Want to be part of the #GanniGirl gang? Then you need to get this NOW
There is Scandi style, and then there is Ganni style, taking it to a whole other level of cool. And that is why everyone wants to be a Ganni Girl, the likes of Alexa Chung, Kendall Jenner and Alicia Vikander included.
You may not know it, but although the Danish brand has been the street style set's go-to for the past couple of years, it was actually founded in 2000 as a cashmere knit company. It was only in 2009, when husband-and-wife team Ditte Reffstrup and Nicolaj Reffstrup started running the company, that things went a bit crazy.
'We wanted to do something different than the stereotypical Scandinavian fashion,' Ditte told us. 'When we started out it pretty much came down to either high-concept Scandi-style or girly-boho. But I didn’t feel like it represented me or how I wanted to dress, and I was convinced that we could create a third alternative full of contrast and colour. We basically wanted a more playful and effortless approach to fashion and design.'
You could say they succeeded if their 361k strong Instagram following is to be believed (and don't get us started on the hashtags).
Here, Ditte tells us how to join the Ganni Girl tribe, including the next must-have item.
You did an LA inspired collection and a British punk themed capsule for Browns here in London, yet you still manage to keep the Danish DNA in the clothes, where do you find your inspiration?
Copenhagen and all the insanely cool girls here are and always have been a huge inspiration. So that definitely helps keep us inherently Danish at the core. Even though we also travel the world for inspiration, and our latest collection was very much inspired by what we called the “Global Citizen”.
The new collection was a bit more paired back, is this a new direction for Ganni?
Working with contrast will always be in our DNA, but lately we’ve seen many takes on so-called maximalism with lots of floral prints and contrast pairing coming out of Copenhagen. So what you saw in our latest collection was our attempt to work with contrast in a new, slightly more subtle way.
Everyone wants to be a #gannigirl – how did the brand become so cult on social media?
In all honesty it was a pretty organic effort, we never had a social media manager or a lager SoMe strategy - it just happened. We try to ensure that everything we do on Instagram is quintessentially GANNI and do our best to be relevant and authentic.
Was there a turning point where you thought you’d made it?
August, 2014. It’s the perfect Copenhagen summer day, and we’re doing our fashion week show at the tennis court of a run-down hotel that used to belong to an eccentric bon vivant. Faith No More’s Epic is playing as the models walk the tennis court-come-catwalk, and we have all the right people seated in the front row. Epic indeed.
There was the polka dot dress, the Juilliard jumper, the Charron check dress... What are the next Ganni cult items we need to be investing in?
I am pretty sure that come August, you’ll see our FW18 cowboy boots on all street corners!
How can we be more like the ultimate Ganni girl?
Don’t try to be anyone but yourself, and you’re halfway there.
What’s new for the brand?
I’m super excited about our new denim line that launches March 23rd with Net-a-Porter. Denim is the ultimate wardrobe essential, but we wanted to do it differently. We took a playful approach with abundance of colour, attitude and contrasts. I think it’s a great counterpoint to our prints and feminine DNA.
The denim was created with Bengt Thornefors and Christopher Svensson from Magniberg!
