5 highlights at Copenhagen Fashion Week, from Marimekko to Han Kjøbenhavn

Last but certainly not least, Copenhagen has business-savvy, forward-thinking fashion executives to thank as much as the strength of its creative community. The Copenhagen International Fashion Fair (CIFF), one of Northern Europe’s largest trade shows, runs in conjunction with Copenhagen Fashion Week and actually predates it by over a decade. Having recently merged with fellow trade show Revolver to maximise impact, CIFF now makes Copenhagen a go-to destination to see Scandinavian fashion, as well as a place for international brands to do business.

We checked out Copenhagen Fashion Week and, ahead, break down five stand-out shows from the spring/summer 2025 season that embody the event’s creative values.

1. Skall Studio

It’s been 10 years since sisters Julie and Marie Skall first introduced their dreamy design vision to the world – and what a busy 10 years it’s been for both their brand, Skall Studio, and “Scandinavian girl fashion” at large. For spring/summer 2025, the brand celebrated its extensive archive of quiet luxury looks by adding finishing touches that were fitting for a brand fully confident in what it’s doing – and what its consumer wants.

By integrating family values into the very threads of the brand’s fine, understated fabrics, Skall Studio continues to celebrate the very best of Scandinavian craftsmanship. The brand took several years to search for sustainable manufacturing partners before finally working denim into their offerings these past few seasons; it also weaves Danish wool into all of its sweaters, and eschews the use of fur and leather in all collections.

2. Henrik Vibskov

Both of those were on full display at his Copenhagen show this season, where a full house of friends of the brand turned up to watch his cast of characters navigate his latest show, which leaned more towards performance art than your traditional runway. Titled “The Orchestra of the Soft Assistance”, the show sees puppet hands gently lifting the veil on a collection made up of delicately crinkled pleats and wispy silhouettes.

3. Marimekko

Some of the brand’s aesthetics do have Asian roots: prints by Japanese textile artist Fujiwo Ishimoto, a frequent Marimekko collaborator, were also included this season. But it’s the brand’s emphasis on casual, comfortable style that accounts for its resounding popularity in places like Hong Kong and Singapore, where hot and humid weather is the norm and functional fashion remains key.

Many of this season’s offerings were also made with lightweight, breathable fabrics. But its most exciting new addition would have to be Marimekko Maridenim, launched just days before the spring/summer 2025 show. True to the brand’s everydaywear ethos, the new denim line is made up of matching sets with the Unikko poppy printed all over, designed to mix and match easily with other classic staples in your wardrobe.

4. Han Kjøbenhavn

Inspired by the clothes designer Jannik Wikkelsø Davidsen and his friends wore in their teenage years, the brand’s spring/summer 2025 collection, “Royals”, otherwise sees punk fabrics – faux leather and denim, primarily – reinvented in futuristic fashion. One gets the sense that Davidsen wanted to reimagine young misfits as kings and queens of the street. Against a backdrop of industrial ruin and grey, stormy skies, his creations certainly did the job, with the models at the finale looking just like heroes – or villains, perhaps – ready to take on a brave new world.

5. Rotate Birger Christensen

This season added a romantic edge to the festivities by transporting guests to Copenhagen’s quaint Royal Library Gardens. Aiming to evoke the 1920s era in which the gardens were first built, the collection reimagined the brand’s classic fare in florals and fringe, with bubble hems and ruffles meant to recall flower petals, and sexy slip dresses embellished with floral lace and beaded embroidery.