Every season, Copenhagen Fashion Week has a big job to do: Because it leads the fashion month calendar ahead of New York, London, Milan, and Paris, it sets the stage for the next six months of fashion. It's only in recent years that the Danish city has become a paragon of innovation and creativity.
This season, Finnish design house Marimekko celebrated its digital show by opening a joint exhibition with Danish photo-based artist Trine Søndergaard. Holzweiler's imaginative fall 2022 collection was presented as a short film that showcases emerging Nordic talent. Minimalist, cozy layers—the elements that originally put Scandi design on the map—were certainly present at brands like Soulland, Gestuz, and By Malene Birger, but color reigned king at Baum und Pferdgarten, which layered chunky sweaters in various monochromatic pairings like pink and red. Banner brands like Stine Goya, Ganni, and Saks Potts also made waves, and newcomers like The Garment, Tomorrow Denim, and (di)vision proved that Copenhagen Fashion Week’s Fall 2022 showing isn’t one to sleep on. Instagram favorites like STAND Studio, who's made its faux-fur and vegan leather coats into something of a collector's item, was back with even chunkier, trendier styles, while A. Roege Hove continued to prove that it's possible to reimagine knitwear as eveningwear, changing the entire meaning of an LBD.
Even more: Of all the cities that show during fashion month, Copenhagen is by and large the most sustainable. Not only does each participating brand bound by CPHFW’s own ambitious Sustainability Action Plan, but it banned the use of single-use plastic hangers and garment bags, and is committed to offsetting its own carbon emissions by enforcing strict preventive production policies that are now also overseen by other Nordic institutions like the Icelandic Fashion Council, the Norwegian Fashion Hub, and Oslo Runway, further cementing its place at the top of the fashion world’s notes.
Ahead, the biggest moments from CPHFW, including the brands to keep on your radar before their inevitable meteoric rise.
Holzweiler's head of design, Maria Skappel Holzweiler, didn't just have some fun ideas for the fall 2022 collection—she had an entire vision. The brand presented the gender-agnostic collection as a short film that stars young Nordic talent as they embark on a fictional road trip from Oslo to a cabin on the mountain Norefjell. "Sometimes clothes require the right context, and sometimes great clothes require a real backdrop," Holzweiler said. "That is what we have given this collection, something real." The result? Imaginative, well-tailored layers (think: a quilted leather puffer vest buried underneath a suede camel coat; a recycled deadstock knit dress paired with a chunky logo scarf and Moon Boots) that evoke Nanook at his most fashionable. The entire collection feels less traditionally après-ski and more alternative snow bunny.
By Malene Birger's creative director, Maja Dixdotter, knows why we're all here: The brand's smart take on contemporary minimalism always manages to excite even the maximalists among us. For fall 2022, that meant tactile nubby knits in creams and beiges, flowing resort-ready dresses, and textbook hygge separates that were the unequivocal stars. In short, it was everything you'd want to wear in a Scandi utopia. The runway's "serpentine path" was meant to evoke the duality of fluid movement on a winding path, piquing our interest for what's to come.
Always a front-runner for the week's most joyful show, Ganni presented its fall 2022 collection via a live concert by Danish performer Jada. (The brand's spring 2020 show, the last pre-pandemic live runway, ended with a rainy dance party led by Copenhagen pop star MØ.) This season, Ditte and Nicolaj Reffstrup were inspired by early-'90s indie music—think: Björk and PJ Harvey—which came through in the form of glitzy separates, feminine accoutrements like drawstrings and bows, and snakeskin suiting. While much of it was meant to evoke the carefree spirit of the quintessential MTV video girl, there were plenty of practical options too. If nothing else, the Ganni girl still knows how to have fun.
In the age of influencer collaboration ubiquity, it's hard to find a new collection that feels decidedly fresh—but Sophia Roe, who teamed up with Designers Remix veteran Charlotte Eskildsen to launch The Garment in 2020, is nailing it. Even more, she's just doing what she does best: traditional Scandinavian minimalism. Hallmarks of the brand include tailored suiting, smart knitwear, and separates that are made to be mixed and matched in the name of timelessness. This time around, The Garment's seasonless approach translated to a feminine, scalloped collar layered atop a perfectly prim wool miniskirt; a soft-knit midi dress in a cool charcoal gray; and a cable-knit sweater that was made to be half-tucked.
