The Helen Sweatshirt

Helen — known best by only her first name — did not have a childhood that afforded her the dreams she eventually rose to make a reality. Born Helen Ann Richardson in 1938 to Burmese and Anglo-Indian parents in Myanmar (then British Burma), she spent her early years enduring tragedy after tragedy. Her father died in World War II, and her mother and siblings fled to Assam, India, to escape the Japanese occupation of Burma. Merely five years old, Helen trekked through wilderness and “hundreds of villages,” penniless and hungry. She saw her mother suffer a miscarriage along the way due to exhaustion and malnutrition, and several others in the group succumb to disease. Within two months of their arrival in Assam, she lost one of her brothers to smallpox. The remaining three siblings and mother led a hand-to-mouth life, moving from city to city until they ended up in Bombay the year India broke free from the British Raj.

A star was instantly born from the explosion Howrah Bridge made at the box office. The masses fell hopelessly in love and would remain captivated by Helen for decades to come. She shimmied into their hearts as Mehbooba in Sholay (1975) and seduced them silly as Monica in Caravan (1971). With over 500 films to her name by the early 1980s, Helen had created and pioneered her own genre in Bollywood — she walked so item girls could run. Helen took up space in an industry of angry young heroes and demure, quiet heroines. She made her presence known and was a brand at the peak of her career, giving even more average films a facelift by simply appearing in them for a few precious minutes.

Helen’s expressive face grabbed filmmakers’ attention. It was clear she could act, too, but she’d need a role suited for her caliber. She played the lead heroine in only a few films, but it wasn’t her calling. Helen was never the goody two-shoes damsel in distress that has been central to every story since the dawn of Bollywood. She opted, instead, to rule as the pin-up vamp: a murderous seductress bathed in luxury who was often the mistress or girlfriend of a male villain.

• 80% organic cotton, 20% recycled polyester
• 100% organic cotton exterior
• Frenchy terry knit
• Set-in sleeves
• 2×2 rib at collar
• Self-fabric neck tape
• Blank product sourced from Bangladesh

Disclaimer: US customers should order a size up as the EU sizes for this supplier correspond to a smaller size in the US market.

This product is made especially for you as soon as you place an order, which is why it takes us a bit longer to deliver it to you. Making products on demand instead of in bulk helps reduce overproduction, so thank you for making thoughtful purchasing decisions!

Size guide