Copenhagen Fashion Week goes digital; trade shows cancelled

By

Robin Driver

Published
Jan 6, 2021

As Denmark transitions to its highest Covid-19 alert level, Copenhagen Fashion Week has announced that this February’s edition will be a fully digital event, while the city’s trade fairs have been cancelled.

 
The announcement comes shortly after a briefing on Tuesday, during which Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen revealed that the country would be moving into the highest level of the national government’s five-tier Covid-19 alert scale.
 
All shows and talks featured on the Copenhagen Fashion Week programme will therefore take place as scheduled, from 2 to 4 February, but will now be presented via a dedicated digital platform, set to launch on 14 January.

The event’s runway schedule, which features the likes of Ganni, Baum und Pferdgarten, Gestuz, Samsøe & Samsøe, Rotate Birger Christensen, and Stine Goya, has already been published, while the programme of talks will, according to the fashion week’s organisers, be revealed in mid-January.
 
Although Copenhagen Fashion Week has been able to adapt to tightened coronavirus restrictions with an alternative format, other industry events scheduled to take place in the Danish capital next month will be forced to skip this season. With all trade fairs banned in Denmark until the end of February 2021, both the Copenhagen International Fashion Fair (CIFF) and the Revolver trade show, which were supposed to run from 3 to 5 February, have had to cancel.
 
“Due to the current development of Covid-19, we have been forced to cancel all physical events this time, including the trade fairs,” explained Copenhagen Fashion Week CEO Cecilie Thorsmark in a release. “Even though it is definitely unwished-for, it is undeniably the right thing to do, and instead we look forward to being able to meet physically again for the August 2021 fashion week.”
 
Last summer, Copenhagen was one of a number of fashion weeks, including Paris, Milan, London and New York, to experiment with a hybrid “phygital” format, allowing brands to participate with either physical or digital presentations.
 
The fashion week’s decision to opt for a fully digital calendar this season follows discussions with CIFF, Revolver, Dansk Fashion & Textile, and Danish fashion association WEAR, and received approval from all parties involved in these talks.