It may not be London, New York, Milan or Paris, but Copenhagen is a city with style — that much is undeniable. And with a fashion week playing host to Scandinavia’s most innovative and experimental designers year after year, the Danish capital is continually reasserting itself as a viable stop on Europe’s fashion map. CPHFW is not only a valuable fashion asset in its own right, hitting headlines for its flip-flop-clad street style and politically conscious fashion statements, but a stepping stone to bigger things — as Heliot Emil’s New York Men’s Day show, and Henrik Vibskov’s transition to the Paris circuit testifies. And the latest in a string of Danish designers making waves overseas is Copenhagen’s very own HAN Kjøbenhavn, who bid a dystopian farewell to CPHFW last week, before a highly anticipated move to Paris next season.
The 10-year-old brand, headed by Jannik Wikkelsø Davidsen, showed its ambitious SS19 collection in an abandoned warehouse at Nordhavn harbour — an area once reserved for industry, that’s now rapidly becoming gentrified as Copenhagen struggles to keep up with housing demand and an influx of expats seeking happiness and hygge-filled lifestyles. The unconventional location not only provided a fitting backdrop for the collection, which was inspired by Danish suburbia and Davidsen’s own experience growing up on the outskirts of the city, but also embodied the brand’s unorthodox ethos. The event itself saw an eclectic mixture of models — both professional and street cast — parade around a disused greenhouse, in a nod to the atmospheric scenographies that have inspired the brand’s previous shows.
To call HAN Kjøbenhavn a streetwear brand, as it’s so often dubbed, is to drastically oversimplify Davidsen’s rich and refined output — and the label’s SS19 offering is testament to this fact. Fusing utilitarian elements, such as structural leather and sporty base-layers, with delicate paisley patterned shirts and sheer floral dresses, Davidsen continues to strike a balance between class and casual. It’s also the first time Davidsen has officially drawn a distinction between men’s and womenswear, and the collection saw him exploring new silhouettes clearly tailored to the female form. It takes real expertise to craft a collection as sophisticated, yet simultaneously novel and experimental as Davidsen’s, and, as it marks its 10th anniversary and adoption onto the PFW schedule, HAN Kjøbenhavn’s upward trajectory shows no signs of slowing.