Peel again the layers of any vogue capital, and also you’ll uncover one thing undeniably distinct. For some cities, it’s the load of historical past, the vibrancy of their tradition, or the attract of their culinary delights. However for others, it’s the artistic power that defines them—the place the style scene is greater than only a set of tendencies; it’s a dwelling, respiration ecosystem that mirrors the spirit of its folks. Enter Copenhagen and, after all, Copenhagen Fashion Week.
Over the previous couple of years, the small however mighty Danish capital has stolen the highlight from Paris and Milan with a brand new wave of homegrown designers and a recent Scandinavian aesthetic that has sparked world fascination. Copenhagen isn’t only a metropolis—it’s a power redefining luxurious and what it means to be a key energy participant within the trade. Ask any vogue editor, they usually’ll let you know that CFW is the occasion they’re most excited to see unfold.
Copenhagen’s vogue scene appears like an antidote to the hypercompetitive, high-stakes ambiance of different vogue capitals. Whereas locations like Paris and New York are recognized for his or her fierce rivalry and sharp elbows, Copenhagen thrives on a spirit of cooperation and inventive exploration. The governing Copenhagen Trend Week council requires collaborating manufacturers to fulfill stringent eco-conscious and variety requirements. Not like the cutthroat ambiance of Paris or New York—the place the competitors can really feel like an Olympic sport—Copenhagen exudes a welcoming, collaborative spirit. It’s much less about elbowing your method to the highest and extra about lifting one another up.
After all, there are challenges. Budgets are tight, sources are restricted, and worldwide press protection can’t at all times compete with the media frenzy in Milan or London. However right here’s the factor: In Copenhagen, it’s not about competing with the massive gamers—it’s about collaboration, innovation, and, above all, group. Designers listed below are invested in one another’s success, which maybe is why it feels so refreshingly genuine. Copenhagen and its crew of cool Scandi and Nordic manufacturers are shaping the way forward for vogue on their very own phrases.
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of manufacturers and Copenhagen Trend Week. Photos of designers: Getty Photos.)
Danish designer Stine Goya, who launched her eponymous label in 2006, has been on the forefront of the scene in Copenhagen. The model returned as soon as once more to the calendar this season, presenting a colourful, intimate have a look at its fall/winter 2025 assortment, full of hand-painted floral patterns and childlike surprise in an homage to the seasons and Goya’s takeover of the museum the place the model hosted its present.
For these unfamiliar with the model and your work, how lengthy have you ever been working within the trade?
I based my model again in 2006 and launched A/W 2007 as my first assortment at CPHFW. In 2017, we celebrated our 10-year anniversary nearly similtaneously we had our worldwide breakthrough with our important use of colours, our personal studio-made creative prints, and daring, sculptural, and female kinds and clothes. Since then, we now have been rising the corporate and are stocked in additional than 200 doorways everywhere in the world, with our dwelling markets—the UK and the U.S.—as focus markets for each wholesale and personal e-commerce.
What’s one factor you want folks knew about what goes on behind the scenes throughout vogue week?
Everyone on the staff is working tremendous onerous to verify all of it comes collectively and to create a particular and coherent expertise presenting the brand new assortment and the narrative behind it for the viewers, consumers, and press. We at all times try to hyperlink all parts—the brand new assortment, our showroom, the style present, the venue, the music, the fashions, hair, make-up, and so forth.,—collectively to amplify the storytelling and content material creation from the displays.
One factor I’ve seen about lots of the manufacturers in Copenhagen is that they depend on one another, with the artistic group being ample, a number of of the identical manufacturing groups, set designers, stylists, photographers, and even designers working with one another to drag off a seamless week. It appears like everyone seems to be supportive of one another and works collectively. Are there any particular tales you possibly can share in regards to the artistic group in Copenhagen relating to working collectively on the success of your model?
