all the styles & trends seen at CPHFW 👀
We go *long* reviewing everything seen and observed on the ground at Copenhagen Fashion Week.
This is the first of three features on Copenhagen Fashion Week. Tuesday we did a deep dive on the most exciting show I saw, yesterday we had an interview with a designer, and today we explore trends in fashion seen in presentations and on-the-ground — and how they tie into larger culture. The Trend Report™ is a reader supported publication, exploring themes in online and offline culture: consider upgrading to a paid subscription to support the writer, Kyle, and to unlock full coverage.
Copenhagen Fashion Week (CPHFW) was last week, which I was able to pop into, to survey what was happening given it has been one of the buzziest fashion weeks in recent years. And? It was…okay!
Thus, I have the unfortunate task of sharing that the place and function was a bit overhyped: I neither found what was happening in the area that special nor that the approach to style that novel outside of the context of it being an “outsider” point of view for fashion. This plays into a larger media and fashion narrative that is in a constant to cannibalize difference while playacting at change, pretending to regulate itself while largely standing on bad business.
I’ll be covering general thoughts on Copenhagen, as a place, at the end of the month — but today is for dissecting fashion trends seen on and off runways, in and out of presentations, to understand how this “hot” place is going to reshape a lot of style because it is propaganda that the Fashion Industry™ wants us all to fall for. I fell for it, so you don’t have to! The best summation of the affair was something I overheard someone say en route to a show: “The shows are always okay — but the locations are so cool.”
Let’s dig into it, assessing street style, the hottest “colors” of the moment, and on-and-off-the-rack items that are probably canaries in the coal mine of larger industry directions.
Is this actually sustainable?
It was walking into the Copenhagen International Fashion Fair (CIFF) and seeing a huge display by GUESS bragging about sustainability that I realized the joke was on me: the image spoke in very vague terms about everything from water consumption to energy use in making a pair of jeans, all without offering specific details about the process as it relates supply chain or how its high volume fits into any of this. This is greenwashing, plain and simple, made all the bitter by knowing this brand is using AI — a huge waste factory — to advertise these “clean jeans.” Why this is so curious is that CPHFW has been touted as the future of fashion weeks given its sustainability guidelines, a set of criteria to ensure brands participating in the event are reducing their impact and ensuring those in their supply chain are not being abused. This is laudable — and has been adopted by the British Fashion Council along with Amsterdam and Berlin’s fashion weeks — and is a win for reducing fashion’s footprint as this industry, with all its glamour and beauty, is arguably on par with Big Oil™ for ruining the planet and enabling consumption, turning parts of Africa and South America into dumping grounds for the west and north. There is the feeling CPHFW is creating a new model for fashion and, while CIFF isn’t “the same” but very connected, waste did seem to be on-the-mind given reduced collections of 25 to 35 looks with many brands seriously considering upcycling and repair. But all this feels like the bare minimum, at least when it comes to “high” fashion, thus revealing a hype cycle and potential flimsiness of these guidelines: the whole enterprise may not be as greenwashy as GUESS but it might not be the radical future those on the outside hope it to be. Just like every other place on earth, just like so many other industries, consumption is key.
Curtains and tablecloths Pokémon evolve into lace 🤍
One area where sustainability was seen? Lace works, as this seems to be a material being upcycled all over — and almost so ubiquitous that I lost count: Kettel Atelier at CIFF did this best, turning what appeared to be curtains and tablecloths into exquisite dresses and skirts; Bonnetje (also at CIFF) tailored former lacey lingerie into pants and skirt trims; Taus (also at CIFF) opted for drama, using lace for trains; LOOM Weaving at Poet layered lace doilies and placemats into dresses and tops; Silka Kejzar (also at Poet) turned crochet to lace. Besides these main heavy hitters, you could find lace and eyelets accents scattered throughout: Stine Goya used lace as a collar (which was something I kept seeing, less “by a brand” and more as far as street style); The Garment elevated netting to lace; Skall Studio’s serpentine eyelets became lace; and Rave Review turned what felt like eyelet curtains into skirts and aprons.
