Peel again the layers of any style capital, and also you’ll uncover one thing undeniably distinct. For some cities, it’s the burden of historical past, the vibrancy of their tradition, or the attract of their culinary delights. However for others, it’s the inventive power that defines them—the place the style scene is greater than only a set of developments; it’s a dwelling, respiratory ecosystem that mirrors the spirit of its folks. Enter Copenhagen and, in fact, Copenhagen Trend Week.
Over the previous few 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 contemporary 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 business. Ask any style editor, they usually’ll let you know that CFW is the occasion they’re most excited to see unfold.
Copenhagen’s style scene looks like an antidote to the hypercompetitive, high-stakes ambiance of different style capitals. Whereas locations like Paris and New York are identified for his or her fierce rivalry and sharp elbows, Copenhagen thrives on a spirit of cooperation and artistic exploration. The governing Copenhagen Trend Week council requires collaborating manufacturers to satisfy 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.
In fact, there are challenges. Budgets are tight, assets 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 here 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 style on their very own phrases.
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of manufacturers and Copenhagen Trend Week. Pictures of designers: Getty Pictures.)
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, stuffed with hand-painted floral patterns and childlike marvel 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 business?
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 concurrently we had our worldwide breakthrough with our vital use of colours, our personal studio-made inventive prints, and daring, sculptural, and female types and clothes. Since then, we have now been rising the corporate and are stocked in additional than 200 doorways all around the world, with our residence 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 style week?
All people on the workforce is working tremendous exhausting 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 components—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 most of the manufacturers in Copenhagen is that they depend on one another, with the inventive 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 looks like everyone seems to be supportive of one another and works collectively. Are there any particular tales you’ll be able to share concerning the inventive group in Copenhagen in terms of working collectively on the success of your model?
Copenhagen is a small metropolis in comparison with many different capitals. Very small. I believe we have now 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 enticing 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 practice turns into potential solely as a result of we assist one another, share a imaginative and prescient, and consider in it. And it occurred. Along with CPHFW, we managed to convey slightly however robust group of press, influencers, and fem consumers to Aalborg to see our present on the superb artwork museum Kunsten Museum of Trendy 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 situation and the way vital is to me when artwork, style, and structure meet.
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of manufacturers and Copenhagen Trend Week. Pictures of designers: Getty Pictures.)
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 appears have been stuffed with leopard jackets, glitter lace cardigans, and, in fact, a rhinestone-embellished bag seen in any respect Baum und Pferdgarten’s exhibits (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 business?
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 concerning the assortment and this season’s present, particularly because it pertains to manufacturing and truly placing on a complete 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 point out it throughout Copenhagen Trend Week. The gathering we confirmed this season known as “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 allure of the British countryside and the expressive vibrancy of extra retro and rustic instances, the gathering brings collectively cherished components 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 subsequently makes good sense for us to point out our collections right here. There’s a sense of true household feeling throughout Copenhagen Trend Week. It’s at all times pretty to see everybody come again season after season, so it nearly looks like a small reunion each time.
What’s the very first thing you’re wanting 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. Pictures of designers: Getty Pictures.)
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 women alike, usually 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 business and main the way in which 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 concerning the assortment and this season’s present, particularly because it pertains to manufacturing and truly placing on a complete 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 growth—creating prototypes, refining the small print…
Thora Valdimarsdottir: From there, the actual magic occurs within the manufacturing. The logistics of placing on a runway present are not any small feat—discovering the fitting venue, assembling the workforce, coordinating fittings and rehearsals, after which ensuring the whole lot flows completely. It’s about 4 to 6 months of intense work, however the adrenaline of seeing the whole lot come collectively on the day of the present makes all of it value 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 most of the manufacturers in Copenhagen is that they depend on one another, with the inventive 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 looks like everyone seems to be supportive of one another and works collectively. Are there any particular tales you’ll be able to share concerning the inventive group in Copenhagen in terms of 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 exhibits. That sense of group is what makes exhibiting in Copenhagen so totally different from wherever else.
Be trustworthy—have you ever slept?
JM: It’s such an intense interval that operating on little to no sleep simply comes with the territory. Between ultimate fittings, workforce 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 attain that easy however elegant Scandinavian vibe.
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of manufacturers and Copenhagen Trend Week. Pictures of designers: Getty Pictures.)
Gestuz was based in 2008 by Sanne Sehested and is likely one of the most established manufacturers on the Copenhagen Trend Week calendar. This season was targeted 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 prime feminine designers in Scandinavia.
