Layers upon layers, technicolor combinations and alternative subcultures parade at Copenhagen Fashion Week, distinguishing themselves from the “Scandi style” without losing sight of inclusion and sustainability.

In Copenhagen, in addition to the northern winds full of rain and autumn temperatures, we were welcomed by the renowned sustainable vision of fashion and inclusion from every point of view. But fashion lives not only on certainties, a world in constant evolution and adaptation which, especially in Denmark, has been able to renew itself this year more than ever: the time has come to redraw the boundaries around the definition of Scandinavian fashion. The so-called “fundamentals” of the wardrobe, the basics in neutral colors and timeless lines, are no longer the main story that characterizes Copenhagen Fashion Week. At their side, almost stealing their spotlight, come alternative subcultures such as rave and techno, layers of garments with the most extravagant shapes and super pop and fun color combinations.

The new aesthetic at the heart of Copenhagen Fashion Week

Part of Copenhagen Fashion Week’s New Talents programme, Nicklas Skovgaard opens the second day of the shows with a rousing performance. At the center of the set, a set of mannequins passively wearing clothes from the spring summer 2024 collection builds a sort of tableau vivant that sees the Dutch artist Brit Liberg as the protagonist, while in a caricatured way she takes possession of the creations to wear them one by one. Among the garments, Victorian references and brightly colored sequins.

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Nicklas Skovgaard Copenhagen Fashion Week James Cochrane

A decidedly more subversive twist was the one seen at the Vain spring summer 2024 fashion show, which asked the question «What does it mean to be creative in the digital age?». Subtle cultural references and contemporary details descend on the catwalk in the recycling of McDonald’s uniforms – with which the brand has collaborated – and belts that contaminate garments and bind arms and hands. Although black is a constant, the shapes are certainly not those that refer to the Scandinavian minimalist “timelessness”; in the meantime the brand also touched Italian soil on the occasion of Pitti Uomo last January 2023.

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Vain Copenhagen Fashion Week James Cochrane

In the fantasies signed P.L.N. instead a punk that mixes with gothic and its religious references flows. In the attic of the Nikolaj Kunsthal church, in the center of Copenhagen, the lights turn on deconstructions of garments and habits, silhouettes modified by prosthetic accessories and altered proportions. However, a green and sustainable vision of Danish fashion, but certainly revolutionized compared to what we are used to seeing in the North.

The Scandinavian legacy that returns, inexorably

On the other hand, a more minimal vein remains in the background at Copenhagen Fashion Week. There were the visions of Mark Kenly Domino Tan, who changed creative director welcoming Caroline Engelgaar from the previous year, with a neutral color palette and interesting layering. From The Garment, the duo Charlotte Eskildsen and Sophia Roe builds a collection that draws on the workwear of the past to reconstruct it in the contemporary – while collaborating with the Italian brand GIABORGHINI as regards footwear. Lovechild 1979 also remains in the comfort of clean Scandinavian lines, focusing on a particularly heartfelt search for sustainable materials. Finally, for Skall Studio minimalism is romantic, and necessarily starts from a series of monochromatic looks.

A deeply inclusive sense of community
Instead, what has never changed in Copenhagen, rather it has strengthened, is the feeling of community that embraces every brand and project. Starting from the CIFF x Revolver fair organized to bring together all the Scandinavian brands that are protagonists of the fashion week and beyond, from the smallest to the most well-known, to tell the all-round story of a sustainable world that can’t wait to continue to grow. The projects have also mixed with voices from outside the world of fashion, especially when there was a desire to support all-female businesses: this is the case of Aeron, which, leaving the catwalks behind, has dedicated this season to building a discussion with the artist Leïla Guinnefollau around an ad hoc installation that celebrates women in the world.