Fashion has long been enthralled by the idea of otherworldly travel, but it hasn't always come across as literal as it did for Henrik Vibskov's fall 2022 runway show, titled Biblioteca of Micro Selves. An examination of uncertainty in the future, the collection and set toyed with lunar elements and, later, juxtaposed utility with protection in the form of life vests secured at the waist and balaclavas meant to offer warmth and preservation. And just when you thought there were no new silhouettes to be made, Vibskov swapped Moon Boots—a major trend for the upcoming season—for moon shoes, which laced up and secured at the ankle. Layers of plaid wool cocoons offset bright, slinky pleats and the occasional tailored suit to round out the futuristic, experimental collection.
In keeping with the recent obsession with space travel and frigid temperatures, Baum und Pferdgarten opened its fall 2022 show—which it presented in front of a looming winter moon—with the sounds of footsteps trudging through frozen snow. Designers Rikke Baumgarten and Helle Hestehave called the collection Pursuing Polaris, marked with quilted puff-collar coats, knit balaclavas, and tweed skirt suits that evoked none of the traditional working girl vibes. Sure, there were ski-appropriate separates like striped Americana knits, glossy metallic puffers, muddy base layers, and padded pants, but this showing seemed less made for the slopes and more appropriate for a festive party at the chalet.
As a nod to CPHFW's commitment to sustainability, Fassbender showed its fall 2022 collection in the Zalando Greenhouse, a move that recognized the importance of responsibility within the industry, which it matched from the inside out. The brand also created fabrics out of raw materials like cactus—a newly minted alternative to leather—sugarcane leather, and recycled wool, and experimented with technology like 3D printing to offset traditional production expenditures. While the collection began with a nod to traditional Scandi dressing with a palette of black and white along a smoky runway, it eventually gave way to layers of bright reds and electric greens in the form of a cowl-neck gown, an oversized cable-knit sweater, and a slinky pleated dress topped with a belted camel jacket.
Filippa K is known for masterfully fusing traditional Scandinavian minimalism with punchy, rich colors and textures—and the brand’s Fall 2022 collection was no different. The final season before Liisa Kessler takes the helm as creative director, the brand showed a faithful mix of monochromatic separates that celebrate Nordic winters, like a ski-ready puffer that was styled with a crop top and shorts, or quilted, forest green pants that could be appropriate for the slopes if it weren’t for the chic knee-high side-slit. A faux fur vest, which the brand paired with sequined trousers and leather gloves, was an unexpected highlight that hinted at more eveningwear in the brand's future. Of course, there were certain looks—like a buttery black leather blazer and pant set, or a slouchy V-neck sweater—that felt less imaginative and more like, well, more of the same—but we’re quickly reminded that it’s all in the execution. There’s a reason why Filippa K is quickly becoming a household name: No matter how you spin in, it’s all so easy to wear.
Catherine Saks and Barbara Potts are no strangers to a good time. The designers are never ones to shy away from a theme, either—and for Fall 2022, it’s clear that Saks Potts girl is ready to go out again. The brand presented its show at Copenhagen’s modern opera house, a prestigious backdrop for its color-blocked tanks, floor-length snakeskin jackets, and trousers with asymmetrical cut-outs and piping at the hip. Still, there were options for the museum-goer, too: A slouchy gray-marbled turtleneck was belted at the was it and pair with a midi skirt in a similarly muddy hue; a rose-embellished top was offset with a low-slung rainbow belt. While the tame leather toppers were a far cry from the feathered outerwear that put the brand on the map, it’s clear that Saks Potts knows what it’s doing: reacclimating us to the outside world without forcing it. We're not ready for all the glamour just yet.
This article originally appeared on Harper's BAZAAR US.