FFORME was founded in 2021 by two businesswomen rather than a designer, which is still unusual enough to be worth saying out loud. Nina Khosla and Laura Vazquez hired Paul Helbers, a menswear veteran of Margiela, Louis Vuitton and The Row, and he built the first collection on a sewing machine in Brittany during lockdown. The double F stands for fundamental and foundational, and the brand has never really strayed from that.
FFORME
A label built backwards
Most new brands start with a designer and look for money. FFORME started with money, a thesis and a phone call to Helbers a week into the 2020 lockdown, and debuted at New York Fashion Week in September 2022 with an all-black installation and a collection built from five fabrics.
Dresses drawn as architecture
Helbers came from menswear and approached womenswear as a construction problem, starting his first collection with the sleeves because that is where the body expresses itself. Frances Howie, who trained under Alber Elbaz at Lanvin, took over the design in 2025 and kept the discipline.
Our honest take
FFORME arrived exactly as the industry decided to call everything quiet luxury, and it has outlasted the phrase. Small collection, few fabrics, no noise. That restraint is the product.
