Copenagen Fashion Week

Copenhagen Fashion Week has existed since 1964. Initially the shows in Copenhagen were seen as the lead-up to the Herning Fair, where Messecenter Herning held the first international shows with participation from other Nordic textile- and clothes manufacturers.
From 1966 the fashion week in Copenhagen was a sales fair known as the Scandinavian Fashion Fair. It focused exclusively on Danish and Scandinavian women's fashion. The fair was first held in the Falkoner Centre but in 1976 it moved to the then newly-built Bella Center on Amager. Other events included the Copenhagen Fashion Fair, which existed up to 1971 and was held in Forum for international women's fashion companies, and Danish Men's Fashion Fair. In 1982 the different Copenhagen fairs were merged and from then on organised by the new joint organisation Scandinavian Clothing Council. The Copenhagen fairs would prove to be tough competition to the Herning fairs, which closed in 1967 and only reopened briefly in 1970.

The growth of the Copenhagen fashion fairs also reflected growth in the production and export of Danish fashion. In 1970 this encouraged the Textile Manufacturers' Association to establish a fashion-mart in the centre of Copenhagen, just like the fashion fairs seen in big cities abroad. With a fashion-mart, Danish fashion companies would only need to run one showroom where they could promote their collections. However, the fashion-mart did not live long as many companies chose to move their permanent showroom to the new Bella Center on Amager. The fashion-mart which was established there still exists today.

With all the fashion fairs merged into one under the name of Scandinavian Fashion Week, Danish fashion had a few years with no big upheavals. This lasted until 1978, when an initiative for another fashion event saw the light of day - the Copenhagen City Fashion Fair. This smaller fair was placed near the city centre which the promoters felt was adequate when showing and selling international fashion. But from the middle of the nineties, this fair faded away completely.

The success of the Copenhagen fashion fair didn't last forever. In the eighties, the competition in the industry was increasing, and the fashion week also experienced increasing competition from the Stockholm fashion fair. To turn this development around and to attract a more international audience of buyers and agents, the fair focused heavily on promoting the fashion week internationally. In the middle of the eighties Copenhagen Fashion Week regained its status as the biggest Nordic fashion fair. The strategy was to brand Copenhagen the fashion centre of the Nordic countries and to make it the fashion fair of choice for companies from Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland.

Up through the nineties a series of initiatives and events meant that Copenhagen slowly took the position of fashion capital of Scandinavia: One of them, the alternative fair CPH Vision, positioned itself as a trend-setting event and today exists together with Copenhagen International Fashion Fair, attracting 50,000 visitors and 2,100 exhibitors. Others are Copenhagen Unfair, an underground fair launched last year that combines music, art and fashion, and Gallery, an exclusive fair for Scandinavian renowned designer brands.