Amongst all the shows going on during Copenhagen Fashion Week, there was another big event going on in the city: the Copenhagen International Fashion Fair (CIFF). As Northern Europe’s biggest trade show, the fashion fair saw some of Europe’s most exciting emerging and celebrated brands come together under (several) roofs to showcase their collections, brand ethos as well as hosting a couple of the most anticipated shows in the fashion week schedule.
Launched in 1993, CIFF has been showing pretty regularly since – twice a year and building up a solid reputation since. Bridging the areas of education, industry, commerce and creativity, this year saw the fair focus on culture. More specifically, CIFF are concerned with showcasing how fairs can act as platforms and gateways to the culture of where they’re located – which with Copenhagen, will always be a delight.
In practice, this saw some of Denmark’s up and coming design talent take to the stage. Tobias Birk Nielsen’s Iso.Poetism showed early in the week, presenting a post-apocalyptic take on high fashion. Allusions to gorpcore and ‘the transcendental’ permeated the collection, which also saw distressed knits, brutalised silhouettes and an industrial overhanging take precedence.
Closing the week in another one of CIFF’s huge spaces was Rotate, which brought bright colours, sparkling details and more than a couple of blazer-clad influencers to the site. Elsewhere, the fair floor was populated with brands from Labrum London to Han Kjøbenhavn, showcasing everything from high-grade outerwear to fine jewellery. Alongside talks from industry leaders and a new hand-picked vintage section curated by the Salvation Army, the fair offered a full day out to those eager for inspiration and talent.
Infusing everything though was the Danish philosophy of Andelsbevæglese – directly translated as Cooperative Movement – which is one of “moving together as a community to create better terms for all through co-ownership and participation; pulling together to create something bigger and better than the sum of its constituent parts, as a celebration of the exponential returns generated by cooperation and togetherness”.
As an integral part of the growth of Copenhagen Fashion Week and popularisation of Danish fashion across the globe, CIFF’s showcasing of Danish cultural ideals of work-life balance, enjoyment and aesthetics, as well as it’s aesthetic values of Scandinavian design and modernism truly cement it as a central fixture in the schedule. See you next year?
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