For these unfamiliar with the model and your work, how lengthy have you ever been working within the business?
I began once I was 15 years previous working in a clothes retailer. Since then, I managed to get accustomed to many facets of the business, the whole lot 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 exhibits, they think about these large, elaborate units and designs with tons of of attendees and tons of of 1000’s of {dollars} in funds, usually paid by massive 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 impartial model or founder in terms of pulling off style week?
I don’t assume a lot concerning the challenges as we have now by no means tried something aside from this. Nonetheless, 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 really additionally goes properly with the Danish mentality and the way I take pleasure in working. It’s extra intimate and a necessity to work carefully 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 vital for me to be there seeing the entire set being constructed up, taking within the buzz backstage, speaking with my workforce, and attempting to remain calm. There’s at all times such a superb vibe backstage. We work with such an important workforce, everyone is so skilled, doing their factor and protecting the stress degree as little as potential. It’s such a pleasure to only take all of it in although the nerves construct up throughout the day.
What’s the very first thing you’re wanting ahead to doing as soon as your present is over?
Rejoice and drink champagne with my workforce! None of this is able to be potential with out my workforce and I simply need to benefit from the night with them.
(Picture credit score: Courtesy of manufacturers and Copenhagen Trend Week. Pictures of designers: Getty Pictures.)
You might acknowledge Finnish model Marimekko’s iconic flowers earlier than you acknowledge Rebekka Bay, the girl 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 contemporary air since her arrival. Whimsical, colourful flowers aren’t only a key a part of the model’s design ethos; to Bay and her workforce, they’re a way of life—every runway assortment or sustainable effort the model undertakes a growth of the dwelling, respiratory Marimekko collective.
It’s usually stated runway exhibits are the quiet earlier than the storm. How lengthy do you usually work in your collections earlier than showtime?
Round a 12 months, however I believe the way in which we are likely to work is that one 12 months flows considerably into the subsequent 12 months. So, I believe usually the early pondering round a 12 months: this 12 months, we targeted on the anatomy of flowers since we’re celebrating the Unniko anniversary, so it really got here fairly early.
In fact, Copenhagen Trend Week is such a pioneer inside the sustainability house, as is Marimekko. In what methods does the model convey 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 continually exploring new supplies and innovation. How can we make issues higher? For instance, we’ve began utilizing algae binders to bind the print and material and protecting circularity in thoughts on our again finish as properly.
In Copenhagen, it looks like plenty of the manufacturers are so community-driven, and infrequently work in partnership, utilizing the identical manufacturing firms, stylists, or different components. Do you’ve any particular moments of collaboration you’ll be able to share?
I believe you’re actually relating an vital level as a result of I believe a part of the rationale why we’re exhibiting right here and never some other place, is that Copenhagen [Fashion Week] is pushed by a group spirit… We don’t see one another as opponents. 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 number of the youthful designers I’ve mentored and their exhibits this season. We acknowledge one another’s exhausting work.
What do you hope folks take away out of your assortment this season?
At Marimekko, we need to convey pleasure to folks’s on a regular basis lives, and that’s at all times what I hope we’ll do by means of significant, high-quality designs and types. In fact, solely you’ll be able to outline what pleasure is to you, however I actually hope that we are going to go away this impression of hope and optimism. It’s superb to have the ability to create a present and pull all of it collectively, however the actual second of reality is while you see the gathering dwelling on the road, and also you see our group begin proudly owning it.
Though The Garment Inventive Director Charlotte Eskildsen had lengthy been within the style business, it wasn’t till she turned 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 speak about 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, class, and duty in the way in which we strategy style—not as fleeting developments, however as a significant extension of self-expression.
When most individuals think about runway exhibits, they think about these large, elaborate units and designs with tons of of attendees and tons of of 1000’s of {dollars} in funds, usually paid by massive 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 impartial model or founder in terms of pulling off style week?
As an impartial model, each choice is extremely intentional. We work with a thought-about funds, so we have now to be strategic in how we create influence. There’s no room for extra—we deal with craftsmanship, the fitting collaborations, and a storytelling strategy that doesn’t depend on grandiosity however slightly on authenticity. Discovering the fitting companions who share our values in manufacturing, sustainability, and aesthetic is each a problem and a chance 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 verify in with the workforce to make sure the whole lot is aligned. There’s at all times a playlist taking part in 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 style 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.
