Over 624 miles from Paris, I stood in the biting cold for my first peek at the creative ecosystem that is Copenhagen. The Scandinavian city of over 1 million has captured the attention of adventurous insiders who want to see what’s next in fashion. Case in point: in a week, I braided wool, marvelled at performance art, and was enchanted by trompe l’oeil. While there were so many amazing designers to choose from, here are the four to know.
Sson Studios
Founded over a year ago by Yulia Kjellsson and Ellinor Håkansson, Sson Studios has already made it to Copenhagen Fashion Week’s One to Watch list. Conceptually merging circularity with editorial taste, the Swedish brand’s latest collection, “The Fortunate Ones,” was as much of a statement as it was a litmus test of the brand’s design ingenuity and its sustainable values.
Set in inter.pblc gallery, the 11-look collection was displayed on models seated along its four corners. Created entirely of second-hand garments and textiles, pieces were sourced, taken apart, and reassembled, allowing their previous use to remain part of the final design. One of my favourites was a bag skirt, whose top handles and pockets were left intact, with two slits in the center to put one’s legs.
However, the most interesting part of the presentation was the mountain of clothes piled to the ceiling. A nod to landfills and our insatiable need for consumption, or “having access to excess,” as the program stated. “The ability to discard, replace, and continue consuming,” it continued. “SSON works from the belief that relevance in fashion does not depend on producing more, but on learning how to work with the resources already at hand,” the program concluded.
Perhaps, it’s time we take note.
Bonnetje
Try something: grab a piece of paper and fold it into sections. Now, draw a face at the top of the paper, fold it, and pass it along. The result of Cadavre Exquis, this surrealist game invented in the 1920’s, is creative collaboration without restriction. The same could be said for Danish design duo Anna Myntekær & Yoko Maja Rahbek Hansen’s avant-garde collection of the same name, for their brand Bonnetje.
Made from vintage suiting and defunct materials, the brand creates fashion treasures. Thought pieces that could be worn around the office of an art magazine as much as on a red carpet, and the presentation— absolutely sensorial. From the haunting hum of a black-and-white campaign projected at the entrance, a stately domestic living quarters where models lounged on couches with bratty pouts and cool indifference, stood on apple box platforms or walked fur tails on leashes, to the dining room where models waited around a table of crystal glassware, swishing keychain-covered heels to an off-kilter piano arrangement, stimulation was everywhere.
And what of next fall, when these clothes live their lives on the rack? That’s when the real fun begins.
James Cochrane
James Cochrane
James Cochrane
O.Files
Oscar Jardorf doesn’t waste time. He knows his audience, so he doesn’t have to. Founded in 2018, from the moment Jardorf turned on his camera, the O.Files customer was baked in, ready to give feedback, praise, and simply check in. Citing inspiration from military style, the brand’s no-fuss aesthetic is based in Scandinavian minimalism and Italian craftsmanship, rooted in collaboration with a curated selection of tailors that Jardorf keeps close.
“What can be refined, without losing what works?” is the question eternal. From the curve zipper on a leather jacket to a double lapel on an overcoat, it all works. The melding of influences is part of the formula, so when O.Files announced Japanese origami as an added influence in his debut presentation, it fit. “In practice, this becomes a tripartite dialogue between traditional sartorial menswear, uncompromising technical execution, and purposeful playfulness,” said the show notes.
The playfulness came through in the presentation, each model an actor in a domestic scene, one model practiced his watercolours, while the other brushed up on ironing skills, and one even read a newspaper, a tongue-in-cheek prop that announced the collection in bold headlines.
“Complexity stays close to the garment; it is felt, not announced,” read another line from the show notes. We won’t tell if you won’t.
Ranra
Inspired by Beeswax, also the name of Ranra’s most recent collection, a practical finish with a long Nordic history of waterproofing and reliability in demanding conditions, Ranra continues its reverent exploration of nature’s wonders.
Created by Reykjavík-born co-founder Arnar Már Jónsson and British co-founder Luke Stevens as a performance-based outerwear brand, the Reykjavík and London-based brand rebranded in 2022 as a design studio with a new name and has created several staples that lie on the intersection of style, comfort, and innovation. Silk wool-blend puffer jackets refined with a wool blend to maintain structure while remaining light, and their Wool River Fleece updated with a new dye treatment deepening its tonal range and enhancing the material’s natural texture, chief among them. Now introducing tailoring to their assortment in wool suiting and a structured coat developed with material function and construction in mind.
Set against the backdrop of yellow wax structures, the choreography of the show added a cinematic drama to the collection. Models walked by briskly in their fur-trimmed hoods, turning them into faceless mannequins. A punchy rose and grape-colored button-up with matching trousers did a figure eight around guests, and fair isle sweaters in burnt orange and camouflage green added a domestic sensibility.
James Cochrane
James Cochrane
James Cochrane
James Cochrane
James Cochrane
words. Malcolm Thomas
