Copenhagen Fashion: The Week That Roared

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Fashion might not be Denmark's biggest export — it's more pharmaceuticals, food and furniture — but that doesn't matter for homegrown brands and designers, who are rapidly gaining momentum in a saturated international market, establishing themselves as stylish, sustainable and collaborative newcomers.

That famous Scandi aesthetic - a happy young woman in an airy vintage dress cruising cobbled streets on a bicycle - has now become so familiar and ambitious that it's almost a cliché, like the effortlessly chic Parisienne ; the sharp-edged black-clad New Yorker or the slender Italian with supple shoulders.

The Scandi look continues to spring from the streets of the sleepy Danish capital, where women of all ages love vintage, mixing up and down and adapting their clothes to their everyday lives.

Last season, designer Cecilie Bahnsen presented dresses with jagged hems inspired by the way some of her fellow Danes tuck in and tie up their dresses so they don't get in the way while pedaling their bikes.

Bahnsen is famous for her chic baby doll dresses with puff sleeves, and during a collection preview at her sunny studio in northeast Copenhagen, she described the Danish approach as "very playful, a effortless way to pull together looks."

This season, Ditte Reffstrup, Creative Director of Ganni, said her Spring 2023 collection aims to evoke that thrilling energy of cycling to work, "riding through the city and feeling the joy of a summer in Copenhagen".

Barbara Potts and Cathrine Saks, the creators of Saks Potts, said they only asked one question in the studio: "Would we really wear it?"

In the spirit of the week and the Danish love of vintage, the duo based their entire Spring 2023 collection on Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, before she married into the Royal Family.

"She was a regular girl, and her look was super cool and sporty, with a bohemian twist," Potts said. The designers staged the parade in Kongens Nytorv Square in the city center where Tasmanian-born Mary Elizabeth Donaldson used to take her lunch breaks or meet friends while working in town. p>

Taking this street style to new heights, Saks Potts guests sat on park benches and watched models take a tour of the plaza before crossing the street to go backstage at the Hotel d'Angleterre.

The Scandi look was everywhere on the sunny streets of Copenhagen during the week and on the catwalks of the Spring 2023 edition of Copenhagen Fashion Week, which ended on August 12.

The Danes have worked hard to put Scandinavian fashion on the map and to promote Copenhagen Fashion Week as the cooler, more progressive and whimsical younger brother of London, Paris and Milan.

Much of the credit goes to Cecilie Thorsmark, Managing Director of Copenhagen Fashion Week, who is determined to make the window display synonymous with sustainability and believes that fashion has a "moral duty" to act to environment.

It takes a holistic approach: all creators who show up on time must meet at least 18 minimum standards covering areas such as diversity and equality, sourcing, supply chain and au beyond clothes.

In February 2023, Copenhagen Fashion Week will up the ante and add more sustainability standards and goals for brands.

The five-day showcase takes conservation seriously: electric cars drive through town, water is served in cartons, and the food (with a few exceptions) is vegetarian. There are no paper show tickets.

Thorsmark also worked with Zalando, the main sponsor of the week...