Copenhagen Fashion Week’s Secret Weapon: Community
Copenhagen Fashion Week is a reminder of what makes me care about fashion. It’s a stark contrast to the high-octane runways of Paris and Milan, where viral moments and big-budget productions take center stage over clothes and community. Instead, CPHFW is about something more intimate. Participating in the Danish capital’s fashion week means capturing the vibe of a local scene that is alive and united.
Copenhagen Fashion Week’s Fall/Winter 2025 shows once again proved why the Danish capital has solidified its place as a global fashion powerhouse. This season wasn’t just about aesthetics — it was a masterclass in effortless functionality, where Scandi minimalism collided with bold textures, sculptural silhouettes, and a heightened focus on sustainability.
This season at CPHFW, change was in the air. The absence of established labels like Saks Potts, GANNI, and Cecilie Bahnsen — the latter of which showed in Paris — created a noticeable gap between heavyweight brands. The timing clash with Paris Couture Week also meant some insiders were missing from the front row. But these moments only proved Copenhagen’s fashion scene is built to adapt, delivering a dynamic mix of brands that kept the energy high and the creativity even higher.
And at a time when sustainability still feels like a greenwashing buzzword for most fashion weeks, CPHFW is making it the bare minimum. If a brand wants a spot on the official schedule, it must meet strict environmental standards. These include prohibitions on destroying unsold clothes and samples, implementing a process for handling leftover stock, and transparently explaining fabric selection criteria. At least 60% of each collection must be certified, made from preferred materials, or crafted from deadstock fabric. Additionally, brands must outline their efforts to reduce the environmental footprint of packaging, just to name a few.
But let’s get to the real action. On a chilly winter afternoon, during the first show of the week I attended, guests arrived at the Villa Hotel terrace to find an unconventional runway: A lap pool. Deadwood’s Fall/Winter 2025 show, aptly themed “Shipwrecked,” sent out models across a pool and deck — misted to mimic fresh rain — wearing asymmetric shirts, distressed tees, denim jeans that echoed the flow of waves, and collaborative rubber Tretorn rain boots. Creative director Felix explained that the show’s concept came to him during a snorkeling trip, thanks to a mix of low oxygen levels and the ethereal sounds of This Mortal Coil’s “Song to the Siren.” “I’ve never felt as creative as I do now,” he said.
Icelandic outerwear label 66North took a different approach, presenting a retrospective in a vast warehouse to celebrate its 99th anniversary. CEO Helgi Óskarsson walked guests through the brand’s evolution, highlighting vintage fisherman jackets and raincoats that served as the foundation for today’s designs.
“The brand does not rely on a single person when it comes to design,” Óskarsson explained. “It's a collective effort. And once again, everything that we built is built on our history and our heritage. But we, as every other brand, also need fresh ideas to make sure that our 100-year-old history doesn't become obsolete.”
The collection’s theme, ”The Transformation of Landscapes,” was inspired by the impact of climate change on Iceland’s natural environment. “Glaciers are shrinking, and 2025 is the year of the glacier,” Óskarsson noted.
While this collection is cementing the brand as a rising force in the fashion scene, with its 100th anniversary on the horizon next year, the label is proving that a century of heritage doesn’t mean standing still; rather, it means evolving, adapting, and, most importantly, staying ahead of the game.
Han Kjøbenhavn’s FW25 show was a moody, immersive experience, channeling the raw beauty of concrete, fog, and electronic music. The collection “merged my suburban upbringing with my current creative state of mind,” Kjøbenhavn tells Highsnobiety. With its razor-sharp shoulders, body-hugging gowns, and hoof-like faux-suede winter boots, this show was enveloped by a couple thousand people piled into a cold industrial warehouse.
Leave it to Henrik Vibskov to turn a runway show into a theatrical performance. Held at Theater Republique, Viksov’s presentation featured an elaborate stage complete with a massive dining table and a live band with Vibskov himself on drums.
