Copenhagen Fashion Week at 20 — How the City Became a Global Hub of Creativity

If you're plugged into "fashion", you know the core four capitals are New York, London, Milan and Paris. There are several other cities, however, that have become equally influential, agenda-setting and, just to slip into industry speak for one moment, iconic—and one of them is Copenhagen.

Copenhagen Fashion Week is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and, as the first of its two annual showcases kicks off next week on 27 January, the capital is expecting a record number of attendees. And quite right too. Over the past two decades, Denmark's fashion industry has increased its total revenue by 24%, according to Danmarks Statistik, making it the country's third biggest export commodity. But as well as being economically vital, helping to place the city even more squarely on the fashion map since 2006, Copenhagen Fashion Week is, above all, a creative force to be reckoned with.

It's an open secret that everyone loves Copenhagen, preferring its slightly less hectic schedule where you can bike from show to show, not to mention an emphasis on truly excellent canapés. (When I last went to CPHFW, my photo dump contained not one but two plates of whipped butter, one of which was the size of a Baked Alaska.)

Its street-style scene is also, arguably, not just the most convivial—featuring saturated colours and "more is more" accessorising—but the most inspiring. As Copenhagen is positioned just a few weeks ahead of New York, it often sets the agenda for the core four, not a follower but a leader. Some of its influencers, in fact, were almost the first out of the gates, so to speak, including Pernille Teisbaek, who has 1.4 million followers and has been featured on the cover of Vogue Scandinavia.

Many of its brands now have a global presence, cultivating not just a cultish devotion among fans (#gannigirls) but enough confidence in oversees markets to warrant a proliferation of bricks-and-mortar shops outside Denmark.

This AW26 season, highlights include its stalwart contemporary brands—OpéraSPORT, Holzweiler, Baum und Pferdgarten, Rave Review and Skall Studio—but also new-gen talents that are developing their own vocabulary as part of CPHFW (Bonnetje, Paolina Russo, Sson and Stem). With an emphasis on sustainability—CPHFW operates within a Sustainability Requirements Framework, with a benchmark set for "Minimum Standards" which have to be complied with in order to be considered for the official schedule—an inclusive approach to casting that, frankly, you don't see enough of in other capitals and, finally, a sense of playfulness that proves that fashion isn't po-faced but fun, Copenhagen is the one to watch now more than ever.

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