What inspires your creative process? Were there any specific moments or influences that drew you to create this latest collection?
Elisa Trombatore: Dreaming Eli is for me a way to express my intimate journey as a woman in this world. Each collection is inspired by what I'm facing in my personal life, as well as what's happening in the lives of the women around me. It's all about the process of understanding our place in a man-centred society and confronting ourselves with inbuilt notions of "right and wrong"—and how these resonate with our own individual experience of the world.
The Dead Woman Talks Back starts from the urge to put out in the world my inner joys and struggles and how these contribute to the conversation about femininity and feminism, from both a historical and contemporary perspective.
Could you share the story behind the brand name 'Dreaming Eli'?
Elisa Trombatore: I've always had a unique relationship with reality. I’ve always believed that if we have any scope in this world, it is to acknowledge the reality we are born into, experience it fully, and fight to change it, to improve it, to challenge it—in a constant process of construction and deconstruction.
When you're a dreamer, when you're obsessed with pink and all things stereotypically related to femininity, people don’t always take you seriously. After all, a woman has to be dressed in a man’s suit to command respect, isn’t that so? But on the contrary, this process of dreaming—as romantic and sensitive as it can be—is also a feral act of survival, of burning ambition. It’s the very combination of both softness and fierceness that Dreaming Eli is made of.
At Heist, we deeply resonate with this duality. Our tights and shapewear don’t constrain, but empower—supporting the body to move freely, shaping each moment rather than controlling it.
What advice have you received that has stayed with you?
Elisa Trombatore: Be real, be true to yourself. In a society and a system that want to shape us in a certain way, find your own way, speak your own voice, and seek the difference—the diversity. Don’t be afraid of standing out. It doesn’t matter if people won’t understand your vision—fight for it, stick to it, make them believe in it as much as you do.
Central Saint Martins was the most incredible battleground to learn and practice this skill. It’s what still keeps me going in the real world.
In a season that celebrates movement - of ideas, identity, and self-expression - Heist is happy to support Dreaming Eli at London Fashion Week AW24. Because when you’re on the move, Heist moves with you.
