Copenhagen Just Had a Fully-Digital Fashion Week

While it’s not one of the big four (Paris, Milan, London, New York), Copenhagen Fashion Week is increasingly one that the industry is looking to for trends and themes that matter.

This year, Copenhagen AW21 Fashion Week, like many other events over the last twelve months, was held completely digitally. Over three action-packed days, designers from Denmark, Scandinavia and around the world came together (virtually) for talks, shows and parties.

Being online-only didn’t stop a host of high-end Scandi brands putting their best (dressed) foot forward for the occasion. Many collections acknowledged the much-changed world we live in now, with a strong focus on comfort and more relaxed dressing, and an increased number of brands emphasised pieces that were designed to transcend trends and be worn for many years.

Norwegian brand Holzweiler’s collection nodded to the upheaval in the world with twists on classic pieces, Swedish brand Stand Studio opted for bold shapes and prints in earthy tones and London label RIXO presented a collection of pretty loungewear-cum-occasionwear.

There was, naturally, a strong showing from Danish brands. Copenhagen-based Rotate took inspiration from the ’80s to elevate our stay-home wear, while Ganni partnered with female musicians for a showing of their texture-heavy collection that had its own nod to the ’90s.

Baum und Pferdgarten took inspiration from small Danish coastal communities, Mark Kenly Domino Tan offered up a collection designed to stand the test of time in monochromes and neutrals, and By Malene Birger showed a range of dramatic silhouettes designed to feel substantial even from a distance.

Remain ran with the idea of the Copenhagen woman’s uniform, with luxe versions of the everyday wardrobe. Stine Goya was one brand that really broke away from the allure of the practical, with the Grunge Euphoria collection paying tribute to the energy of speakeasies and nightclubs, giving free rein to individuality, self-expression and sexuality with florals, colours and silhouettes that snub dull lockdown dressing.

Digital fashion week is just as action-packed as a traditional one but done largely through computer screens. Designers, buyers and sustainability experts gave talks, held panels and hosted live Q&As in between the fashion films that replaced the catwalk to show off collections.

The digital environment gave labels the chance to play with different settings and environments to best show off their pieces, and powerful soundtracks helped create the energy one usually associates with fashion week. All of the glamour, none of the air kisses.

As the leading charge in sustainability in fashion, it's fitting that Copenhagen Fashion Week should be fully digital. Last year at the event, which was held in the usual way, the organisation implemented a sustainability action plan with a set of requirements that brands will need to adhere to by 2023 if they want to continue participating in fashion week.

And believe it or not, brands seem to be embracing this mandate.

Ganni plans to reduce the size of its overall collection by 40 per cent and have its clothing be crafted from 100% certified, organic or recycled materials (it’s currently at 80 per cent). Stine Goya has shifted to sustainable packaging, opened an archive store, and is aiming for 90% of its fabrics to be recycled or sustainable by 2025. Rotate is using 50% sustainable fabrics in its party range and 99% in its loungewear range.

Copenhagen Fashion Week’s own goals include biannual sustainability seminars for brands to follow, creating partnerships to facilitate sustainable services, mindful collection of waste after all shows, and offsetting each event’s carbon emissions.

Hosting digital fashion weeks undoubtedly makes all of those goals easier to attain. Fashion is already on the brink of a revolution, with increasing attention given to the unsustainability of the industry in its current state, so switching the biggest events of the year to online-only feels, to an extent, like an inevitability.

No doubt, when lockdown restrictions ease and we can travel and gather together again, there will be a partial return to fashion weeks of old. But Copenhagen Fashion Week showed that digital will have a place in fashion shows going forward.

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