The collection, titled “A Bit Overwhelmed by the Opaque Resonance,” was shaped by a recent hiking trip in the Dolomites. “We try to control nature, but nature always fights back,” Vibskov mused afterward. The tension between control and chaos was reflected in the prints mimicking mountain landscapes, and the oversized outerwear.
Another highlight came courtesy of Copenhagen-based menswear brand NN07 and SLOP magazine, a seasonal publication that goes behind the scenes of everything happening in the supply chain and processes of the best food and drinks around. Embroidered artichokes, a vegetable symbolic of adaptability, layers, and resilience, were the primary motif.
That same spirit of adaptability and depth runs through NN07’s Fall/Winter 25 collection, where versatility takes center stage. Like the layered complexity of an artichoke, the brand peels back new dimensions of design, delivering outerwear, cozy knits, and impeccably tailored pieces with a sharper focus on texture and precision than ever before.
This season, NN07 brushed wool coats now feature precisely sculpted shoulders that create a confident, commanding silhouette that subtly asserts presence without veering into overstatement. Meanwhile, ultra-soft cashmere-blend knits bring a tactile richness, adding depth to the brand’s signature elevated everyday wear beyond the expected.
Paired with tailored wide-leg trousers and crisp shirting adorned with discreet embroidery, the collection leans into a quiet sophistication that feels distinctly Copenhagen: polished but unfussy, practical yet undeniably stylish.
Meanwhile, Berner Kühl’s collection, “Via Delle Campora”, was an exploration of the designer’s time in Florence. Frederik presented his brand's Fall/Winter 2025 collection inside the flagship store on Gammel Mønt, Copenhagen's main street. In the small space of the store, models made their way through the crowd, while outside a group of people braved the cold to admire the minimalistic looks from the store's window.
“Materials are everything to us,” says Frederick, founder and Creative Director of the brand, who started his design career at NN07 under Ulrik Pedersen and Alan Blond, now at Sunflower. “It's where we start all collections, and the fabrics are what defines us as a brand. The fabrics become our storytelling, and as we begin designing collections, the materials start interacting with each other, and that makes up the actual collection grid.”
MKDT Studio, on the other hand, blurred gender lines. Creative director Caroline Engelgaar’s approach to tailoring felt modern, influenced by Swiss sound artist Zimoun’s exploration of rhythm and movement.
“Friction creates resistance, but it also generates movement,” she explained, a sentiment that perfectly encapsulated the balance of precision and fluidity in her designs.
Community, in its truest sense, was on full display at one of Copenhagen Fashion Week’s most unexpected moments—the “Artificial” event. Conceived by Silas Adler (formerly of Soulland) and Tom Botwid (of skate brand Poetic Collective), the gathering wasn’t just another fashion activation; it was a raw, unfiltered intersection of art, fashion, and skateboarding that brought people together beyond industry norms. Held at The Lab, the event transformed a warehouse into a surreal skate park, designed by interior design studio Niko June. New Balance Numeric skaters took to the unconventional obstacles, pulling off tricks for cash, creating an atmosphere that felt more underground skate jam than a polished runway show. But what truly sets “Artificial” apart is the way it fosters real connection. This wasn’t about exclusivity or passive spectatorship — it was about participation. Skaters and non-skaters alike converged in the space, not just to watch but to engage.
CPHFW stands apart not because it lacks the competitive edge of bigger fashion capitals but because the energy coursing through its venues feels refreshingly personal. The front rows aren’t just lined with industry gatekeepers—friends, collaborators, and local creatives fill the spaces, genuinely rallying behind the designers they believe in. You see this in the way emerging brands borrow studio spaces from peers, how designers have shared similar career paths, or how a show might end with an impromptu gathering rather than a dash to the next venue.
This isn’t just a logistical difference; it’s a shift in mindset. Instead of vying for prestige, many of these designers are building something collectively—whether that’s through shared resources, cross-industry collaborations, or simply showing up for one another. This level of support feels woven into the DNA of the city’s creative ecosystem, making CPHFW feel less like a high-stakes showcase and more like an incubator for something bigger than fashion itself.
