designing beautiful clothes &ndash; and at the same time rest assured that other competent people look after all the different aspects of running a fashion house.

How does your individuality complement each other, especially in designing? 
Rikke Baumgarten: We are extremely different designers and have always been. From the very beginning, this was also what made us attract each other. We were fascinated by each other and still admire each other&rsquo;s work. We have been building on this wider span and tension from day one, both in our process and output. To say it simply, Helle has always been the &quot;feinschmecker&quot; with the careful eye for the tiniest detail. She&rsquo;s always represented a more sporty and masculine aesthetic with a huge love for tailoring and classic monochrome silhouettes in navy, grey, or black. I, on the other hand, have always represented something more dramatic and opulent with puff, ruffles, and embellishment. Essentially, our brand DNA is the clash of these juxtapositions and the quirky harmony between each other.

Who does what in this process? 
Helle Hestehave: We both design and sketch &ndash; but we have divided the overall responsibility of different groups between us so that Rikke for example is in charge of the knitwear and I do outerwear. But every single style in every single collection is looked at by both of us many times to make sure every piece makes sense within the collection and as an individual piece.

Rikke Baumgarten:&nbsp;Helle looks more at the detailing and finish of each piece &ndash; whereas I might be more looking at the broader picture of the balance and harmony within a collection. 
 
Do you each seek your own inspiration, or does your life merge into one big shared mood board when designing a collection? 
Helle Hestehave: We are very different people and experience life in very different ways. But we spend most of our time together and constantly align and bounce ideas off each other. We are continuously fine-tuning and making sure we have stirred in the same direction.

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Who or what is consistently on your mood board? 
Rikke Baumgarten: We always incorporate various references to tailoring and the traditional menswear wardrobe. But in&nbsp;the same way, we always get inspired by the world of sports. For a past collection we looked closely at synchronized swimming, for another we looked at hiking &ndash; but we&rsquo;ve also looked at jockeys or skiing. The inspiration from sport always helps us twist the overall mood, so we never end up creating costumes, but actually design clothes for real people.

What makes you both keep creating new pieces together after so many years? 
Helle Hestehave: I guess, that creativity is some sort of constant stream that never stops if you keep feeding it. Which we do! We both love to travel, go to museums and exhibitions or look at art or movies &ndash; together or just by ourselves. We even have three annual trips that are absolutely sacred to us: Twice a year we go to Paris to visit the big fair for fabrics and yarns called Premi&egrave;re Vision. This is extremely tactile, and we become like kids in a candy store. Looking at beautiful fabrics and seeing all the latest techniques and innovations always trigger our imagination. The other annual trip is to Salone de Mobile in Milan. The world of interior is so inspiring and sometimes light-years ahead of fashion.&nbsp;

What were the inspirations behind this season&#39;s AW22 collection? 
Rikke Baumgarten:&nbsp;The Autumn Winter collection is inspired by arctic landscapes. We were fascinated by the vast and imposing snowscapes that are so overwhelming and strong &ndash; but also all the fragile and minuscule elements in it, like snow crystals and arctic flowers. It is so powerful to see these tiny flowers break through the ice and blossom. We have been translating this into a wardrobe for strong females making their way through these inhospitable environments. This has resulted in a lot of layering pieces and pieces with protection from the elements in mind &ndash; both old-fashioned wool and high-tech fabrics with padding and glossy surfaces. All the sturdy pieces are contrasted by the delicate and dressy pieces in sequins, lace, and silk. The collection really reflects our view of the arctic landscapes.

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What is your favourite look or item from this collection? 
Rikke Baumgarten: My favourite piece is the short red puffa of look 4 because it is striking and wonderfully vibrant. Everyone will look a little extra fabulous wearing it. 
 
Helle Hestehave: Mine is the heavy woolen herringbone coat of the closing look. I always love to reference menswear wardrobe and rework a classic. It&rsquo;s been years since we last worked with traditional salt/pepper herringbone &ndash; and I absolutely love having it back. Especially when we style it with something ultra-delicate and feminine.

If we would only buy one piece from Baum und Pferdgarten&rsquo;s latest collection, what should it be? 
Helle Hestehave: I&rsquo;d definitely say the navy blue woolen vest! It is incredibly beautifully cut and constructed &ndash; and the fabric is just exquisite. I can see this piece styled in so many ways with a basic T-Shier&nbsp;or knitwear &ndash; but also adding structure to romantic dresses and Rikke&rsquo;s opulent blouses.

Is there any piece from Baum und Pferdgarten that you wear every day? 
Helle Hestehave: Our T-shirts and oversized jumpers.

The brand feels very rooted in Copenhagen. What does the city mean to you? 
Rikke Baumgarten: Everything! Copenhagen is our hometown, and we absolutely love our city. You can find everything here &ndash; and it&rsquo;s all within biking distance. I love how we both have a scene for young edgy kids and one for artsy established people &ndash; and especially I love how these different scenes mix and melt together. Gastronomy is really striving here, and you can find anything from easy to avant-garde cuisine. We strongly feel that Copenhageners have a very open mindset and are very welcoming towards foreigners.

Helle Hestehave: And everywhere you go, you are close by the sea, which makes the air fresh and the light beautiful. Copenhagen is an easy city to be in and an easy city to get around in &ndash; and everywhere, you are close to nature.

