After four days of back-to-back shows, another season of Copenhagen Fashion Week (CPHFW) has come to a close. The spring 2027 schedule was especially packed, as brands clamored to join CPHFW’s 20th anniversary celebrations, and the event drew its biggest crowd ever.
For CEO Cecilie Thorsmark, whose opening speech normally strikes a political note, this season was a palette-cleanser: a chance to celebrate the brands for what they do best. “Copenhagen Fashion Week is only as great as the brands and designers that make up our schedule,” she said at the 20th anniversary gala on Monday night, attended by models Alana Hadid and Adwoa Aboah, as well as DJ Louise Chen. “Our industry has had to navigate some incredibly challenging years, which have tested businesses and demanded extraordinary resilience. To me, the schedule is a testament to the resilience of our industry.”
There were triumphant returns for brands that had taken a break from runway shows, strong debuts from both Nordic and international talent, and a general buzz that saw brands hosting gifting suites, dinners and side-events alongside the main schedule. Here’s what you missed.
International guests make a splash
In a bid to cement Copenhagen’s place as the fifth fashion city, CPHFW is now more international than ever. Alongside Nordic talents like Finland’s Almada Label and Sweden’s Sson, London-based emerging brand Paolina Russo and Lagos-based Iamisigo continue to show in the Danish capital, having debuted there in 2023 and 2025, respectively, when they each won the Zalando Visionary Award. Paolina Russo had one of the buzziest shows, with a battle of the bands between Olivia Rodrigo support act Grace Ives and Copenhagen music group Haloplus+, as well as a 600-strong audience buoyed by fans and members of the public.
Former Zalando Visionary Award winner Paolina Russo staged a battle of the bands.Photo: Umberto Fratini / Gorunway.com
This year’s Zalando Visionary Award winner — Institution by Galib Gassanoff — presented one of the season’s strongest shows. The former LVMH Prize finalist normally shows in Milan, and will again in September, but created a special collection for its guest slot. To bring the show to life, it took over Copenhagen’s Statens Museum for Kunst (SMK), filling its central atrium — affectionately dubbed ‘Sculpture Street’ —w ith rich woven carpets sourced from the Caucuses, Anatolia, Northern Iran, and Central Asia. The collection celebrated Georgian and Azerbaijani crafts, nodding to Gassanoff’s roots, and somehow managed to capture both the minimalism of Copenhagen fashion and its love of hygge. “There was a real point of view to the collection,” says Moda Operandi senior buyer Kelsey Lyle. “It was directional and incredibly considered.”
Another highlight was the inaugural international guest slot. According to Thorsmark, the plan is to roll this out every season, inviting different sustainability-minded designers from around the world. New York export Collina Strada rose to the occasion, staging the penultimate show of the week as the sun set over Copenhagen’s canals (a string quartet made the wind-beaten catwalk even more dramatic). The collection — made especially for Copenhagen, and entirely of one-off upcycled looks — was a step up in terms of craftsmanship. The intricate basket weave dress was a particular highlight, as were the tightly pleated denim jeans that, according to designer Hillary Taymour, her factory initially said were impossible to make.
