COPENHAGEN FASHION WEEK CARVES THE FUTURE

With a small, largely local crowd showing up to participate in the first major Fashion Week since COVID-19, the hybrid presentations consisting of digital approach and physical showcasing were entirely more personal. In absence of the mega influencers and wannabes, fashion folks had a more relaxed schedule with fewer show attendees. They had time to really focus on the happenings on site after being caged up for months at home.

The future of the fashion industry is currently uncertain: pessimists foresee the industry’s ruin, while optimists see true value in rethinking the traditional system of showing, delivering, and discounting collections to better match today’s globalized digital world. Copenhagen Fashion Week is taking modern showcasing to the next level by combining physical happenings and digital shows, talks, and events all within 72hours– Welcome to the Digital Age.

Striving toward making changes to the way Fashion Week is executed and to encourage the industry to take steps towards sustainability, designers debuted their Spring Summer 2021-collections in a hybrid-format with beliefs in the value of standing together in an era where nothing is as it was.

We all know and love the pretty and practical Scandi-Chic. To remain true to the aesthetics of the Danish capital, the resulting style showcased a greater range of looks, and showgoers experimented more after spending their last months in day-pajamas.

Ahead, find the fashion highlights and those who are leading the new age in Copenhagen:

Designers Remix:
Designers Remix made it clear once and for all that, they are a sustainable-approached brand. The Danish avantgarde-brand showcased a full collection of upcycled pieces for SS21 and made a statement for slow fashion and diversity as they featured a wider range of models in their this season’s fashion presentation.

A line of upcycled deadstock of past collections Designers Remix remained faithful to its name and remixed their unsold pieces so create new garments. Propositions were reimagined and used in one-of-a-kind styles, featuring billowing proportions and maximizing volumes. There was a creative flair that translated to an artisanal approach, capturing a wardrobe that mixes “new life” and helps to “close the loop” on waste.

Ganni:
Last season Danish cult label kicked off the new decade questioning „What will the 2020s bring us?“. Not only 6 months later the not so golden 2020s challenged Ganni’s Creative Directors Ditte and Nicolaj Reffstrup to rethink their whole system. After international lock-down, they came back with a bold and beautiful bang and created a pop-up kiosk instead of a traditional runway show. Ganni showcased their newest collection in an installation-style exhibition, featuring seven artists that continue to explore the present time we live in through various mediums.

While there are more eye-catching swimwear options next season, Ganni continues to demonstrate its commitment to responsible fashion and organic materials, with a signature that focuses on voluminous sleeves and feminine dresses.

Remain:
The Thorvaldsen Museum in the heart of Copenhagen is known for its neoclassical architecture and hosted in its courtyard Remain’s SS21 collection fashion presentation. With a 100-square-meter mirror stage that encapsulated a beautiful contrast to the museum’s quintessential ambiance, they captured this season’s mood inspired by the essence of the eternally modern soul Françoise Hardy (French singer-songwriter and 1960s and style icon) perfectly.

Danish Fashion brand Remain inculcated a sensual playfulness, for what Scandi-Fashion is known for, referencing a break from archetypal codes of tailoring and updating outerwear through a sophisticated touch. The narrative explores garments in both playful and naïve ways, redefining the brand’s language with modern elegance.

Baum und Pferdegarten:
Taking inspiration from the increasingly digital world, the creative directors from such a niche brand in Denmark were eager to explore the human affinity to technology, especially in our current circumstances caused by COVID-19, that has forced society to depend increasingly on digital frontiers. These thoughts were reflected throughout the collection in futuristic fabrics such as patent faux leather, shiny nylons, and hammered polyester, combined with typical Danish silhouettes, gentle volume, and discreet deconstruction. Very remarkable are their skills in soft tailoring with boxy waistcoats and cinched waists, allowing the wearer to adapt to their new normal through versatile proportions.

Baum und Pferdegarten was one of the few brands that showcased their collection as a runway show.

Helmstedt:
Helmstedt was founded by Emilie Helmstedt in 2018. She debuted with her first collection Oceania SS19 during Copenhagen Fashion Week in August 2018 and quickly received international recognition. Helmstedt favors a merge between the two worlds where quality, comfort, and colours come first. Colour and prints drive the universe of Helmstedt, making her happy, making her breathe. The collection contains soft sets in silk velvet with piping details. Ruffled collared dresses and hand quilted jackets in heavy silk filled with organic cotton. Furthermore, toweling sets, crispy trousers in silk cotton, and more to come.

Stine Goya:
Central Saint-Martins Alumni Stine Goya brought color back to almost hopeless times. She finds joy in the everyday moments of life and celebrates the expression and the creative spirit of her community. Her key-aesthetics, the bold colours paired with exciting patterns, are once again the core of her latest SS21-collection.
Inspired by the Fauvist movements’ (a group of early 20th-century modern artists) emphasize on strident colours and abstraction, this season’s main prints are scenes from the everyday happenings and experiences of the House of Goya  as a fashion installation mixing physical and digital approaches.

Søren Le Schmidt:
Since the brand was used to experimenting with locations it was a true relief that his show had to take place outside. He has always been a huge fan of an outdoor catwalk in the evening sunlight inside Villa Copenhagen’s spacious courtyard as the official closing show of Copenhagen Fashion Week SS21.

Søren Le Schmidt is most commonly associated not only with red carpet designs for celebrities in Denmark and abroad but a fashion label featuring skillful and exquisite tailoring. This season, the SLS collection is, as usual, based on old school tailoring. High quality and skillfulness, alongside with rockabilly and new playful edge throughout the collection, experimenting with coarse metal buttons and solid silver zippers were no big surprise.

(di)vision:
The newcomer-fashion brand (di)vision founded in 2018 draws inspiration from constant exposure of creativity in their everyday environment and the urge to create themselves. With a sustainable mindset, they create by taking already existing items and producing something new out of them, giving it a new expression and point of view. With the environment in mind, almost everything they create is reconstructed and sewed and crafted in their design studio in Copenhagen.

(di)vision debuted their latest collection in a fashion installation and kept persisting their values by bringing a subtle reconstructed touch to sustainable streetwear.

Henrik Vibskov:
Fashion Designer Henrik Vibskov’s real-time investigation between nature and human survival is key to his practice. Exploring natural phenomena, the contradictory nature of fire and the way it contributes to our way of life is what inspired the team for the SS21 collection. Spread across an installation of human pendulums swung harmoniously, from side to side, on their big rocking horses. Elaborate metaphors and theatricality are the part and parcel of Henrik Vibskov’s collections. Hosted at the Hanging Gardens in Carlsberg Been, Vibskov’s SS21 show emphasized strength, beauty in natural forces, and the ability to grow from chaos even in the most challenging times.

Text: Olivier Mohrińge
Image Courtesy of James Cochrane, CPHFW Image Bank