Capri pants! Pamela Anderson in the front row! Alana Hadid on the runway! The comeback of the bombshell dress! An after-party with Fred Again! The list of highlights of last week’s Copenhagen Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2025 is endless. Here’s what you have missed at CPHFW (or the moments you wish to relive). Cover image: Kjel Bader
BEST OF COPENHAGEN FASHION WEEK SPRING/SUMMER 2025
This season’s Copenhagen Fashion Week was critical for the organization. With bigger brands pulling away from the week – GANNI, Saks Potts, and Stine Goya weren’t showing – the question arose whether Copenhagen Fashion Week could keep up its name. It’s safe to say that the stakes were high, and it’s very pleasant to witness that the standards set by the participating brands were even higher. Overall, the organization’s pressure led to a certain sense of optimism, eventhough the current (fashion) climate doesn’t make it easy for upcoming brands to keep their head above the water. Desparate times call for desparate measure doesn’t fully apply here, since initiatives like the Zalando Visionary Award are aything but desparate. This season’s winner, Sinéad O’Dwyer, pushes the boundaries around inclusivity like no other. Her designs are centered around the female and femme bodies, leaving space for curves of all sorts. That’s not all, though. O’Dwyer looked for more ways than just body types to create change. She pioneered blind models (including a supporting Golden Retriever on the runway). At the re-see, she explained that diversity is more than just looking at diverse body types and skin tones. She was vocal about how more prominent brands use diversity as a token, emphasizing that it has been a trend from which the industry is slowly moving away. Her main goal is to make people who usually feel excluded from the fashion industry feel welcome again. Clothes should fit the body, instead of people making their bodies fit certain clothes, the Irish designer explained.
Also, read: STEM LAUNCHES STEM MILL AT CPHFW, TO CHANGE THE FASHION INDUSTRY FOR GOOD
NEW SUSTAINABLE STANDARDS
Copenhagen is also a frontrunner when it comes to sustainability. The requirements for brands to participate in the official schedule get stricter with each season. This season, nineteen requirements were incorporated for brands to participate, spanning six focus areas. At least 60% of the collections are certified, made of preferred materials, or deadstock fabric. Show requirements are strict, too. Showcase and backstage productions are not allowed to produce or use single-use props for the showcase. It made some show settings a little subdued, though. Forza Collective’s collection was explendid, while its show setting fell short. Other designers made use of locations that fit like a glove. Han Kjøbenhavn – formerly part of the Milan Fashion Week schedule – for example, showed in the Refshalevej area on a grungy parking lot, where even the sudden rain shower felt on-brand.
FAMOUS GUEST LIST
The guest list didn’t disappoint, either. Pamela Anderson first showed up at the Pandora dinner (of which she is an ambassador), and later that week, she was in the front row of Rotate. Rumour had it that Lily Collins would walk the Munthe show. Guests were slightly disappointed when she didn’t show up, but were happy to see Alana Hadid walk the runway instead.
NEW PRESENTATION FORMATS
Copenhagen Fashion Week’s schedule was always packed with shows, events, dinners, and parties. But what was most striking was the number of presentations by (upcoming) brands. Some of them held surprise shows: Tess van Zalinge, MARTAN, Caro Editions, and Bonnetje were among them. Many younger brands, sought possibilities in commercial partnerships, such as Dyson, Ecco, Birkenstock, Pandora, and 1664 Blanc. An unexpected collaboration emerged between (Di)vision and The Ordinary, which appeared to be a great fit. The approach of collaborations and new forms of presenting collections felt on-brand for Copenhagen Fashion Week, Richard Johnson, chief commercial and sustainability officer at Mytheresa, told Vogue Business: “This approach feels particularly apt for Copenhagen, where smaller, emerging brands excel in storytelling and creating intimate connections with their audience.”
CRAZY AFTERPARTIES
On the final night of Copenhagen Fashion Week, Timberland celebrated its iconic models with a select number of people at Bar Amore. The next stop was the Syd For Solen festival, where most ended the night at Fred Again. Fred Again didn’t only perform at the festival; he showed up on a boat in the heart of the city center earlier in the week, right in front of MARTAN’s show presentation venue. And then there was the notorious Levi’s® x Vogue Scandinavia party at Soho House, right after an extensive dinner at Cecconi’s.
It wasn’t just the parties that made Copenhagen Fashion Week feel more exciting than ever – there was something in the air. Whether it was the good weather or new – and promising! – brands entering the stage, CPHFW once proved it has set foot on the world map for good. Perhaps it’s time to swap the “big four” for the “big five”.