Copenhagen is a small metropolis in comparison with many different capitals. Very small. I believe we now have discovered that by working collectively and supporting inside areas that every one of us can profit from, share visions on duty, and so forth. We change into stronger and the style week extra engaging and fascinating. Once we assist one another and have open dialogue, it’s simpler to dare to do new issues, take a look at boundaries, and so forth. Our present this season on the venue 4.5 hours from Copenhagen by prepare turns into attainable solely as a result of we help one another, share a imaginative and prescient, and consider in it. And it occurred. Along with CPHFW, we managed to carry a bit of however sturdy group of press, influencers, and fem consumers to Aalborg to see our present on the wonderful artwork museum Kunsten Museum of Fashionable Artwork Aalborg.
What do you hope folks take away out of your assortment this season?
I hope they see a female, however nonetheless enjoyable and daring Stine Goya assortment in probably the most dreamy state of affairs and the way essential is to me when artwork, vogue, and structure meet.
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of manufacturers and Copenhagen Trend Week. Photos of designers: Getty Photos.)
Rikke Baumgarten and Helle Hestehave have been working collectively for many years, first as college students and now as heavyweight hitters throughout Copenhagen Trend Week. The model’s current assortment, “Heartbeats,” was a masterful lesson in sample and print play for the model, whose seems to be have been full of leopard jackets, glitter lace cardigans, and, after all, a rhinestone-embellished bag seen in any respect Baum und Pferdgarten’s reveals (final season’s was a soccer ball).
For these unfamiliar with the model and your work, how lengthy have you ever been working within the trade?
We began the model again in 1999, proper after we graduated from the Royal Danish Academy. Began in Helle’s bed room and the remainder is historical past!
I’d love to listen to a bit extra in regards to the assortment and this season’s present, particularly because it pertains to manufacturing and really placing on a whole runway spectacle. How lengthy does the method take, from ideating to precise execution?
It takes roughly a 12 months from after we begin discovering the theme for the gathering to indicate it throughout Copenhagen Trend Week. The gathering we confirmed this season is named “Heartbeats” and is a love letter to free-spirited individuality and the joys of embracing what makes the center skip a beat. It’s impressed by the contrasts between the serene appeal of the British countryside and the expressive vibrancy of extra retro and rustic occasions, the gathering brings collectively cherished parts in a playful, “no guidelines” philosophy.
What do you discover particular, revolutionary, or thrilling about exhibiting in Copenhagen?
Copenhagen is our hometown; that is the place we based the model, so it due to this fact makes good sense for us to indicate our collections right here. There’s a sense of true household feeling throughout Copenhagen Trend Week. It’s at all times beautiful to see everybody come again season after season, so it nearly appears like a small reunion each time.
What’s the very first thing you’re trying ahead to doing as soon as your present is over?
Sleep, eat and drink! And to be with our households.
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of manufacturers and Copenhagen Trend Week. Photos of designers: Getty Photos.)
Anybody who’s anybody is itching for a seat on the Rotate present—a spotlight for a lot of throughout Copenhagen Trend Week. The model, internationally beloved by editors and It ladies alike, typically closes out the week of festivities. Designers Jeanette Madsen and Thora Valdimarsdottir have been on the helm of the fête-inspired ready-to-wear model since 2018, fully altering the trade and main the best way for a sexier, extra scandalous Scandinavian get together aesthetic that is change into synonymous with Rotate’s followers.
I’d love to listen to a bit extra in regards to the assortment and this season’s present, particularly because it pertains to manufacturing and really placing on a whole runway spectacle. How lengthy does the method take, from ideating to precise execution?
Jeanette Madsen: The method begins lengthy earlier than the present with brainstorming concepts, sketching designs, and sourcing materials that align with the season’s theme. After that, we transfer into improvement—creating prototypes, refining the main points…
Thora Valdimarsdottir: From there, the actual magic occurs within the manufacturing. The logistics of placing on a runway present aren’t any small feat—discovering the correct venue, assembling the staff, coordinating fittings and rehearsals, after which ensuring every part flows completely. It’s about 4 to 6 months of intense work, however the adrenaline of seeing every part come collectively on the day of the present makes all of it price it. Each element counts—from the fashions’ stroll to the lighting to the music. All of it tells the story of the gathering.
One factor I’ve seen about lots of the manufacturers in Copenhagen is that they depend on one another, with the artistic group being ample, a number of of the identical manufacturing groups, set designers, stylists, photographers, and even designers working with one another to drag off a seamless week. It appears like everyone seems to be supportive of one another and works collectively. Are there any particular tales you possibly can share in regards to the artistic group in Copenhagen relating to working collectively on the success of your model?
