Article and photos by Jenny Söderman and Søren Jepsen of www.copenhagenstreetstyle.dk
If there’s one thing Copenhagen Fashion Week is known for, it’s being laid-back and the Wood Wood show was, as usual, no exception. The seating was cramped and the models hardly had any room at all to walk but the show never felt claustrophobic. If anything, Wood Wood knows how to create intimate and cozy, not just when it comes to shows but also to their clothes.
For those of us who grew up in the nineties, this was a trip back down memory-lane. Baggy jeans, chinos, grungy shirts, simple dresses and chuncky knits were met with smiles and cheers from the audience. Wood Wood knows what young urban Copenhageners wants to wear off duty. Their look is relaxed but still manages to look dressy. One of the standouts was a utility pantsuit reminicent of a worker’s uniform. Wood Wood almost comes off as being blue-collar labor nostalgic, and that’s their true genius.
They manage to make something attractive out of the unattractive. But was it really so different from their last A/W collection? Somehow this collection seemed a little less cohesive and included grunge as well as navy-influences, whereas the two previous collections focused on either of the two. It could easily have been a little slip-up or mistake with the timing of the show but one of the models walked the catwalk with the same outfit styled differently serveral times.
At one point she had her buttoned knit cardigan tucked into her high-waisted skirt and at one point she wore it loose with a t-shirt underneath. If intended, that marked thoughtfulness towards the consumerism ideology we’re living by.
Barbara Igongini is probably the most couture-designer Denmark will ever have. Gongini’s debut-show and collection last season surprised many. The focus however was on the beautiful show instead of the extraordinary clothes. This year Gonigini took it in another direction.
This time the clothes were the main focus and the show was the perfect backdrop. One of Gongini’s models took place in a bathtub filled with water in the middle of the runway, while another stood in front of the photo-podium and started singing. Barbara Igonigini is a true artist when it comes to creating sculptural shapes.
Igongini creates artistic dresses by knotting tulle pieces together and forming avant-garde forms that could belong on any international catwalk, but she also makes wearable casual deconstructed pieces with knots and drawstrings present in almost every single piece.
Cardboards and Dystopia was the theme and the inspiration for Swedish budget denim brand Cheap Monday’s A/W 09 collection.
The show attracted some of the week’s hippest, youngest and rockiest crowds. As a reaction against last year’s brightness and positive mood, Cheap Monday had turned toward cardboard and created a collection a little darker and moodier than usual.
The silhouette was antifit with loose-fitting trousers and non-stretch denims.
Grunge was still very present in the collection and the amazing casual staple blazers were shown in different forms and colors.
There’s nothing quite like the surreal feeling of experiencing genius Henrik Vibskov’s shows in Denmark. He’s locally hailed as a true super-star and the shows, open to the public for 75 danish kroner or a packet of cigarettes, is more like a rock-concert than a fashion-show.
When Vibskov himself takes lead of the models at the finale walk down the runway, the audience goes crazy with cheers, standing ovations and the whole venue turns into one giant party with free beer. This is where the fashion-elite meets the end-consumers and Vibskov:s shows have become institutions in Danish-fashion.“The Human Laundry Show” featured five giant wheels and had the models walking in them as if they were hamsters.
Of course the wheels and the spectacular walking stole some focus off the clothes and Vibskov remained true to his signature look of oversized yet tailored dresses and trousers, stripes, deep visible pockets and suspenders. No one makes clothes quite as patriotic as Vibskov.
He creates wearable pieces for the young, active and creative souls of Copenhagen who’d rather die that wear a boring old suit and who loves to provoke with colors, patterns, silhouettes and comical references.
Most saw Vibskov’s show as the finale of the week (as it usually is) and most of the international journalists and bloggers were long gone when designers Malene Marron and Karen Bagge showed on the Saturday. Malene Marron’s first collection last year did have some promising elements.
Her range of casual sportswear was comprised of ultra-thin knits and sophisticated drawstring-detailing, but the arbitrary injection of silk-dresses that look out of place makes the whole collection look incohesive.
The venue was very befitting of the collection which consisted of pink chintz-skirts and ripped boucle’-jackets.
