Vogue Chaos Issue 14: An Outsider's Look Into Copenhagen Fashion Week

Guess who's back and attending Copenhagen Fashion Week like a grown woman???

Even after constantly talking about fashion for years, I maintain my position as an outsider in this world of glamour. Whenever I am surrounded by it, I appreciate the beauty of it without ever becoming a part of the world. Perhaps its good for me to keep my independence this way. All this emotion comes from my recent trip to Copenhagen which I made solely to avoid the 40 degrees of heat in Italy. The stars aligned to make it coincide with Fashion Week and then some lovely PRs who are familiar with my writing (which I have not been doing enough of) sent me some last minute invites - for which I am forever grateful.

As soon as I stepped foot in the center of Copenhagen I was taken aback by how beautiful everyone was and how they dressed and immediately the outsiderness struck me. Being a smaller city, Fashion Week completely overtakes the city and noone can miss it, unlike in Paris and Milan where it can pass by largely unnoticed. Another peculiarity of Copenhagen is that everyone dresses well for sure, but everyone dresses the same. As an observer this can be boring but as a thrifter, this is absolutely great news.

The first show I attended was Stamm, held at a basketball court a little outside the city center. It began with Elisabet Stamm’s sons releasing 3 crates of pigeons in the air - the flying rats I am deathly scared of, sending everyone in a panic that we’re gonna be shat upon any moment. Thankfully without any incidents the show began and the one thing that struck me was the diversity of the cast in terms of body types - which remains noticibly absent across other shows. With this collection, Stamm expanded on her library of denim looks. While this was not my favourite of all her collections, the audience dressed in Stamm looked ridiculously good. Infact if I was bold enough I would have requested people to let me take pictures of their outfits because they were so well styled to fit their own personality - and not full brand looks.

Next, right after, was Remain by Birger Christensen - this is their daywear brand. Every single look that came out was a look that I wanted, I needed. As a future corporate girlie I mentally already chose my wardrobe. I am glad the models walked past excruitiatingly slowly so I had enough time to look at the seams and stitches and how perfectly the clothes were molded on the model’s bodies from one foot away. This show did not scream and shout, it was held in a studio in a remote corner of the city in an event space with a minimal setting yet it was perfect - a buyer’s dream show.

Next was Baum und Pferdgarten which I was the most excited about as this was one of the first Scandinavian designers that I started following closely. Held on a racetrack with the theme ‘Office Olympics’ it brought a lot of things to mind about sports and class. Now I am gonna say something that could be ridiculous but remember I am a fly on the wall. Surrounded by business grads as I do my MBA, I have noticed how sports are a center of social life here - and not all sports, there are some white collar sports like skiing, squash, tennis, football, rugby, golf, cycling, track - and the like, which help you access certain echelons of society you otherwise would not learn about. These are the people who would wear the carelessly thrown together styles at Baum in settings like this. The look du jour was a sheer sequined skirt with a striped blue shirt and they made it really obvious as I could count atleast 12-15 influencers who wore this FULL BRAND LOOK (I wanted to start a drinking game).

My last show was CPFW’s last show as well - Remain by Birger Christensen - their evening/party wear label. As a first time visitor to Copenhagen I was glad I could combine sightseeing with attending a fashion show at the Royal Library Gardens. Outside the show it was so chaotic which was quite amusing because I have never seen a more organised city than Copenhagen - the confused cyclists who were just trying to go about their day were interrupted by streetstyle photographers and influencers trying to get their perfect shots. It was honestly like your Instagram explore page come to life over here (btw I later discovered that Pamela Anderson was in the audience too!)

This collection was what I would define as halfway between demure and brat - something that perfectly captures the aura of SS25. There were bustles on tiny skirts, flower prints on cheeky shorts, silky dresses with fringe and laceskirts - like an elegant woman who wants to rebel and party - but not too much. My favourite look construction wise was the black and white ensemble pictured here but the one look I would want for myself would be the all black lingerie-esque lace dress because it is such a demure but effective update to the simple 90s lingerie-in-the-day look.

I am grateful to everyone who allowed me to get a glimpse into the fashion world from a corner far away from the Vanessa Friedman’s metaphorical influencer pit. I hope one day I would feel comfortable in these surroundings, but until then I will be a silent observer with one foot in and one foot out.