Denmark, the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen, is often described as a land of fairy tales. It’s a kind of shorthand that attempts to capture the charm of this small country, where white swans swim on lakes in the middle of the capital, and where beautiful people pedal by on bikes. As design-conscious as the country is, the fashion here follows democratic principles: good accessible design for many. These are clothes for real life, neither workaday, nor extreme. As Goldilocks might have it, they are just right.
The fantasy element at CPHFW is often to be found in the locations, sets, performances, and hospitality. This spring 2024 season there were talking trees at Ganni, while Stine Goya presented her show on the street where she lives, with models walking around tables laid as if for Alice’s tea party.
A connection to place was also seen in designers’ use of “home textiles.” Antique linens inspired some of the white work techniques applied to subtly seductive pieces at The Garment where the dual roles of women were explored. Also homey was pajama dressing, and prints featuring food and tableware that referenced the hyggeligt lifestyle celebrated in publications like Kinfolk. Bonnets and headscarves referred back to the rural agricultural roots of the Nordics, and round hardware fastenings and pendants nodded at Viking tradition.
The “shiny, happy” narrative spun around CPHFW, perhaps the most Instagrammable of the fashion weeks, was not abetted by the sun this season. If spirits were high, skies were gray. Variable weather is the reality in this part of the world, not the exception, which might explain why layering is such an important aspect of Scandi-style. For spring, Danish designers offered a master class on how to wear skirts or dresses over pants, tanks over shirts, and tees over blazers. “More Is More” is the slogan for this year’s Copenhagen Opera Festival, but it could be applied, in a broad stroke to Danish fashion, which is defined by color, print, and a kind of arty individualism more so than strict minimalism.
Denim is the core of a contemporary and casual wardrobe and this season many designers translated the “Canadian tuxedo” into denim sets. At Sunflower, Laid Back performed their 1983 chart-topper “White Horse” while models sported Age of Aquarius-style jeans.
Elisabet Stamm, who founded her namesake brand in 2020, put her heart into a hip-hop rave collection that was the surprise hit of the season. It opened with “dirty” denim, but was mostly focused on beautifully colored and proportioned iterations of activewear destined for a hip-hop rave. Here was a viable counterpart to the Ganni girl and a different take on bohemianism, one more connected with hip-hop, with a free-spiritedness that forms a continuum among hippies, ravers, and a new Scandinavia, one populated by many “Third culture kids,” like the the artist Silvana Imam, who performed live at the show.
Imam, it turns out, will play Hamlet in a Swedish production later this year. It’s that troubled Dane who spoke of “something rotten in the state of Denmark.” Rockin’ is more the vibe today, and credit for that is partly due to Peter Lundvald Nielsen of P. L. N. who three seasons ago revealed a darker side to Scandi style. This goth-ier aspect of the regional scene was well represented this season. Martin Quad wrote a broody, macabre opera which was performed during his off-schedule multimedia fashion happening; and Carl Ollson and Felix von Bahder, founders of the Swedish upcycling brand Deadwood, tapped the stylist Billy Lobos to conjure post-apocalyptic fashion. Representing Finland were Jimi Vain and Roope Reinol of Vain, which has achieved cult status (with a viral McDonald’s collab) and industry credibility (their work will be displayed at The Museum at FIT this fall).
Both Nielsen and Vain told me they were personally grappling with the chaos of the world. The former externalized his angst in a defensive way, with American football references and dysmorphic styling, while Vain’s response was more subtle (a sharply tailored suit was lined with the material used for body bags) and poignant. At the end of Vain’s show, a muscle-bound model dropped a heart-shaped cement balloon tethered to a chain. The thud was heartbreaking, a way of communicating pain and hope without words.
Tailoring regularly trumps flou at CPHFW. For spring the boyfriend jacket made room for a cropped version, cut midriff-length or higher. Bras, often paired with blazers, came out from under, and none were more charming that the cloud bra with pendant rain drops made in collaboration between Emilie Helmstedt and New York’s Susan Alexandra. But as for flou, there were many and various bridal looks on offer. Buzzy newcomer Nicklas Skovgaard dreamed up a My Fair Lady-style number while at P. L. N. the bride matched her mouthguard to her dress. Something new, rather than blue….
“Say Yes to Everything,” read a Stamm slogan, and it seems an accurate summation of the appetite and interest in Scandi fashion fostered at Copenhagen Fashion Week.
LOCAL VIBES
The Noma Effect
Home Textiles
Cool Heads
Viking Treasure
DRESSING FOR THE WEATHER
Cloud Cover
Lessons in Layering
TAILORING
Horsemen of the Apocolypse
Restraint
Put It in Reverse
Cropped Jackets
KEEP IT CASUAL
Dirty Denim
Denim Sets
Lookalike Denim
School Days
Rave Revival
IT’S A WOMAN’S WORLD
Look-at-Me Bras
Alternabrides
