The Blogazine

The fashion industry takes a lot of heat: mainly it’s accusations of being too trivial to actually matter in the real world. When attending fashion weeks you realize just how vast this “trivial” matter is. As you would expect, it all started in Paris. The founder of Haute Couture, Charles Frederick Worth invited socialites to view a selection of his pre-made original designs shown on women walking around simple runway. It was a novelty at the time, but it proved to be a great success and soon other designers followed. Thus, the Parisian Fashion Week was born. During the second World War, the occupation of France forced the world to look to other countries for a fashionable kick. Eleanor Lambert took advantage of it and shifted the press’ attention to New York and their local designers, calling it the Press Week. Giovanni Battista Giorgini was inspired by Lambert’s move and brought the press to Palazzo Pitti in Florence so that Italian designers could showcase their craftsmanship to the world. As Italian fashion grew in popularity the city of Florence couldn’t keep up and so the event was moved to Milan. In 1975 Milan presented its first Settimana Della Moda. A few years later London fashion week followed, completing the big four.

This year’s Copenhagen Fashion Week made clear what a big platform the fashion world actually is. As a discipline, fashion can be a way of communicating the simplest yet most intricate matters and fashion week poses as the elevated media for this subtle form of communication. Fashion weeks don’t simply serve as a way of showing the trends for upcoming seasons. Rather, it is a way of discussing topics, promoting talent and innnovation, as well as marketing one’s country via a highly acclaimed channel. At Copenhagen Fashion Week it was made clear how important sustainability is to the industry and the world, while Eva Kruse pointed out how fashion week brings jobs and opportunities to the table. Designers of Copenhagen were also given the opportunity to master their creative flow into a spectacular show, which Henrik Vibskov certainly showed to be a master of, with his fantastic watershow. The simple fact of putting oneself on the map might be enough of a reasons why fashion weeks were established in the first place and are still emerging all over the world, from Toronto to Copenhagen, all the way to Shanghai. In fact, fashion weeks have proved to be an excellent way to enhance the reputation of local designers and promote local creative industries in an ever more globalized world.

While most are still enjoying the summer of 2014 the fashion industry is looking ahead to the next spring/summer season.

The Concepts: If we were to describe Copenhagen Fashion Week with only two words, it would most definitely be sporty chic. The influence of athletic attire is not something new, but at the Danish fashion scene it became elevated through materials and their different combinations. It was most clear at Ganni who took classic sporty pieces from the tennis court and reinterpreted them into fashionable staples. Lovechild 1979, on the other hand, also introduced luxurious active wear with a feminine touch. Silky dresses and skirts reminiscent of the 1930s were combined with caps and tennis shoes creating an interesting juxtaposition. There was also a great deal of tailored elegance to be spotted at many of the runway shows. At Mark Kenly Domino Tan classic feminine silhouettes running down the runway brought to mind both the works of Oscar de la Renta, as well as those by Raf Simons for Dior, while managing to keep his own originality. Voluminous dresses and tailored sportier pieces were shown, creating an interesting story that you never wanted to end.

The Prints: There weren’t any real color codes for the season. Rather, all colors were allowed with a preference towards basics, such as navy and beige: we are in Scandinavia after all. The interesting take came from different prints, a navy dogtooth as well as floral prints at Baum und Pferdgarten and brush strokes at Freya Dalsjø. Interesting prints that preferably should be worn both on top and bottom to create a harmonious look that catches the eye.

The Materials: Echoing the trend of transparency both Stine Ladefoged and Maikel Tawadros used mesh netting as an overlay giving the transparency an edgier touch and also saluting the cut out trend without being too obvious. It was used on both skirts tops and dresses as the prefect partner in crime to otherwise simplistic silhouettes.

The Accessories: The flat shoes are continuing their reign, as at almost all the fashion shows you could spot a white sneaker or tennis shoe perfecting the outfit. Creating contrast and supplying comfort, the white sneaker has the light easiness of spring while still supplying the sporty comfort that appeared to be the essence of Copenhagen SS15. As a counterpoint, the interesting geometrical jewelry at Veronica B. Vallenes added to the simplistic minimalism giving the look a desirable fashionista twist. Circles of silver and gold glittered in the spotlights, featured both on necklaces and as hairpins, creating a futuristic feel for these minimalistic attires.

The Techniques: Pleats have the unique quality of being both edgy and romantic. This was showcased at Designers Remix whose subtly colored finale pieces were flowy and romantic. The pleats were featured all over Copenhagen in all kind of materials and were a definite favorite among designers. Another over-used technique was the fringe. Fringes could be seen everywhere from shoes to bags and, of course, included in garments seen at By Malene Birger. The movement of the fringe creates a playful dynamic that turns even a simple design classic into a piece of the moment.