Oslo is studded with buildings built in the functionalist style, a particularly Scandinavian form of modernism that was enthusiastically taken up and developed by young architects in the late 1920s, particularly in Norway. Its central tenet – perhaps unsurprisingly, given its name –is that form must follow function. The Oslo City Hall, a prime example, is a vast monolith, with two large towers and a huge central hall – a monument to practicality, durability and permanence. 

Norwegian brand Holzweiler takes up this functionalist heritage and transforms it into clothes that are, above all, engineered for protection from the biting cold. When siblings Susanne and Andreas Holzweiler established their eponymous brand in 2012, it was with a deep apprehension of Norway’s freezing winters. They began with a line of silk, lambswool and cashmere scarves, and extended into ready-to-wear a mere two years later, with a fo- cus on outerwear, knitwear and winter accessories – hats, mittens, sleek but sturdy bags and snoods. In a country where the ground temperature in winter can drop to -40°C, quality materials are imperative. Holzweiler’s technical down jackets feature heat-sealed tunnels and are laminated with a hydrophilic membrane coating, ensuring the wearer stays cosy on the slopes or even just on the street, no matter what weather the Nordavind brings. 

Yet if this all sounds altogether too pious and practical, think again. Step inside the Oslo Town Hall and you’ll catch your breath – the inside of this space is covered with soaring murals depicting scenes from Norwegian history, culture and everyday life, the result of a contest held in 1937 to decide who would decorate the interior (8 painters and 17 sculptors were chosen). So, too, does Holzweiler marry functionality to fashion and art, and has undertaken since their launch a series of collaborations with artists that incorporate their work into design. The skiing collection seen across these pages was launched to compliment the main collection for AW25, to reflect that skiing is in fact an key part of many Norwegians’ daily lives. In terms of stylishness it’s no different to the brand’s other offerings, featuring elegant silhouettes and playful font treatments in which the letters that make up the logo appear to hover from the textile’s surface (as weightless, perhaps, as the skier seeks to be).

Nature plays just as inspirational a role for the brand as the urban environment. Flat rubber boots help to spread the wearer’s weight out over the snow, just as reindeer hooves splay out for maximum purchase, and its padded jackets come in brushed cotton in the mossy green of forests, the slate-grey of mountains, the blues of fjords, and the shocking white of snow. This is clothing that functions like a passport – it gives the wearer the ability to venture deep into the mountains and soar across the snow. In fashion, we talk a lot about freedom, but this is real liberty – a means by which one can journey to the heart of this wild, wild world. .