TV: There’s this unstated understanding that we’re all in it collectively. I really feel it is so unimaginable how one can simply spot designers and creatives from different manufacturers supporting one another within the reveals. That sense of group is what makes exhibiting in Copenhagen so totally different from anyplace else.
Be trustworthy—have you ever slept?
JM: It’s such an intense interval that working on little to no sleep simply comes with the territory. Between closing fittings, staff check-ins, and people inevitable last-minute modifications, there’s barely a second to cease. The exhaustion solely actually hits after!
What do you hope folks take away out of your assortment this season?
JM: We would like folks to really feel like they need to put on the items immediately after they see them on the runway. The styling can also be a bit toned down to realize that easy however elegant Scandinavian vibe.
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of manufacturers and Copenhagen Trend Week. Photos of designers: Getty Photos.)
Gestuz was based in 2008 by Sanne Sehested and is without doubt one of the most established manufacturers on the Copenhagen Trend Week calendar. This season was centered on love tales—most notably, the one inside oneself. Romantic, rose-inspired prints, company dressing, and innate femininity have been current all through the gathering, a nod to Sehested’s reign as one of many high feminine designers in Scandinavia.
For these unfamiliar with the model and your work, how lengthy have you ever been working within the trade?
I began once I was 15 years previous working in a clothes retailer. Since then, I managed to get accustomed to many points of the trade, every part from design to sourcing and gross sales. In 2008, I used to be lucky sufficient to have the ability to begin Gestuz, and the remainder, as you say, is historical past.
When most individuals think about runway reveals, they think about these large, elaborate units and designs with a whole lot of attendees and a whole lot of hundreds of {dollars} in finances, typically paid by large firms. A lot of the labels exhibiting in Copenhagen are independently owned, and naturally, a lot leaner and honest in scale. What are some challenges you discover you face as a smaller or unbiased model or founder relating to pulling off vogue week?
I don’t assume a lot in regards to the challenges as we now have by no means tried something apart from this. Nevertheless, I believe it permits us to work with newer, up-and-coming companions and discover options that require creativity and pondering in new methods. I believe this truly additionally goes effectively with the Danish mentality and the way I take pleasure in working. It’s extra intimate and a necessity to work intently collectively.
What does your day seem like the morning of a present? Are there any routines or pre-show rituals you partake in to ease the stress or set the tone for the day?
A very powerful factor for me is to be on location from the start. I at all times get up tremendous early. It’s so essential for me to be there seeing the entire set being constructed up, taking within the buzz backstage, speaking with my staff, and attempting to remain calm. There may be at all times such a great vibe backstage. We work with such an amazing staff, all people is so skilled, doing their factor and conserving the stress stage as little as attainable. It’s such a pleasure to only take all of it in regardless that the nerves construct up throughout the day.
What’s the very first thing you’re trying ahead to doing as soon as your present is over?
Have a good time and drink champagne with my staff! None of this could be attainable with out my staff and I simply need to benefit from the night with them.
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of manufacturers and Copenhagen Trend Week. Photos of designers: Getty Photos.)
It’s possible you’ll acknowledge Finnish model Marimekko’s iconic flowers earlier than you acknowledge Rebekka Bay, the lady behind all of it. Though Marimekko has been round lengthy earlier than Bay entered the model within the spring of 2021, the model has seen a breath of recent air since her arrival. Whimsical, colourful flowers aren’t only a key a part of the model’s design ethos; to Bay and her staff, they’re a way of life—every runway assortment or sustainable effort the model undertakes a improvement of the dwelling, respiration Marimekko collective.
It’s typically stated runway reveals are the quiet earlier than the storm. How lengthy do you typically work in your collections earlier than showtime?
Round a 12 months, however I believe the best way we are likely to work is that one 12 months flows considerably into the subsequent 12 months. So, I believe typically the early pondering round a 12 months: this 12 months, we centered on the anatomy of flowers since we’re celebrating the Unniko anniversary, so it truly got here fairly early.
