What swimsuit would Helena Christensen wear?

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Danish supermodel Helena Christensen has been a lover of the water since childhood, when she swam in the rivers in her mother’s native Peru. She is also a beach obsessive who spends her summers in and out of the sea on the north coast of Denmark. And of course, she’s been a well-known professional swimwear wearer for a few decades. In other words, she’s a woman who knows a good costume when she sees one. So when Christensen posted a photo of herself in a Hunza G one-piece three years ago, Georgiana Huddart, co-founder of the British swimwear brand, knew it was a real stamp of approval. In October, Hunza G and Christensen’s relationship will be cemented with a five-piece capsule collection in her new favorite color: lilac and white stripes chosen and modeled by Christensen.

“It’s a great and clever idea to have a range in one fabric,” confirms Christensen. “And that fabric feels so good because it’s stretchy, and the stretch gives it a kind of snug effect. It is very flattering. But I’m a color obsessive and with hunza g it was the shades that first caught my eye.

“Swimwear is such an elaborate universe,” she continues. “I have so many bikinis and bathing suits that I love because it is a garment that always brings back good memories. And while I love swimsuits that have ribbons and crosses and whatever, what I like about Hunza G is that it’s so simple. You just walk into it. That’s all. They feel good to wear.”

Hunza’s wrinkled, wrinkled, and much-copied fabrication has been around since Peter Meadows founded it in 1984. Veteran textile observers may remember a daring cutout blue and white Hunza dress worn by Julia Roberts in the ’90s film. Beautiful woman – reissued in 2021. Huddart rediscovered and relaunched the brand as Hunza G (the G in his first name) in 2015, and it has been growing in popularity ever since.

The fabric is so tactile and unusual.

Launching direct-to-consumer online, Hunza grew slowly and steadily through word of mouth until selfridges and then net-a-porter Came Calling The online retailer, which remains its largest wholesaler, placed an order “that changed the business,” Huddart says. The wholesale trade represents 70% of the sales of its wide range of colors and styles and, from 2021 (the year world water day declared the brand “the biggest success story in the world of swimwear”), children’s wear and towels; found at Selfridges, Harrods, Ssense, Browns, LuisaViaRoma, MatchesFashion and Mytheresa. Revenue was up 40 percent year-over-year with just over 350,000 units sold, and April 2023 was, Huddart claims, his “best month ever.”

Business minds could never predict that such success started with a box of costumes. Huddart’s mother had worn Hunza swimsuits and dresses while pregnant with her six children during the 1980s and 1990s. Eventually, the garments found their way into a large box in the nursery that the siblings played with and then didn’t think about for a long time. years. But, at 19, Huddart had a revelation in a Berlin thrift store when he found a row of vintage Hunza clothes. “I bought the lot,” she says. “And every time I used one of them, people were either nostalgic or really intrigued because the fabric is so tactile and unusual and distinguishable.”

The art history graduate tried to recreate similar pieces for herself while working in fashion and interiors, but was never able to find exactly the right fabric. (Even today, the brand closely guards the whereabouts of its European factory due to the fierce amount of competition from other brands.) A lucky encounter at a party led to an introduction to Meadows, who was happy to be resurrected by Huddart. They became partners almost immediately (he has since taken a step back) and relaunched the brand.

“There was nothing at the time for people who didn’t want to look like they were in an ’80s track video,” says Huddart. “Back then they didn’t even do black and white, which is crazy to me. Black has been our best-selling color for almost two years.”

Further impetus has been provided by a stream of bona fide celebrity endorsements. Not being a given away, famous faces, or rather famous bodies, have made their way into Hunza G swimsuits and then are happy to shout it out. “Five years ago, Rihanna wore it,” says Huddart. “Kim Kardashian, that was huge. And when Rosie Huntington Whiteley used it and tagged the brand that the website crashed for two days.” His first celebrity collaboration was with Huntington-Whiteley earlier this year; Christensen’s followed soon after.

You can’t talk to a supermodel without asking her to tell you how to look great in a bathing suit. Sublime geniuses of course is the true answer, but sweetly Christensen offers us hope. “Training! That’s the secret,” he says with a laugh. “I’m not obsessive, but I go to a boxing gym three times a week when I’m in New York. It’s the best training for me. It’s intense but that’s what I get.” I don’t want to. I can’t work out in the gym or do yoga.”

She will also swim anywhere, anytime. “If I see a water hole by the road in December, I’ll stop the car and take a bath. I don’t care how cold it is,” she says. So where will Hunza G be using next? “I actually wore a bubblegum pink strapless style yesterday here in New York City, right down the street,” she says. “I wore it with a skirt because they are also very good overalls. Women kept stopping me to ask where I got my top from.” Huddart could tell you that she came from a costume box.