If you want to understand what makes Copenhagen Fashion Week more special than any other style city, you can't just look at the trends forming on the runway or the front row outfits topped with the city's signature rosette hair clips and cloud-sized scrunchies. Don't. You also need to see and count the designers taking their final bows after the show ends.

Copenhagen's Spring 2025 season concluded with a label designed by women for women. Friends and ÓperaSport co-founders Stephanie Gundelak and Awa Marina Stelter opened with an all-over patterned midi dress with shirring and a ribboned mini bag. Rotate lead designers Janet Madsen and Thora Valdimers closed the calendar with a whirlwind of semi-sheer, butter yellow party dresses and daytime suits. Every day in between was filled with collections equally sketched and dreamed up by creatives reflecting the models cast on the front row and runway.

Women designing for women should be nothing new in 2024. In the U.S., however, women-led brand lists are common. Copenhagen, on the other hand, has an abundance of them. Among the most high-profile international fashion weeks, Copenhagen tops the list in terms of gender equality. Sixty-three percent of the brands on the calendar have women at the top of their creative directors. In many cases, they are both founder and CEO.

Here, the female-first perspective is not brought up for marketing purposes. Regardless of aesthetic sensibilities, a mix of “I would actually wear this” casualness and a vision of style that is far more inclusive than the “just our size” positioning of many other cities is incorporated into every collection. Whether you are looking at the heavily minimalist, Mrs. Prada-inspired separates at Marc Kenley Domino Tan, the accordion-pleated three-dimensional knits at A. Roege Hove, or the breezy chiffon tube dresses at The Garment, you will hear editors around you saying, “I want that. I heard whispers of “I want that” from the editors around me. The designers know their audience.

Styling was not over-the-top or unimaginable off the runway, with Sanne Sehested of Gestuz showing a penchant for fringed jackets and moody, tie-dye prints befitting rock 'n' rollers like Stevie Nicks and Joan Jett. She tends to favor tie-dye-style prints. Skoll Studios, under the Skoll sisters Marie and Julie, has reliably released creamy trench coats and loose-fitting shirtdresses. These and other items can still be broken down into pieces so that audiences can pick them up in all sizes.

Every show I attended included one or more mid-aged or older models. The mid-size and curvy bodies on the runway were a consistent presence, not the occasional stunt casting. The show also welcomed Copenhagen's first blind model (and guide dog) to the show to explain the looks for the visually impaired audience. This casting was like a mirror of the audience and the crowd outside the show.

Trends such as transparent fabrics and hot pants were also positioned in a more wearable way. Micro shorts paired with relaxed oversized shirts or blazers and jeans with see-through tops did not seem to entangle the male gaze. I could actually imagine myself skipping skirts or controversially layering a dress over jeans because people with my body type (and countless others) were doing it, and with items that were not as sophisticated as I imagined in my real-life closet. It's the utopian energy of Greta Gerwig's Barbieland minus the pink.

This is not to say that the female designers at Copenhagen Fashion Week think in terms of gender binaries. Sophie Billet-Brahe is one of the city's most famous jewelers, and she is on the official calendar. She makes diamond rings and ribbon-shaped earrings made of dainty pearls that look great on everyone. She says, “It is one of my dearest dreams that every man should wear a diamond ring.”

Nevertheless, the designers here are winning over shoppers in ways that are often overlooked elsewhere.ÓperaSport co-founder Stephanie Gundelak says that talking about how women dress comes from a lived understanding. Because “seamless, recycled silk embraces the female body, regardless of age or shape.” Both she and co-founder Awa Marina Stelter are mothers of two. That's why practicality and comfort play a big role in our designs, but we still try to add a touch of elegance. It's all about balance.”

Barbara Potts and Katherine Sachs of Sachs Potts presented a simple collection of polo shirts, faux fur jackets, and day dresses for the 10th anniversary. We don't design solely with the idea that women need to be empowered. Perspective is important when considering what you want to wear as a young parent or what your friends want. It's never just because I'm a man.” The same can be said for brands ranging from the vintage-oriented Caro Editions to the whimsical Baum und Pfadgarten, where the majority of the in-house team, from the founder on down, are women.

Designers like Sachs are encouraged to think for themselves from the start in a way that creators in other cities do not. Denmark is one of the highest-rated countries in the European Institute for Gender Equality's annual index, and while there is still a slight wage gap between men and women, its laws supporting maternity and parental leave are leaps and bounds ahead of those in the United States, allowing women to continue designing while raising children. In many respects, we are quite advanced here in Denmark when it comes to women's rights.” In many ways, we are quite advanced here in Denmark when it comes to women's rights,” says Rikke Baumgarten, co-founder of Baum und Pfadgarten. 'In general, our work life is very well balanced, and it's a good working environment for women, including maternity leave.'

Designers at Copenhagen Fashion Week still face a global system stacked against equality. Barbara Potts, who started her brand with Saks at the tender age of 18, told me that she might have been taken more seriously by investors and retailers if she had “an older man in a suit.” But, she said, the duo is “tough.” And the strength of their friendship has carried them through to their 10th anniversary, where they can now mentor designers.

Hardship unites a brand. In his opening remarks this season, Thorsmark, CEO of Copenhagen Fashion Week, noted that the global retail industry is in a difficult situation. Rather, designers are taking this headwind as a sign that they should cooperate more with each other. Ganni, arguably Copenhagen's biggest brand, canceled last season's show to devote more time (and money) to investing in the next generation; for the fall 2024 season, it hosted an exhibition focused on designers experimenting with lower-impact textiles; for spring 2025, it will launch four new labels and co-designed a collaborative sneaker with New Balance.

Even on a small scale, camaraderie beats competition. Says Caroline Ville-Brahe, who hosted her first runway presentation for Caro Editions this season, “I can't speak for the industry as a whole, but I can tell you about my own experience, I have been supported all along.” 'It was a really big step for our young brand and so many people helped me and believed in me. For example, from model casting to hair and makeup, people I worked with in my modeling career backed me up at the show.”

Here, support is valued as much as commercial success or strong runway reviews. Because the women who design these collections are themselves diverse and backed by an enthusiastic network, when I asked the founders of ÓperaSport how they wanted their latest collection to be presented to the world, their answer was broad, but refreshing and simple: “Our goal is to see women of all shapes, ages, and sizes wearing this collection off the runway,” Awa Marina Stelter told me.

These real-life moments have a habit of starting in Copenhagen's small but influential fashion circle: ten years ago, Caroline Ville Blae was one of the first models to wear a Saks Potts coat. This August, she walked the runway arm in arm with one of the models to close out her debut runway show. Catherine Sachs and Barbara Potts of Sachs Potts were so enthusiastically cheered and applauded from the front row that you would have thought they had sewn their own shirts. It really is the spirit of the week,” they said. 'We help each other out,' she said. 'It makes it more inclusive that way.'