Kicking off Copenhagen Fashion Week, the fashion crowd descended on the Danish capital while huddled under umbrellas, hoods, and trench coats to avoid the week’s non-stop torrential downpours. This SS24 season – after CPHFW launched a new set of sustainability-focused rules in February, ensuring all brands presenting collections must meet 18 environmentally-friendly requirements – more eyes than ever are on the city, all awaiting a jam-packed schedule of subversive, sustainable, and change-making collections by Scandinavia’s rule-breaking class of emerging designers.

Starting off the week with a commitment to craftsmanship and eco-concious materials was A. Roege Hove, which evolved its signature experimental take on knitwear with a new, 100 per cent recycled fabric and slinky, second-skin silhouettes. Elsewhere, PLN stuck to its ethos of “producing style without waste”, presenting a collection of leather cloaks, faux-fur collared tops, and metallic dresses, all created using renewable materials. 

Meanwhile – after giving an emotional speech dedicated to emerging designers last season – Latimmier’s creative director Ervin Latimmier opened up its show by introducing guests to his drag alter-ego, Anna Conda. Before sending a collection of looks exploring masculinity and power in the workplace down the runway, the drag queen-slash-creative director performed a ballroom-style lip-sync for the crowd. Designer Nicklas Skovgaard also staged a performance this season, teaming up with Dutch artist Brit Linger to create a live art piece for his debut collection.

As the week goes on we’ll be rounding up all the Scandi shows you need to know about from SS24. Scroll below to read about the collections so far.

A ROEGE HOVE

Knitwear brand A. Roege Hove kicked off CPHFW SS24 with a collection of effortless, barely-there looks – each experimenting with transparency, texture, and shape using its signature sheer, ribbed fabrics. After taking home Woolmark’s Karl Lagerfeld Prize for Innovation in May, the label’s founder Amalie Røge Hove introduced Circulose – a woven fabric made entirely from recycled textile waste – into the collection. “I’ve been trying to open up a bit in terms of new materials,” the  designer told Vogue. “When we test different yarns and different techniques, that’s where we find something interesting.”

With hairy, waved dresses and skirts, tailored cardigans, slinky, layered-up tanks, see-through, second-skin dresses, and acid-green bralettes all on the line-up, the collection highlighted an experimental display of knitwear’s multi-purpose capabilities, balancing detailed craftsmanship with A. Roege Hove’s usual sexy, subversive style. Meanwhile – beyond the knitwear – models tapped down the rain-soaked runway in kitten-heeled flip-flops while showcasing silver beaded jewellery from an upcoming collaboration with Danish design house Georg Jensen, available to shop on September 9.

PLN

For SS24, Peter Lundvald Neilsen’s PLN traded in last season’s dark, smoky venue for a bright white blood-splattered runway. “Warning: wear your sunglasses,” the label posted on Instagram ahead of the show. Levelling up its trademark fantastical style, the label sent a cast of models wearing facial prosthetics down the runway to model its collection of punky leather cloaks, faux-fur collared shirts, liquid silver dresses, muddy, red-stained one-shoulder dresses, and faded cargo shorts.

Meanwhile, with models sporting tie-dyed hoodies with high-padded shoulders, black nasal tape, and mouth guards, the cast resembled a post-apocalyptic take on American football players. What does it all mean? With Neilsen sharing with Vogue Scandinavia that he has a “big desire to make clothes where people have to absorb and define what they see for themselves”, it seems like this season’s themes might be up for our own interpretations.

LATIMMIER

If there’s one thing creative director Ervin Latimmier knows, it’s how to put on a show. Last season, the Finnish designer opened up SS23 with an emotional speech, explaining how the collection almost wasn’t completed due to lack of resources and burnout, before sitting down next to the runway to narrate every piece of the collection. This time around, Ervin – who’s a key figure in Helsinki’s ballroom scene – kicked off SS24 by slipping into his drag persona, Anna Conda, to perform a lip-sync to “Hey Big Spender”, a hint at the ballroom-meets-The Wolf of Wall Street collection to follow. 

Titled Positions of Power, the collection presented the label’s usual suiting – this time showcased as a fun, subversive take on the office-wear worn by masculine “men in power” with suit trousers torn-to-shreds, shirt cuffs blown up to XXL proportions, and jackets paired with thigh-high trouser boots and matching body cuffs. Elsewhere, models sported shirting tacked with rows of pens, fabric printed with shredded invoices, jumpers knit to match the highs and lows of the stock market, and t-shirts emblazoned with the words “money, powder, glory” – further highlighting Ervin’s demolition of office dress codes as we know them. 

NICKLAS SKOVGAARD

For Danish designer Nicklas Skovgaard’s debut presentation, he dreamed up a live performance piece in collaboration with Dutch artist Brit Linberg, inviting guests to a stage scattered with mannequins, all dressed-up in his SS24 offering. As Linberg’s father played a melodic tune on the harpsichord, the artist danced through the figures – showing off Skovgaard’s signature bubble-silhouette dresses, draped jersey sets, and sparkling fringe flapper dresses while striking poses to mimic the mannequins, leaning on stools, carrying looks draped on her arms, and even undressing down to only underwear and shoes in front of the audience. For her final look, the artist entered the stage hand-in-hand with Skovgaard, wearing a tiered, lace bridal gown with puff-shoulders, white trousers layered underneath, and a lace umbrella in hand – fitting for the mood of the week. “You are the biggest star in my universe,” the designer wrote on Instagram after his debut, expressing his adoration for the collaboration with Linger. “I’m so happy we could do this together!”