Kelly Gale, Elsa Hosk and Matilda Djerf have all joined a cult – Cult Gaia that is

To call Cult Gaia a 'cultish' brand is to put things lightly. What started out as a hobby crafting faux flower crowns and wired scarves for friends in 2012, quickly turned into founder and creative director Jasmin Larian Hekmat's celebrity approved lifestyle brand we know today. "Everyone started asking me and my friends to buy them off of our heads, so I learned how to make a website, gave it the name: Cult Gaia, took pictures of my friends wearing them and then it evolved into everything you see now," says Hekmat.

Cult Gaia’s pieces are more than just conversation-starters, they’re conversation dominators. The signature accessories often feature sculptural elements, making them equal part handbag, shoe, and objet. "I don’t believe the world needs more things or more brands," Hekmat says. With the fashion industry finding itself in the claws of fast fashion, it was increasingly important to Hekmat that everything Cult Gaia creates feels like something you could never give away or would want to. They're "almost like treasure or art that you would pass down," she explains. "For me this is the only way to maintain my creativity and desire to make things."

When designing, Hekmat often starts from a point of self-reflection, looking to herself and the women around her "for the things that I feel are missing." With a knack for creating understated, yet sensual silhouettes, she has mastered the fine balance of showing the female figure without making a woman feel overtly sexy – all concocted with carefully placed cut-outs, swooping necklines, and delicately draped fabric.

It is no surprise then that the Scandinavian tastemakers take heed. Swedish supermodels Elsa Hosk and Kelly Gale were early adopters, both based in Los Angeles where Cult Gaia has its headquarters. Back in 2020, Hosk happily posed in a pleated two-piece by the brand, while only recently Kelly Gale chose one of its floral dresses to dance the night away for her 27th birthday. Content creator and Djerf Avenue founder, Matilda Djerf, can also be found among the Nordic Cult Gaia acolytes, sporting the brand's bedazzled butterfly top while on vacation in France.

Upon seeing her designs migrate onto the bodies of nordic style mavens, Hekmat says that "I love these women!" Saying that she designs for a woman with "joie de vivre" and who never wants to look like she’s trying too hard, Hekmat finds that Scandinavian women fit the bill. "To me this is the essence of a Scandi woman," she says. "I think Scandi women are incredibly chic, effortless and elegant." And Cult Gaia's designer follows these three principles, just with an added flavour of sensuality.

The designer says that seeing women wearing Cult Gaia, "never gets old" finding herself honoured that the brand's ideas and craftsmanship are appreciated and shared with the world. "Without them, Cult Gaia wouldn’t be what it is today," she says.