The Scandi brands British women should be adding to their wardrobes
But how to bottle this carefree attitude and bring it to British waters? If you can't actually be Danish, surely you can at least look the part.
'Danish women are effortlessly cool and unafraid to stand out,' says designer Thora Valdimars of Rotate, a favourite among Scandi girls who love to dress up and disco. 'Our style isn't about being too serious or too perfect, it's about having fun with fashion and feeling like yourself.'
What's more, Danish women prioritise sustainability – the fashion week makes it a central theme. Cecilie Thorsmark, an elegant mother-of-three and the chief of Copenhagen Fashion Week says: '[We] approach dressing with a mindset rooted in functionality and quality – and equally in a strong commitment to supporting local designers.' Brace yourselves, but the Copenhagen woman doesn't have an M&S equivalent she pops to at lunchtime to scratch her retail therapy itches. Instead, she thinks long and hard about the pieces she wants in her wardrobe and invests in the craftspeople who make them.
Here are seven Scandi brands I noticed many of the most stylish women in Copenhagen wearing. Axolotl tattoos at your own discretion.
For rustic luxury
Skall Studio
Had The Talented Mr Ripley taken place in Northern Jutland instead of Ischia, Gwyneth Paltrow would have worn Skall Studio. Meaning 'seashell' in Danish, Skall offers salt-of-the-earth simplicity and romance: palettes inspired by Denmark's coastline and an uncompromising use of natural materials (including recycled wool, organic cotton and buttons made from nuts), a practice that's all too rare in the fashion industry.
For wardrobe staples
Aiayu
When I meet founder and creative director Maria Høgh Heilmann and chief executive Maria Glæsel in their Nyhavn shop, I'm struck by the smell of soothing essential oils and the pleasingly bare stonewashed walls. The space is textural and feels expensive. The same goes for their clothes: that's the whole point. 'Our clients come to us for things you don't get tired of,' she explains as she pulls a rich, chocolate cardigan from the racks. 'We see daughters wearing their mother's knitwear that they bought 10 years ago.' Specialising in luxurious wardrobe perennials – your wool jumpers and luxurious cotton tees – the brand was born from a trip Heilmann took to Bolivia in the early 2000s to help establish its knitwear industry. Today, she has scarcely changed her designs, and still uses natural, undyed wool from the local llamas.
For understated elegance
Birrot
Birrot offers clean, sleek, expertly crafted elegance from two Korean designers who studied in London and relocated to Copenhagen; it's one of the buzziest labels on the city's streets right now. Watching their fashion show, I could appreciate the beauty of the fabrics as they swished and billowed on models of all sizes and ages. This is Birrot's signature 'Lay' material: a stretch crêpe fabric that moves with you yet holds the structured lines of Korean-meets-Danish design. Each runway look was paired with flip flops – Danish women's laid-back footwear of choice.
For the ethereal party dress
Cecilie Bahnsen
If the British woman is on a perpetual quest for the perfect floral dress, her Danish counterpart dreams of owning a Cecilie Bahnsen light-as-air frock. Bahnsen's signature babydoll silhouette combines French romance with a Scandinavian feeling for modernity and structure.
'Danish women feel like they can express themselves in our collections,' Bahnsen beams after her runway show, which saw Bjork's daughter Ísadóra Bjarkardóttir Barney walk the runway. Bahnsen's iconic dresses are highly sought after on resale apps like Vinted and Vestiaire. However, the most affordable way to start adding some Cecilie Bahnsen charm to your bracelet is through a pair of her trainers: her flower-adorned collaborations with Asics routinely sell out and have become the stuff of fashion lore.
For feminine tailoring
Herskind
Designer Birgitte Herskind has been working with her daughter Andrea Hess since she was three weeks old: 'Andrea was at the first trade fair with me, I was feeding her breast milk,' she confides, laughing. Now grown up, Andrea stands with her mother backstage (wearing flip flops naturally), as they tell me about how they developed the Copenhagen woman's go-to brand for suiting.
'[We have always been] about details and quality. We do a lot of tailoring, and play around with the feminine and the masculine. You can be a woman in all of the ways you want to be,' Birgitte explains. Expect blazers and co-ords that are as structurally sound as an Arne Jacobsen chair.
For the countryside conversation piece
Baum Und Pferdgarten
When friends Rikke Baumgarten and Helle Hestehave founded their label in 1999, it quickly became the Scandinavian go-to for quirky prints, bold colours and playful pieces – before being embraced by women worldwide. This season saw the designers showcase a horsey collection at a harness racing track, featuring tweeds, silky jockey tracksuits and a slouchy take on the equestrian boot that nodded to the universe of Ralph Lauren. This was a decidedly WASP-y fine-tune of their Danish DNA, and would play well with British countryside codes. To be the most fashionable and in-the-know woman in the Cotswolds this season, pair your wellies with something by Baum Und Pferdgarten.
For discos and dance floors
Rotate
'Our customers turn to us when they want to feel powerful, feminine and playful. It's about stepping into something that instantly shifts your energy. We love that feeling of confidence, and that's very Copenhagen,' say designers Jeanette Madsen and Thora Valdimars. Rotate is all about clothing to have fun in – your sequinned skirts, party dresses and zebra-print trousers. I myself am wearing a ruffle-trim gown of their design as a bridesmaid later this year, and the bride plans to dance the night away wearing a diamanté column dress at the afterparty. Skål!
LA was a guest of Copenhagen Fashion Week and Kurhotel Skodsborg, a spa hotel that was the former villa of King Frederik VII. It's situated 30 minutes by train from Copenhagen and offers doubles from £262.
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