When clothing ties the knot…
There’s something awfully knotty happening right now — and it’s taking many forms. There’s the obvious reference to climbing, which is it’s own trend we’ll get into later, but clothes are incorporating and enjoying tying themselves up. The obvious example of this is the silk scarf trend, which Myklé — a print brand specializing in scarves and ties by Norwegian designer Torunn Myklebust, seen at the Oslo Runway Showroom — turned directly to, offering a luxurious fun answer to our seeking to tie, offering textured checkered prints and classic ornamental styles to be belted or worn over the head. But there was more where this came from, as MAR KNITWEAR at Poet took what was once the pussy bow and evolved it into a soft necktie as Rave Review repeatedly featured their take on the “coquette,” via ties and tied closures that add an element of whimsy to a look, and Henrik Vibskov tied the (extra) arms of a shirt behind its back. This then got into the use of ruching, which snaked through dresses at Henrik Vibskov, in the tops of CMMN SWDN, and throughout the Caro Editions presentation (in addition to their many bows and scarfing too). GOT BAG at CIFF took this most seriously, with a full display of their ruched “ruffle” bag, suggesting the puffiness of the Ölend bags are about to be squeezed out.
…To make two become one
This gets at clothing being knotted together, turning two items into one: unity, one could say. Henrik Vibskov made the biggest suggestions of this with shorts over pants, a dress that folded upon itself, and shirt sarongs. Rave Review did this most impressively, using the aforementioned, the knotting brought different clothing items together as some shirts fought two different forms at once. Stel had one shirt becoming another and Bonnetje’s tops morphed mid-way into another as Studio Ü at CIFF was all clothing that was half one thing, half another. A lot of this suggests inventive sustainability moves (Studio Ü, Rave Review, and Bonnetje, specifically.) but it all brought the idea of “knotting” and merging full circle, to not only acknowledge the waste in fashion but the need to hold on to what you have — and create an exoskeleton, a bit of protection. Poet’s inclusion of Ariga Torosian’s multi-layered garments and Galiar’s wrapped bags — which felt both foldable and as if hiding another bag — made these ideas most pronounced, that adding in more-than-one item into a design isn’t to be maximalist but to build one up. A fitting need in a year like 2025!
Denim is getting dirtier.
Denim continues to be the “suiting” of the modern person — and this suiting isn’t looking too “nice.” Perhaps a response to the work we are not doing, so much of denim presented was dirty looking and distressed, aged by the rot all around us, online and off: Sunflower yellow tinted their denim as SIDLETSKIY at Poet and Diesel at CIFF had denims worn brown, while Rolf Ekroth hole-punched denim while Stem and Kata Szegedi braided denim. Henrik Vibskov undid denim as nine:inthe:morning at Poet printed on denim. Denim, like men in shorts (More on that later.), continues to become the new “khaki” and interestingly is becoming the color of khaki. To me this feels like denim has become the standard “nice pant” and, in order for denim subversive or a bit “alt” again, that requires dirtying or breaking down the material, to make it unique but to also give it a bit more grit, to suggest labor (getting dirty, hand weaving the wear yourself), without doing much of anything but pushing add to cart.
Silver metal supremacy continues.
The whole of the world has been engulfed by silvers and chromes and it’s no surprise that this march continues with so much of the hardware present carrying on in this manner. Studio Bille, a fabulous Norwegian jewelry brand that showed at the Oslo Runway Showroom, presented a collection in all silver with pearl and marble “stone” accents, suggesting that gold isn’t necessarily gaudy but is perhaps too specific compared to silver, which — like pearl — can shift with the times. While Tangen does make gold wears, their Poet presentation was exclusively silver watches set next to the preview of 0-80 sunglasses in black with silver accenting. (Not to mention Avetisian and Shitika Studio using silvers to contrast, either as the “background” for color or as something woven together with gold.) Within the clothing, a curious shift to grays that dull silver seemed to be passing from show to show, as seen at Freya Dalsjø’s heather gray looks and Nandin Erdene at Poet’s glossy scrunching of gunmetals. Gobmi’s bright pink metallics were most inspired though.
Men have a case of the shorts. Why? Well…
At this point you know that shorts are having such a mega moment, an ongoing near two-decade campaign by persons like myself to make them be a thing — and we’ve succeeded! CPHFW continued to confirm this — Henrik Vibskov, Nicklas Skovgaard, CMMN SWDN, Ranra — most of which were “dressy” and alluding to an ongoing conversation that has been emerging at the intersection of climate change and active lives: men should start wearing tailored shorts to the office, which sounds silly until we consider how “radical” this is as most non-queer men see shorts “as gay.” As shorts become normalized, there’s a need to play with what they can and should be: Nicklas Skovgaard’s tulle shorts are inspired but it’s their biker shorts that suggest where things are going, all of which was heavily backed by the super 1980s Sunflower collection of thigh smiling “fancy” shorts and slim thigh, boxer brief-inspired, potentially leather skintight shorties. Perhaps this portends the era of men in leggings? Unsure, as we have to cover the shorts territory first.
…Because men are active.
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