In August’s simmering heat, Copenhagen Fashion Week came to a close as all good things here do – by the water, early evening, and with the involvement of bikes. Ganni wrapped up the week’s proceedings on one of the city’s harbour piers, closing a week of debuts, dynamism and spotlighting within the Danish and international fashion scene. We’ve rounded up a few of the not-to-be-missed and the collections which made an impact this season, to get you caught up before September arrives.
P.L.N SAID DARK & DISTRESSED
P.L.N kicked things off on Tuesday, making its runway debut in one of Copenhagen’s industrial areas. Driven on a conceptual hinge, P.L.N. self-descibes as “an introspective, open-ended clothing line, gradually sampled and defined in fractions – piece by piece”. The collection was dark, grungy and distressed – weathered leathers and deconstructed knits forced silhouettes to deviate from the set norm, which is a sentiment that the brand operates within.
Borrowing from moto, workwear and clubwear aesthetics, P.L.N’s first fashion week offering was cohesive, confident and pushed a clear narrative – getting the week off to a strong start.
LOOK BOTH WAYS BEFORE YOU CROSS BAUM UND PFERDGARTEN
On the lighter end of the spectrum, Baum Und Pferdgarten shut down a street in the city centre to present a collection of elevated tailoring, an archival deep-dive and an ode to the well-dressed women of Europe. Both paying tribute to and reworking the classic wardrobe essentials, the designers revisited the iconic pieces in the 23 year legacy of the house and extracted the elements that are fundamentally Baum und Pferdgarten: flower prints, oversized styling, pinstripes, leopard and reinterpretations of the BP monogram.
With throngs of guests sitting kerbside, the show’s energy and unity was encapsulated in the show’s close: models walking en masse down the pink lined street to the thumping beats of the city.
POST-APOCALYPTIC GORPCORE? ISO.POETISM SAID SNM
Iso.Poetism under Tobias Birk Nielsen was one of the most anticipated shows in the schedule, showing under the Copenhagen International Fashion Fair who have been supporting and incubating the designer for this season. Presenting a post-apocalyptic ode to gorpcore, collection details included intricately bleached knits, hazmats-turned-high-fashion, and heavily distressed tailoring.
Elsewhere, sweeping halterneck dresses were industrialised with textured material, and functional body vests grounded the collection in wearability.
AND THE AWARD FOR LONGEST CATWALK GOES TO…GANNI
Ganni’s recent expansion has seen it become an internationally renowned brand – so all eyes turned to the brand for its show yesterday. Taking over a pier, models cycled, strutted and ran down the extra-long catwalk to a soundtrack of the forgotten hits of the last decade. Tunes ranged from high BPM tech to The Wannadies’ You & Me – and models broke out from their usual straight-faced focus to sing, dance and stroll.
The collection itself celebrated colours, textures and proportions. Pinks and oranges were paired, and we saw this season’s obsession with denim spill over into the collection too, thanks to a collaboration with Levis.
UNITED AND TRIPPING IN (DI)VISION
Although Copenhagen pushes the ‘clean girl’ aesthetic in its street style, there are also pockets of the city which champion slow-pace, liberal values and psychedelic experiences: just take Freetown Christiana. This was an ethos carried through into (di)vision’s presentation, set in a forest and lit by mushroom-shaped lights which lined the catwalk and doubled as bags.
Referencing nature in the experience and collection, we saw fur-trimmed denim, reworked military allusions and a playful blending of leathers and silks in what was a standout collection this season.
STINE GOYA EXPLODED ON TO THE SCENE, LITERALLY
Stine Goya recalls power dressing for the modern woman – something evident in this season’s collection and the guests which graced the FROW. From sequin slips to more than a hint of Balenciaga-inspired silhouettes, the bold femininity of this show was juxtaposed with the underground mix which soundtracked it, and the live-exploding set which the models were set against.
Tall pillars in the runway’s centre collapsed into mounds of brightly coloured sand at key points within the show – was it the music setting it off, or the wires that ran between them? Some things are best left to the unknown.
HELLO KITTY COLLABS HAVE OUR SOUL(LAND)
One of the more surprising cameos from this week was Hello Kitty – which graced Soulland’s collection in the form of leather embossments and all-over monograms. Elsewhere, we saw marshmallow-plumped sliders and a preoccupation with corduroy inform this collection from the skate brand turned fashion house.
More on CULTED
See also: GUCCI SETS ITSELF CARBON NEUTRAL CHALLENGE
See also: TO CRITICS, CHANEL’S DIGITAL SHOW DID NOT LOOK TO THE FUTURE
