Bea Vanhala.
In the second cycle of its 20th anniversary, the charm of Scandinavia’s fashion capital remains – drawing an internationally discerning audience. From public shows to market debuts to adventurous locations, the Spring/Summer 2027 season was full of ambitious storytelling and even bigger productions. Schön! returned to Copenhagen Fashion Week, capturing the best runway and backstage moments that let the sunshine in.
Bea Vanhala.
OpéraSport.
Nearly a decade into their friendship and half a decade into their business, the former branding specialist and former stylist credit “good energy” as the key to OpéraSport’s success. Perhaps the key also lies in Awa Malina Stelter and Stephanie Gundelach’s understanding of the quintessential Copenhagen woman, themselves. “We’ve always been very drawn to contrast, which is a very Copenhagen thing. The whole thing about [wanting to be] casual in a dinner dress but you’re also going on a bicycle, so you want to be practical. It’s part of our DNA,” says Gundelach.
With a baby on her breast (Stelter had just given birth the day before), Stelter and Gundelach are contemplating growth. “Our companies’ growing. We feel like we’re in a place of life where our families’ growing; Stephanie personally is also growing,” says the co-founder turning to Gundelach, who is smiling shyly but does not care to elaborate. A distinctly apropos subject matter considering ‘Growth’ is the name of their latest collection.
Bea Vanhala.
Bea Vanhala.
Set atop a hill in Carl Jacobsen’s Garden, models of every ilk, a mixture of common curves and familiar faces, were framed by antiquity-inspired statues to the tune of a sappy French love song. They were draped in a botanical colour palette of garden greens, pale blues and purples and accessorised with bouquet belts and flower-bushel headdresses. Particularly poignant was the pregnant glow of a model in silver silk. Her belly lovingly poking out from under her one-shoulder blouse. A sweet homage to Stelter and Gundelach’s ‘the show must go on’ approach to motherhood, but more philosophically, a symbolic homage to the designer’s central theme, a simple yet intentional statement. Beauty takes time.
James Cochrane.
Anne Sofie Madsen.
A meditative hum bounced off the small, white-walled venue on the Frederiksholms Kanal. Michala Petri stepped into this sound, her lips wrapped around her recorder, her frosted blonde hair complementing her black silk robe. A perfect palette cleanser before the main course.
The Spring/Summer 2027 collection, entitled ‘The New Desire’, is a collection rooted in the optimism of possibility, an about-face from previous collections that might have expressed a more sombre perspective. In part of an exclusive collaboration with Nike, whose conceptual jerseys were for sale on a limited run from the 5-6 of August, from hand-sewn floral hot pants and jacket to velvet blouses and flirty silk chiffon, there was an obvious tension between elevated streetwear, intentional eveningwear and artful dressing. A dialogue between looks that asked, what is fashion today?
James Cochrane.
James Cochrane.
Although open to interpretation, long one of the region’s design anchors, as Anne Sofie Madsen presented her first collection during Copenhagen Fashion Week’s inaugural season, before a hiatus in 2018 and a brand revival in 2025 with co-creative director Caroline Clante, only a designer who’s lived through such eras could appropriately answer the question, even however, ironically as her repositioning as a Copenhagen Fashion Week New Talent has been.
Therefore, it was of no surprise that as the venue returned to a hum with Petri’s closing performance, an even lovelier sound was introduced: the sound of applause.
Bea Vanhala.
Stine Goya.
On a hot Wednesday morning in the commercial district of Nordhavn, somewhere between the last stop on the M4 and a winding maze of bike paths and construction trucks, all roads led to Stine Goya. Housed in the out-of-the-way industrial event space, Terminal 13, it was seemingly enough motivation for the city’s best-dressed to walk, run or bike there. Spoiler alert: it was worth it.
Titled ‘Before’, inspired by the novel ‘1913: The Year Before The Storm’ by Florian Illies, a moving historical portrayal of artists living in pre-World War I Europe, Goya designed on instinct. An instinct that history is doomed to repeat itself. “It feels like we’re standing on the edge of major change – the kind we can’t yet fully grasp, much like the artists of 1913 couldn’t grasp what was coming,” says Goya.
Bea Vanhala.
Bea Vanhala.
Yet, Goya chose joy. The show was full of colour, prints and performance. A man rollerbladed down the runway. A model wore a nature-scape car coat, while another wore a crystal-beaded bra over a safari shirt dress and another sported a bolero jacket framed in orange jacquard. Painterly florals took on many iterations from dresses and denim to knit sweaters and separates. The dopamine aplenty.
“Creative freedom and existential unease side by side – it’s what makes 1913 a powerful mirror for now,” says Goya. If the end is surely coming, Stine Goya Spring/Summer 2027 felt like the final party before the lights go out.
James Cochrane.
Collina Strada.
Against waterfront views of the Copenhagen Opera House, park and inner harbour on Galionsvej, Collina Strada touched Scandinavian shores. A longtime New York Fashion Week staple, as part of Copenhagen Fashion Week’s 20th anniversary, this season, Collina Strada was invited as a Global Guest. A “massive honour,” Creative Director Hillary Taymour says. She used trims, notions and fabric remnants from previous collections to adhere to the organisation’s strict Sustainability Requirements. “We opened every box, bin and shelf in our studio and committed to creating an entire collection,” she says.
James Cochrane.
James Cochrane.
Cheekily titled, ‘Delirium in Bloom,’ Taymour cites creative ambition as inspiration, asking the relatable question: what happens when we lean into our fears? Yet, according to Taymour, the storytelling wasn’t the main character this season. “It’s about care. About making the most of what you have. About going astray and taking your dreams and your delusions seriously,” she says – the clothes were. The tattered tutus, woven multicolour puff-sleeved tops, chiffon corsage body suits and lamé special occasion wear were the stars, culminating in a campy finale performance from a model as she stumbled off the catwalk in confusion.
However, despite the tussled tinseled hair and the glitter dust, as one model defiantly stuck out her tongue to the audience, Taymour did not want to rely on spectacle. Yet, that’s the thing about only trying to make a splash: sometimes you make waves.
photography. courtesy of Bea Vanhala (backstage), James Cochrane (runway)
words. Malcolm Thomas
