All the need-to-know juicy bits from Copenhagen Fashion Week SS25

There was a collective gasp within the fashion industry when Amelia Roege Hove, founder of A. Roege Hove, announced she’d closed her label a few months ago. Even more shocking: the fact that Hove had already quietly shuttered the brand the previous autumn, following the brand’s final collaboration with Scandi jewellers Georg Jensen, and just a few months after she won the prestigious Karl Lagerfeld Award for Innovation at the 2023 International Woolmark Prize.

Little did we know that the move was designed to make way for a bigger and better rebirthing of the brand.

A few elusive Insta posts lead the countdown to Hove’s comeback show in the Danish capital – a whisper of a signature transparent ribbed top here, flashes of pellucid square materials from archive collections there. That was all we had to satiate our appetites until the big brand reboot. And boy, did it get tongues wagging.

Held in a Brewery on day one of fashion week, Hove sent models down a brick-coloured catwalk wearing capri trousers, fine, ribbed neon green knits (it was only a matter of time before Brat made its runway debut) and 90s-style ribbed dresses with a translucent, smoky grey overlay that wouldn’t look out of place on the SS97 Prada catwalk. Now that’s how you make a comeback.

A highlight of the week, bodacious skirts, puffed-up hemlines and glittering skirts still had a place in Nicklas Skovgaard’s vision for SS25 – they were just put to work in the gym. Aerobics took centre stage at the presentation – his third show in the capital – inside the Bricks Gallery, where models sporting crimped hair, tight curls and short tousled waves swanned about the space in front of a camcorder (the footage was projected in the next room). The fashion crew swarmed the gallery to see what Paloma Elsesser and Alexa Chung’s fav new designer had on offer. All eyes immediately fixated on the models posing in 80s-inspired pieces, ranging from a virginal-white fluffy bolero to a lace skirt with a mini bubble skirt over the top and a sumptuous ruched white dress. Eye candy also came in the form of a black and pink trompe l’oeil dress with a pannier skirt. One of the cool pop girlies will be papped in that soon, just watch.

Another designer who shelved her namesake brand and came back swinging is Astrid Andersen, who closed her label in 2021. Enter: Stel, which debuted on day three via presentation and enlisted the painfully well-dressed rapper A$AP Nast to style the line.

Perhaps one of the most interesting locations to date at CPHFW, the line was presented on the site of luxury hotel spa, The Krane, inside a glass box some feet up from the ground, with a second collection housed in an identical box above overlooking the twinkling blue waters of one of the Copenhagen harbour. Mucho impressivo.

As you approached the space, Nast and Astrid greeted editors and tastemakers, stood next to models clad in the first collection, which was replete with denim dresses, classic white shirting layered over striped shirts, culottes and oversized jeans.

The graduating class of the textile and fashion programmes at the University of Borås closed the week with a bang. The next lot of future designers and forward-thinking, savvy creatives across undergrad and postgrad courses came together to showcase their work, rife with innovative, pearl-clutch-worthy collections. Abbas Mandegar’s collection, Made in Pakistan, was born out of his childhood trauma from working in production factories from the age of ten. Nails were affixed to heels and jackets, while tools were turned into handbags and leather garments featured metal trims.

Blow Me by Sonja Sandin, on the other hand, included blow-up latex separates, from an exaggerated bra with love hearts and crystal nipples to a model wearing a gimp mask and a rubberised dress with a balloon hemline.

Rebirth was the crux of Cropper’s SS25 line – and the designer wore it well. After a pause in the label’s output, the young designer renowned for her figure-hugging, second-skin pieces returned to the Copenhagen Fashion Week schedule to much excitement.

An intimate presentation awaited showgoers inside a gallery space. Models entered from the back of the space and weaved in and out of the audience until they approached a stage covered in sand, illuminated with red lights. Supplying us with plenty to chew on, the models wore upcycled and sustainable pieces, including jackets-turned-bags, jeans that transformed into a skirt, a hooded dress that doubles as, well, whatever you want and reversible tops and trousers. Bang for your buck.