Exclusive Look: A Sneak Peek At ASTA RESORT’s Latest Spring Summer Collection

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By Natalie McGowan | 29th February 2024

Picture this: it’s a balmy summer night, and you’re heading out for drinks with your girlfriends. What are you wearing? For many, the answer is simple: ASTA RESORT.

The embodiment of endless summer, the Aussie-born resort wear label has rapidly risen to success since its humble beginnings in 2021. Inspired by Founder Helena Ammitzboell’s connection to her Danish heritage and memories of days spent under the European sun, the label has cultivated a loyal following and is showing no signs of slowing down.

We chatted with Helena and her sister and Co-Designer, Jasmine Ammitzboell, ahead of the launch of their SS24 collection.

Tell me how ASTA RESORT began and what inspired you to start your own brand.

Helena: I studied design at UNSW where I worked with lots of different mediums and found myself using the same motifs, which ended up as the first version of our Delilah Jacquard print. I just got hooked on making my own clothes. After that, I kind of just elbowed my way into the industry. We found knitwear manufacturers in Indonesia, China, and then Europe. All just by following the trail and taking things further and further. It just grew from there.

How would you describe the ASTA RESORT wearer?

Jasmine: She loves to go out. She is social, for sure. She likes to be seen and to dress up.

Helena: She doesn’t take life too seriously. She loves fun pieces and colour.

What is your design process and where do you find inspiration?

Jasmine: We have the same memories so we are always referencing the same experiences through our designs. We tend to start with a destination in mind, like where we want to shoot. For this collection, we chose Florence because it’s the hub of knitwear in Italy. It’s got this beautiful connection to craftsmanship that we adore. The history and the quality are so beautiful. We’ve also drawn a lot of inspiration from vintage magazines, especially 1960’s Italia Vogue. It’s kind of been a new era for us, which has been fun to step into.

How has the rise of TikTok affected your brand’s growth?

Helena: We accredit everything to social media. I would wake up to random girls from America who would post a TikTok in our bikinis that would sell out while I was sleeping. I can’t imagine trying to get your product to move, no matter how good of a designer you are, without having success on those platforms. We were really lucky with that, but I think it just goes back to the nature of the clothes. They’re very eye-catching and photogenic.

Tell me about the decision to move your headquarters to LA and how that has affected your brand’s growth.

Helena: That was unexpected. We had a pop-up in LA last year and found everything was just falling into place. We arrived, and the next day Bella Hadid posted a photo in our swimsuit. Then, three weeks later, Hailey Bieber came around as well. It was wild. We really connected with our US customer and it actually quickly outgrew the Australian market. We wanted to ensure we were there to capture it all as best we could. We also wanted to facilitate convenience for deliveries and returns, so we had to put in all the infrastructure to be able to sell seamlessly to the US customer. We also found amazing team members from Khaite and Ralph Lauren who wanted to get behind us, which was really exciting. The move was also very refreshing creatively.

You teamed up with Khaite alumni Conley Averett to execute your new Spring Summer ‘24 knitwear collection, with all production moving to Italy and Portugal. How did this collaboration come about?

Helena: Conley is an amazing creative partner to have on our team. We have strong family values and a very close-knit team, and with him coming from a huge, high-velocity company like Khaite, it was so different to what he was used to. We had a lot in common, but really different experiences. We were interested in how we could marry the ASTA creative vision with the technicalities and design details that he brings. He’s great.

What role do Italian fabrics play in shaping ASTA RESORT’s new aesthetic, and what unique qualities do they bring to the brand’s designs?

Helena: We continue to use knitwear as a means of almost zero-waste production and as a method to instil a higher amount of human sentiment into fashion. I really love to keep alive the traditional techniques of jacquard and jersey. The regions we are making in are the best in the world at their craft and that is valued by the brand. We get pulled into any world of artisanship. Ultimately, we prioritise rich tradition as much as innovation.

What else do you have in the pipeline for ASTA RESORT?

Jasmine: Right now, the campaign we just shot. It feels more elevated than anything we’ve done before. I hadn’t been on a shoot like that before, it was our biggest production to date. There were fourteen people on set and a really great team from Paris that we worked with. So we’re just getting that out and then we have Pre-Fall.

Helena: Yes, and a category expansion happening later in the year. In our SS24 collection, we used beads from India to emphasise the ASTA sparkle. This was new for us in our material process and it paid off so well. We are looking to create other products that complement and complete the world of ASTA. So there’s lots in the works!