What life is like in Christiania, Copenhagen’s colourful hippie commune

"You are now entering the European Union" reads a hand-carved wooden sign which is often the last thing visitors to one of the world’s few self-governing societies, Christiania, see as they step back under conventional rule, into the busy streets of Copenhagen and return to the ‘real world’ once again. But for the 1000 inhabitants, known as 'Christianites', that reside inside the former military base turned anarchist’s playground, an entirely different way of life calls.

For fifty years, since the freetown was first established in 1971, its residents – a hodgepodge of freethinkers, artists, musicians, and activists – have flown their own flag and lived by their own rules. And even though anyone, including tourists, is free to meander over the cobblestones of Pusher Street, the area in Christiania where cannabis is sold openly, the car-free enclave remains something of a mystery to outsiders. But to fashion designer and artist Emilie Helmstedt, 29, who spent six years living there, it will always feel like home. “It's a place where I can express myself – it's a very different way of living,” she explains.

“For residents, their home is not just a home, it’s an artistic project. In other areas of Copenhagen, you live in a square with a flat above you and one beside you. It goes on and on, from block to block, with none of the neighbours talking to each other. Whereas Christiania is a small community, you feel really close to the people there.”

Helmstedt first fell in love with the utopian-style commune as a 15-year-old, spending almost every day hanging out at the freetown’s Månefiskeren [The Moon Fish], a cafe and live music venue, after school. But it wasn’t until she moved into a female collective in 2016, in an old military barrack on Fredens Ark, that she became fully immersed in its creative hive.

“I worked at Christiania’s famous ironsmith, the Women's Smithy, which is run entirely by women,” she explains, “I had previously worked with a lot of fabrics, so, instead, I wanted to work with materials with a stronger construction.” Ultimately she found her way back to fashion, training at the Royal Danish Academy of fine arts where she experimented with painting oil on fabric before creating her own otherworldly, whimsical pieces and launching her eponymous brand in 2018. “The dresses were like one big piece of wearable art,” she says.

“I get a lot of my inspiration from fairytales and HC Andersen,” details Helmstedt, “but also from what I see around me.” And certainly, the impact that our homes and environment have on the creative process shouldn’t be underestimated. For Helmstedt, it was the spirited community’s make-do-and-mend approach to life – best exemplified in the self-built houses that line the area’s lakeside – that so appealed, eventually leaving an imprint in her own work.

“Those that don't have much money use what they have – I really like that mindset and I use it every day,” she says of her practice of utilising only waste materials in her shows and creating pieces that bypass seasonal trends and stand the test of time: “I never make things without an identity.” In fact, Helmstedt hosted her first-ever sale in her own back garden in Christiania, using an old washing line to string up 50 of her pieces and painting the surrounding buildings with little men playing instruments. “It was very intuitive and intimate,” she recalls.

So when it came time to unveil her playful designs to the rest of the (fashion) world, it was her home community that stepped up to help. “My first show at Copenhagen Fashion Week was in Christiania’s theatre, The Opera, which feels like you’re entering a circus from the seventies. Doing a fashion show can cost at least 200,000 kroner, but I was able to do it for free because I was living in Christiania. I could never have started the brand so easily if I hadn't been.”

The entire fantastical, watery set, themed around an old picture book Benny’s bathtub, was created from repurposed items, the drapes were old theatre curtains, and the fish were made from pieces of secondhand fabric, all salvaged from the freetown’s recycling stations. “We used what we could find,” explains the designer, “The Danish actress Victoria Carmen Sonne opened the show wearing goggles, and my friends carried out a bathtub borrowed from Christiania’s Green Hall, a shopping mall for recycled things. I fell in love with the community’s sharing mentality.”

Even now, eight months on from her six-year spell in this remarkable neighbourhood, with the coveted Magasin Du Nord Fashion Prize under her belt and newly crowned one of this year’s Forbes 30 under 30, Helmstedt still often finds herself drawn back to her old stomping ground, wandering around its waterside with just her thoughts and daydreams. “I love to walk there, you always find something new to look at. Inspiration comes when you pause and sit with it,’ she says, ‘and then, you can slowly build your way.”