After all, Copenhagen Trend Week is such a pioneer throughout the sustainability house, as is Marimekko. In what methods does the model carry accountable manufacturing and considerate consumption to the runway?
I believe the primary sustainability standards for us, when ideating the gathering, is to at all times intention for timelessness, each in high quality and design. We by no means intention to be overly seasonal or overly trend-driven. I believe already greater than 80% of our supplies are both recycled or natural within the collections, so we’re continuously exploring new supplies and innovation. How will we make issues higher? For instance, we’ve began utilizing algae binders to bind the print and material and conserving circularity in thoughts on our again finish as effectively.
In Copenhagen, it appears like a number of the manufacturers are so community-driven, and infrequently work in partnership, utilizing the identical manufacturing corporations, stylists, or different parts. Do you will have any particular moments of collaboration you possibly can share?
I believe you’re actually relating an essential level as a result of I believe a part of the rationale why we’re exhibiting right here and never some place else, is that Copenhagen [Fashion Week] is pushed by a group spirit… We don’t see one another as rivals. I believe we see one another as colleagues. There’s an actual there’s an actual need to deal with everybody equally. I’ve even made time to see a few of the youthful designers I’ve mentored and their reveals this season. We acknowledge one another’s onerous work.
What do you hope folks take away out of your assortment this season?
At Marimekko, we need to carry pleasure to folks’s on a regular basis lives, and that’s at all times what I hope we are going to do by means of significant, high-quality designs and kinds. After all, solely you possibly can outline what pleasure is to you, however I actually hope that we’ll depart this impression of hope and optimism. It’s wonderful to have the ability to create a present and pull all of it collectively, however the actual second of fact is whenever you see the gathering dwelling on the road, and also you see our group begin proudly owning it.
Though The Garment Artistic Director Charlotte Eskildsen had lengthy been within the vogue trade, it wasn’t till she grew to become on the helm of the model, co-founded with Sophia Roe in 2022, that she discovered her calling. With a precedence on timeless minimalism and accountable manufacturing, every second within the model’s fall/winter 2025 present felt like a masterclass in elegant, intentional dressing. Beloved silhouettes, flowing chiffon materials, and assertion field hats have been all anybody may discuss within the moments after the present, with whispers from consumers, editors, and influencers alike saying it was one of many strongest collections the model had had since being based.
What do you hope folks take away out of your assortment this season?
That minimalism will not be about simplicity—it’s about intention. Each piece in our assortment is designed to be lived in, to be a part of somebody’s story for years to return. I hope folks really feel a way of ease, magnificence, and duty in the best way we method vogue—not as fleeting tendencies, however as a significant extension of self-expression.
When most individuals think about runway reveals, they think about these large, elaborate units and designs with a whole lot of attendees and a whole lot of hundreds of {dollars} in finances, typically paid by large firms. A lot of the labels exhibiting in Copenhagen are independently owned, and naturally, a lot leaner and honest in scale. What are some challenges you discover you face as a smaller or unbiased model or founder relating to pulling off vogue week?
As an unbiased model, each choice is extremely intentional. We work with a thought of finances, so we now have to be strategic in how we create impression. There’s no room for extra—we concentrate on craftsmanship, the correct collaborations, and a storytelling method that doesn’t depend on grandiosity however moderately on authenticity. Discovering the correct companions who share our values in manufacturing, sustainability, and aesthetic is each a problem and a possibility to innovate.
What does your day seem like the morning of a present? Are there any routines or pre-show rituals you partake in to ease the stress or set the tone for the day?
Mornings are about grounding myself earlier than the whirlwind begins. I take a second to breathe, assessment the ultimate particulars, and examine in with the staff to make sure every part is aligned. There’s at all times a playlist enjoying within the background—music units the temper and retains the power flowing. Earlier than stepping onto the runway house, I remind myself of the intention behind the gathering.
Be trustworthy—have you ever slept?
Let’s simply say sleep is a luxurious throughout vogue week. It’s a fragile stability between adrenaline, pleasure, and the last-minute perfectionism that retains us up. However as soon as the present begins, the exhaustion disappears—no less than till the dinner.
