I guess I’m a material girl now
Girlhood is growing up at CPHFW.
At Copenhagen Fashion Week, I found myself in a revolving door of straw sailor hats and oversized blazers. Copenhagen girls really love fashion, so much that they typically wear a lot of it all at once. Traditionally, they’re so good at looking like they’ve just thrown something on, but now they’ve appeared to have made plans, at least for their clothes. At IAMISIGO, a Danish stylist told me, “See you at the next show, but in a different outfit,” in a triumphant tone that really conveyed the energy of a material girl.
For the past few seasons, every fashion show has turned into girlhood-spotting. But at Nicklas Skovgaard, it was all clear that we’ve descended into “lady-fication,” a glamorous space that greets the material girl by hand. Models, aka “The Skovgaardettes,” spilled out of sleek convertibles, candy-wrapped in a palette of hot pink, pastel yellow, and turquoise. In thick headbands à la Barbra Streisand, Grease’s Pink Ladies had resurrected and opted for gingham.
At Caro Editions, similar vintage cars were parked alongside a Stardoll-worthy cast of models. The scene was all high-waisted, knee-length pants, shoulder pads, and capes. It felt like the sartorial equivalent of sunglasses at night. Erin Wasson lit a cigarette as she sauntered down the runway, because apparently in Copenhagen, smoke-filled lungs provide a nice contrast to your colorful outfit.
It’s a form of femininity so overt it almost punches you in the face, and it continued at the Swedish School of Textiles, where Sally Bjerre Gaarde closed the show with her reinterpreted take on Chanel tweed. For SSON, oversized earrings and layered pearl necklaces complimented the T-shirt equivalent of an ’80s power dress. Even Henrik Vibskov’s show, “Keep The Moisture Rising,” was inspired by a tube of cream, and somehow a fashion show about a literal cream both screams and sings material girl.
Copenhagen knows how to dress a woman who has a life. She has an artistic life at Stine Goya, a social life at Studio Constance, and a nightlife at Alectra Rothschild/Masculina. It’s a perfectly impractical wardrobe that you’d go home and change for, because, for some, it’s fun to go home four times a day and change your outfit. This was pretty obvious at my hotel, 25 hours hotel Indre By, which seemed to be doubling as a fitting room for half of Copenhagen during the week.
The women at Solitude Studios simply wanted to have a good night. The floor was covered in scribbled numbers straight out of a bathroom stall, prompting us to “call for fun.” Sadly, when I tried calling one of the numbers, I was reprimanded by an older Danish man yelling at the other end of the line. Copenhagen is probably the last place I would expect to see the return of the freakum dress. With plunging-neck rompers and peach lace bralettes, each look felt like a chaser to the one before. At the Swedish School of Textiles, Signe Sjöström and Charity Egbudiwe even sent clutch handbags—the 2010s club-staple—down the runway b2b. Isn’t this what being a woman is all about? Carrying a handbag into which nothing can possibly fit?
CPHFW presented the post-girl, not in the sense that girlhood has died and we’re all women, but that it has evolved, maybe even received a diploma along the way. Collina Strada fittingly arrived in the land of mermaids and crochet, and Paolina Russo’s skating models were wearing necklaces out of skateboard wheels. Along with students at the Royal Danish Academy—such as Ella Sofia Mannov, who even covered a model in CDs—they captured the childish fun which we all try to carry long into adulthood.
Institution, the recipient of the 2026 Zalando Visionary Award, proved that CPHFW has grown up. It seems fitting that the collection was named “YAD” (Azerbaijani for “foreign” or “strange”), as the collection conveyed a sense of maturity that comes with the permission to let yourself become stranger as you age. Anne Sofie Madsen seemed to arrive at a similar conclusion by playing around with organza, layering it with Nike pieces in a way that came across as equally quirky and practical. Overall, CPHFW felt connected to getting older, discovering that being an adult is mostly about having somewhere to go and something to wear when you get there.
In true Danish drinking spirit, I asked some Danes (and guest-Danes) what their women would order at the bar. Drink responsibly, please!
Nicklas Skovgaard says…
“A Skovgaardette muse always orders an Iced White Russian. First of all, why wouldn’t she? It’s basically a milkshake with a criminal record. Cold, creamy, slightly trashy and somehow still glamorous. She could order a Martini, but that would be trying too hard, no?”
Paolina Russo says…
“She doesn’t drink, she goes to 7-11 for a Slurpee (blue raspberry + green apple) because she wants a hotdog too.”
Collina Strada says…
“Sparkling water. 6 drops of bitters and 3 limes. Hydration always. French fries with Dijon mustard if they have it. Very dirty martini extra olives.”
Anne Sofie Madsen says…
“The bartender’s favorite—it saves everyone time.”
