Copenhagen Fashion Week has solidified its main character status

The SS26 edition of Copenhagen Fashion Week was a whirlwind of shows. With 45 on schedule this season – featuring returning brands Rotate, OpéraSPORT and Nicklas Skovgaard, alongside newcomers Martin Quad and IAMSIGO – plus a Pamela Anderson-helmed dinner and performances from John Glacier and Kelela, there was so much life pulsing through the Danish capital this past week.

Anne Sofie Madsen had a cracking debut as part of the CPHFW New Talent scheme, turning rats into coveted handbags. Bubu Ogisi, founder of IAMISIGO, showcased an impressive SS26 collection spanning inspiration and materials from Lagos, Nairobi, and Accra, comprising sets constructed from raffia and a trench coat embedded with fragments of glass. Nicklas Skovgaard transformed his show into a bedroom, with beds doubling up as runway seats and a place for models to doze off. Rolf Ekroth took us to the woods, and sportswear label Alis had models exit the show via boat. All of this only scratches the surface of a jam-packed week.

Copenhagen Fashion Week is going international now, too. It made its presence known at the V&A, where five key emerging designers from Denmark – Alectra Rothschild /​Masculina, Berner Kühl, Bonnetje, Stamm and Stem – turned one of the halls into a makeshift runway. We’re all ears for AW26.

Show sets took a quirky turn this season, with OpéraSPORT opting for a swimming pool over a runway for SS26. The show invite came with a warning about the humidity inside the Frederiksberg Swimming Pool & Spa, but it wasn’t enough to keep us away. Wearing a navy dress and Havainas (a no-brainer collab), Alana Hadid opened the show, setting the tone for a collection loaded with recycled fabrics, dainty floral sets and 3D printed flip-flops.

Hours later, Martin Quad’s show, held at Brønshøj Vandtårn water tower, unfolded to ominous music, the clack of heels and maniacal laughter. Models’ faces were caked in theatrical make-up for Martin’s distorted take on an emergency room, it turned out. Each model wore garments the designer described as ​“sexy nurse” attire, emphasised by surgical caps. Later in the week, Baum und Pferdgarten ushered guests to the old stables at Charlottenlund racetrack for a Derby-theme show. London model Bibi Abdulkadir came down the runway in roomy leather boots tucked into slouchy leather trousers.

Rat bags! Scuzzy band T‑shirts! Crystal belts! Subtle, Anne Sofie Madsen’s runway show was not. After an eight-year hiatus, the brand’s founder, Sofie collaborated with Caroline Clante, its co-creative director and designer, to press play on a brand she paused for almost a decade. ​“I ran out of things to say. I was starting to live a life that I wasn’t that interested in living anymore”, she said of her decision to step back from fashion. But things have changed: ​“I saw some newer brands showing during Copenhagen Fashion Week. All of a sudden, it hit me that I wasn’t there. I thought, I can be part of this crowd. ” I felt it.”

When you’ve rejoined the fashion ecosystem after years of pursuing other creative endeavours, including curating exhibitions, writing books and making art, there must be an immense sense of pressure. But buckling was never an option for Sofie. Motor gilet jackets zipped up the runway (fashion editor Jeanie Anan predicted Charli xcx would soon be wearing one) and models in dainty pastels circled a shrine/​catwalk made up of E.T. merch, Stephen King’s The Dead Zone, and a copy of Ronnie Spector’s Be My Baby. Standout moments included an ultra-fine turquoise dress with lace-up leg warmers, and a bride, because why scale back the drama?

Days later, Cecilie Bahnsen, a regular on the Paris Fashion Week schedule, eschewed the city for Copenhagen, coinciding with the brand’s 10 year anniversary. After all, it’s where the eponymous brand was founded and a stone’s throw away from where Cecilie was born. The Denmark-raised designer didn’t hold back: Isadóra Bjarkardóttir Barney, aka, Björk’s daughter, opened the show. Dressed in a lightweight, ankle-grazing dress covered in floral embroidery, the actor and model was one of several dressed solely in white, floaty designs. Backstage, they took group selfies in their ethereal outfits – Isadóra was likely listening to her current favourite Bjork tune, Unison.

At Nikolaj Kunsthal, an art gallery in the heart of Copenhagen, LVMH Prize shortlisted label Rave Review deviated from its signature patchwork craftsmanship and explored blooming 1960s Swedish prints instead, largely influenced by brand co-founder Josephine Bergqvist bumping into her neighbour, Swedish artist Marie-Louise Ekman. Through Ekman, the pair discovered Mah-Jong, a fashion collective Marie-Louise once modelled for, known for its penchant for florals. Voluminous bloomers, skirts with pockets jutting at the hips, structured jackets, and printed aprons made from deadstock fabrics merged ancient silhouettes with the Stockholm brand’s signature eccentric layering.

Between stables-turned-runways and anniversary shows, music played an important role on the catwalk this season. Together with the Naked Copenhagen store, former FACE cover star John Glacier and adidas took over former church turned art gallery Nikolaj Kunsthal. An intimate crowd gathered to watch John perform songs from her latest album, Like A Ribbon. At Nicklas Skovgaard, the designer had a skewed rendition of Scissor Sisters’ cover of Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb, before he took matters into his own hands at the show’s after party to spin Madonna tracks. Zalando, meanwhile, tapped Kelela for a secret gig after its Visionary Award dinner, and Rave Review’s collection, chock full of sweet prints, was accompanied by an immersive performance by Danish singer-songwriter Fine. See you at CPHFW’s 20^th anniversary next year…