The fashion of tomorrow passes through Copenhagen

What makes a Fashion Week worthy of being called one? The program, certainly, the city that serves as its backdrop, but probably also the enthusiasm surrounding it. In a Copenhagen hit by an unexpected "heat wave" even for locals, the city welcomed Zalando-branded Fashion Week for the fourth season, a promoter of the big push that seems to animate Danish fashion weeks. With sustainability as its watchword, the Zalando Sustenaibilty Award honored RANRA as the brand best able to combine the buzzwords that will be part of the fashion of the future. Because, far from the centrality of Milan and Paris, Copenhagen has found its role as a creative incubator, the best-kept secret of tomorrow's fashion in which the beauty of the Danish city opens the door to a series of shows that are hard to forget.

The first day featured Aeron, a Hungarian brand founded by Eszter Áron and "groupmate" of Sunnei and Nanushka, in its debut on Danish soil with a show that, removed from the asphyxiating heat that haunted the location, a splendid greenhouse in the center of the Design Museum, enchanted in the general silence divided between the sultriness and admiration for the collection seen on the catwalk, shapewear based on layering almost unreal to the touch. Trust a re-see. «There are several reasons why we chose Copenhagen for our first show,» Andrea Martínez, the brand's Marketing, and Communications Manager told me. «The first is a sense of belonging that this city has. It was a natural decision for Eszter, it found a connection with Copenhagen right away, and the second is because of the synergy that was created. When I travel around the world and tell my friends about Aeron they say, 'I'll take a look,' here it's different.» «There is a natural and curious interest in the brand, it resonates with the city's aesthetic,» added Stina Vanessa. The very city continued to be the star of the shows.

At Refshalevej, get there by boat if you want the thrill of the sea voyage, Rabens Saloner and (di)vision brought to the stage two shows that were different in intent but tremendously similar in spirit. For while pink was the predominant element, from the umbrellas that sheltered attendees from the beating sun to the drinks served at the entrance, Apocalypse Now was the inspiration behind a collection that featured flower children and military-inspired jackets parading through a forest where the juice was served spiked. In common? The idea of space, living in the moment, and the concept of collectivity that animated some of the shows. It is certainly no coincidence that the most successful moments of this FW were the outdoor ones, in which the nerve centers of the city were transformed into locations. Wood Wood made Lille Langebro, the bridge near Københavns Havn, its catwalk in the center of the city, while in Frederiksberg Runddel Soulland staged one of the funniest shows of the entire Fashion Week whose vibes, accomplice also Lucio Battisti on the soundtrack, still echo through the square. Sunflower turned its show into a concert complete with beers at a construction site in Vestergade, while Holzweiler and Samsoe Samsoe told their collections through two different ways of putting architecture at the center of the show.

However, if you are looking for the true manifesto of this Copenhagen Fashion Week, the answer is Ganni, the absolute star with one of the two closing shows. It may have been the setting, a sunset Ophelia Plads surrounded by boats, or it may have been the presence of Emma Chamberlain as an honorary Ganni-girl, but the "joyride" promised to us by the brand exceeded all expectations in what was the culmination of a three-day event that involved the city, still far from being aware of its role in the FW scene, but ready to take its space as an alternative capable of attracting those brands eager to find a prominent role far from the Parisian or Milanese lights, but close to an event destined to become the "cool place" of tomorrow's fashion.