Two huge trade shows form the backbone of Copenhagen Fashion Week — Revolver in the city center and CIFF in the south. With the international skateboarding competition CPH Open scheduled at the same time, the Danish capital erupts into an all-day and all-night festival of creativity, culture and counterculture cool. i-D spent a week dashing across the city, from fashion shows and presentations to collaboration launches, store events, and street parties. Here are five of the coolest things we saw…
Soulland x Eric Koston x Nike SB
In the perfect collision of fashion and skate worlds, Danish menswear brand Soulland teamed up with US pro skater Eric Koston and Nike SB for the coolest collab of the season. Shirts, jackets, pants, and shoes are emblazoned with the FRI.day slogan, a reference to the freedom of skating in Copenhagen. The collab features some super techy skate shoes that hug your feet, too. i-D caught up with Eric Koston and Soulland designer Silas Adler in Copenhagen to get the low down on the city’s best skate spots, so check that out.
Artist and Vetements designer Maja Weiss’s fashion-art installation
In the grand halls of the CIFF tradeshow, artist and Vetements designer Maja Weiss presented an affecting installation of seemingly heat-pressed blocks of garments, baled, tied, and stacked on wooden pallets to create two imposing walls. In an upcoming interview with i-D, Weiss reveals that the blocks were inspired by the ‘free box’ idea she encountered living in squats, where people would leave garments they didn’t want and take ones they did. The piece also considers the question of fast fashion consumption, as well as processes of industrial recycling that take place in Copenhagen. Keep an eye out for i-D’s full interview, coming soon.
Henrik Vibskov show and after party in the Meatpacking District
Arriving at the Henrik Vibskov catwalk near Revolver trade show was like turning up to a secret gig 30 minutes after the venue reached capacity. London’s Fashion Scout eat your heart out, because it seemed every art school kid in the city turned out to see this show. i-D was lucky to have Revolver boss Christian Maibom lead us through the hoards to get a good spot. The Danish designer set up a fantastical outdoor runway with knitted sausages hanging from meat hooks in the middle, tended by white coat-wearing butchers. The set may have been cartoonish, but the collection itself presented a mix of neat, kimono inspired shirt dresses, elegant silk shifts, tailoring, and playful color-blocked knitwear. Three art-student-stuffed after parties followed the show, including a mini version of Copenhagen’s Distortion festival, an afrofuturist disco, and a sweaty, smoky house rave with an incongruous glitterball.
Lulu Kennedy’s London Invasion at CIFF
Taking in the local Danish and Scandi designers is, of course, the main purpose of Copenhagen Fashion Week. But i-D couldn’t help but feel a flush of pride when Fashion East’s Lulu Kennedy presented a line up of London’s best new design talent. In the gargantuan halls of the CIFF trade show, London’s fashion fairy godmother staged a refreshing presentation with diverse model line-up — cast on Copenhagen’s streets by Madeleine Østlie — wearing the awesome work of current Fashion East-ers Per Gotesson, Feng Chen Wang, Richard Malone, and Rottingdean Bazaar. Alumni Marques’Almeida and Christopher Shannon, and off schedule talents Aries and Finery joined as well. Check out all the exclusive images i-D shot backstage.
CPH Open skate street party
At any international fashion week, invariably the most fun parties are not on the schedule. So it was in Copenhagen, where the skate competition came through on Thursday night. Starting with Levi’s Block Party on Møntergade street, a DJ played to a crowd of local and international skaters, with an easygoing, everyone welcome, BYOB policy. Later, the party moved around the corner for an after hours with skate shop StreetMachine at Skarv bar, packing out the pavements with kids popping tricks, and even a guy who crowd dived naked from the roof of a van. On top of being very cool, Copenhagen is also really, really fun.
Credits
Text Charlotte Gush