Nicklas Skovgaard burst onto the Copenhagen Fashion Week (CPHFW) scene a year and a half ago with a performance-based Spring/Summer 2023 fashion show, where dancer Britt Liberg dressed herself in looks from the collection, one by one, while dancing around the space. Since, Skovgaard has become one of the most talked about labels on the CPHFW schedule. And now, after a presentation last season, he’s returning to the runway on Tuesday, with a fresh show concept and a new design language that feels “a little more dramatic”.
Skovgaard is known for his playful silhouettes and ’80s-inspired high-octane glamour, including drop-waist dresses with pannier skirts, metallic and latex peplum tops and OTT draping in leather and jersey. But the designer is exploring a change of direction for AW25, to continue the momentum of his budding brand. “For quite some time, my past collections have gone into this very ’80s vibe,” he says. “When I started working on this collection back in autumn, I tried to take a step back and rethink some of the silhouettes that I was doing. There’s still an ’80s influence, but it’s a fresh take — that’s how I’d describe it.”
Skovgaard launched his brand in 2021 almost by accident. After discovering a children’s loom in a thrift shop on holiday nearly five years ago, he began making clothes and posting them on Instagram. When people started to respond, he was encouraged to launch a label. The brand is now stocked by nine stores including Ssense, Dover Street Market Paris, Mr Larkin (Copenhagen), Absolutely Fabrics (Toronto), The Menu (Antwerp), and Maimoun and Café Forgot (both New York). He was selected as part of the CPHFW New Talent programme for SS23, which provided support for his last three outings. While revenues remain in the low six figures, his business has doubled every year since launch.
After two seasons on the show schedule, Skovgaard staged a presentation last edition so audiences could spend more time with the clothes. (It was also the first season CPHFW included presentations on the official schedule.) Staying true to his DNA, the presentation featured models dancing and twirling through the space, while guests enjoyed sipping on beers. While he was “proud of what they did”, Skovgaard found that the presentation received less concentrated attention than the shows before it, and he decided to return to the runway for AW25. “I’m a new brand, and it’s still nice to navigate what works and doesn’t work,” he says.
Whether a presentation or a show, performance is a crucial component of Skovgaard’s brand. “My collections are about the narrative and the character that you can make out of the clothes,” he says. “For me, that is why I started loving fashion when I was a child. I loved the theatre of it, how you can transform through clothes. I want the fun element of fashion, which I think is key to my creativity.”
Growing gradually, learning from other brands
While he’s always keen to pick up new stockists, he’s also content growing gradually and forming long-term partnerships with stores. “I am being very careful and mindful about what retailers I take on, what markets I focus on,” he says (for now, that’s Europe and the US). “I want to make good products and have a dialogue with retail partners to understand what’s working.”
“We’ve seen some really good results. It started in very small numbers, but I see that it’s slowly growing into something bigger,” he continues. Skovgaard has resolved to say no to potential stockists if it’s going to pose challenges with production or cash flow. “When stores are willing to buy a collection it’s hard. And when you know the numbers could be bigger, you’re tempted. But it’s more important to navigate things the right way.”
He’s also happy to learn from other Scandi labels. For SS25, Danish megabrand Ganni tapped the young designer to consult on some dresses for its Paris debut. “Being a very small brand, it was a great opportunity to see how a bigger brand operates and hear their thoughts on design,” he says. The most valuable lesson was seeing how they build a collection across different categories and styles.
Skovgaard will collaborate with Danish footwear brand Ecco on the upcoming show, redesigning some of its core styles to match his aesthetic. While the shoes won’t go into commercial production, Skovgaard is keen to explore footwear and accessories looking ahead. “It’s something that I’ve been thinking about for some seasons, this idea of introducing more accessories to the collection. It’s something the retailers are asking for and it makes sense. I see it from a lot of emerging brands — they are selling really well in terms of shoes and bags,” he explains. However, it’s a costly process to develop new categories. The Ecco partnership has allowed him to explore what Nicklas Skovgaard shoes could be, without having to pay for the privilege. “They may just be show pieces for the show. But I’m really looking forward to seeing if that’s a direction we could go in.”
Though many Scandi brands decamp to Paris when they reach a certain size or level of stardom, Skovgaard is happy to have started out at CPHFW, and is keen to stay put for now. “Being an emerging brand in Copenhagen has been so helpful, they are actually capable of flying in some pretty good [press and buyers],” he says. “I’ve never done a show in Paris, so I don’t really know how it works in terms of being an emerging brand but I have an idea that maybe it’s a lot harder.”
While he’s ambitious, the designer doesn’t necessarily have a five-year plan. “Being a new brand, it’s been important to take things season to season,” he says. “I’m not too set on: ‘In five years, I want to be here.’ When we spoke the last time, of course, I hoped that I was in the place where I am right now!”
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