What do you think Copenhagen Fashion Week sets apart from others, and why is the Scandinavian style currently resonating so strongly with the fashion community across the world? 
Rikke Baumgarten: No doubt that Scandinavian fashion appeals to many people around the world &ndash; and so does our Fashion Week. It&#39;s casual and inclusive, and we often get the feedback that people feel very welcome in a non-elitist kind of way. We present relevant fashion staged in a beautiful way.

Does a typical Scandinavian style actually exist at all, and what is typical Scandinavian in your opinion? Is Baum and Pferdgarten typical Scandinavian? 
Helle Hestehave:&nbsp;For us, the Scandinavian design heritage is all about functionality and comfort &ndash; the same goes for Scandinavian fashion. And in that way, we are typically Scandinavian. We design comfortable and functional fashion for real people living real lives.

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We all awaited to finally dress up again. Do you have a certain type of woman in mind when you design? Tell us about the #BaumFamily. 
Rikke Baumgarten: We don&rsquo;t have one specific woman in mind all the time.&nbsp;Our collections can be worn in many different ways by many different women. But we always imagine a woman who is grounded in herself and never afraid of standing out - having a distinct point of view. Essentially, we design for a person who is somewhere in between the two of us - an eclectic woman with many facets. One day she wants to dress effortlessly sporty and other times she&rsquo;s in a dramatic mood and wants to dress the part.&nbsp;We create clothes that help women tell their own story.&nbsp;

Helle Hestehave: Actually, our hashtag was decided internally by asking everyone working in the company what would best represent their sentiment towards Baum und Pferdgarten. Unanimously, our colleagues pointed at #BaumFamily. We think this is due to the fact that many of us have been working together for so many years and have got very close and familiar with each other &ndash; there are many close and strong bonds within the team and we honestly all think of each other as a second family. Obviously, we hope this can now extend to friends of the house, creative people we work closely with, the buyers who come every season, media relations, partners, manufacturers, and eventually the end-consumers who feel included and welcomed into the #BaumFamily.

How do you feel about trends? 
Helle Hestehave:&nbsp;Some we follow, some we don&rsquo;t. 
 
Rikke Baumgarten: We believe in longevity! The power of good design and long-lasting products is way more relevant than the latest version of the newest trend.

What does ethical responsibility mean to you both? 
Rikke Baumgarten: Besides thinking about the planet and the environment when we work strategically with our CSR, we also have a huge focus on animal welfare as well as all the people involved in our supply chain &ndash; and how they all deserve good lives and good working conditions. Obviously, we have all kinds of standards and formalities regarding this &ndash; but actually, our most important benchmark here is trust and long-lasting relationships. 77% of our production is done with manufacturers we&rsquo;ve been working with for five years or more, and we strongly believe that&nbsp;we can make the biggest impact&nbsp;through these long-lasting partnerships.

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What do you want to achieve personally with Baum und Pferdgarten, in terms of sustainability? 
Rikke Baumgarten:&nbsp;&nbsp;Honestly, we both want to do much better than what we do today. But this is a long journey, and you can only take one step at a time. We strongly believe in transparency and fully sharing where we are challenged and where we are doing well. We publish our CSR report annually on our website for anyone to download &ndash; and we try to explain our efforts and obstacles in a way that balances being detailed with being understandable. Going forward we firmly believe in producing much more locally and using green energy sources.

What is the industry doing right? 
Rikke Baumgarten:&nbsp;Some players are doing things right &ndash; or at least trying to do right. But the fashion industry is a giant global industry with many different players &ndash; and some could definitely try much harder! We are strong believers in legislation and hope that EU for example will create laws that prohibit overproduction. For us, it is unbearable to see how certain companies purposefully overproduce in order to make every little bit of profit &ndash; when the rest of us are trying to minimize our footprint.

Helle Hestehave: At the same time, the industry is undergoing a massive change. I remember how we would ask about responsibly sourced fabrics at Premi&egrave;re Vision in Paris five years ago and got looked at as if we were from a different planet. Now everyone is prepared to answer these types of questions and take action to move in a more sustainable direction. We are proud of being part of Copenhagen Fashion Week and fully support the initiatives here towards becoming the most sustainable Fashion Week in the world with set criteria for all the participating brands to meet. In many ways, Denmark is a pioneering country when it comes to these issues &ndash; and we are proud that Copenhagen is also hosting the Global Fashion Summit and trying to put emphasis on sustainability for the global industry.

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What do you think needs to change in the industry? 
Rikke Baumgarten: Overproduction. We would really like this concept to completely belong in the past &ndash; so that we can all focus on creating responsible products that people actually need, buy and use.

What&rsquo;s the smallest change a consumer could make to become more eco-conscious? 
Helle Hestehave: The easiest step is to look well after your garments. Avoid over-washing and maybe simply hang them out in the fresh air instead. 
 
Rikke Baumgarten: And then it is also important that we all start buying less &ndash; and instead better.

Is there a secret of good taste that you like to share at this point? 
Helle Hestehave: A pair of good shoes can save almost any outfit.

On an individual basis, who are you most grateful for on the path that has taken you to the time being? 
Helle Hestehave: I&rsquo;m grateful for the total support from my family throughout this crazy adventure! If we didn&rsquo;t meet at the Royal Danish Academy of Design twenty-five years ago, Baum und Pferdgarten would have never existed, so we are both very grateful to have met each other.

Rikke Baumgarten: The same for me &ndash; and then our amazing colleagues and pathfinders&nbsp;who help us make Baum und Pferdgarten what it is today.

Baum und Pferdgarten: Pursuing Polaris and the Clash of Extremes

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