COPENHAGEN has plenty of design talent, but it’s arguably the local street style that put the city on the international fashion map. Not long after the arrival of Instagram, Danish influencers carved out a niche for themselves, capturing the attention of style-obsessed scrollers with their love of color, prints, bold, breezy dresses, and impressive ability to look cool while riding bikes. As these influencers’ global popularity grew, so did Copenhagen Fashion Week. The success of brands like Ganni, Stine Goya, and Saks Potts started drawing editors and buyers from around the world, which in turn changed the city’s street-style vibe. Over the last few seasons, you were just as likely to see a head-to-toe Balenciaga or Gucci look as you were a printed frock from Ganni’s beloved Ditte Reffstrup. If there was a plus side to Copenhagen’s phygital fashion week it was that its street-style scene looked more like it did in its early days, when individualism, not designer labels, got the attention of photographers.

Scanning the looks coming out of Copenhagen, where the Danish capital was the first to put on its spring/summer 2021 fashion week, you won’t find any luxury It bags or coordinated brand looks dominating the street style shots. In fact, the influence of a single trend at all is largely missing. It’s surely different than fashion weeks in the last few years where one look, even one item — like Bottega Veneta’s buttery soft clutches — emerges as a clear and definitive trend, providing a directional look for influencers and the people who follow them, and of course, fast fashion designs that hit the shelves in the weeks following fashion week. That said, it’s not terribly surprising.

With a small, largely more local crowd showing up to participate in the first major fashion week since COVID, the looks veered entirely more personal, more expressive of individual style. Absent were the mega influencers being dressed head-to-toe by designers (what’s the point with no front rows to seat them in?). Street style as a whole was scaled down — fewer photographers, fewer show attendees vying for attention, and fewer brands gifting looks to dress them in.

The resulting style showcases a greater range of looks. Showgoers are experimenting more. Sure, you’ll still find a handful of the items given the trendy seal of approval, including bucket hats and biker shorts, or Chanel’s chunky dad sandals, but those are fewer and far between. If you’re looking for common denominators among the street style looks, there are overarching themes, like summer dresses and sandals, but not actually a particular type or brand emerging to set a clear trend. To that point, trendsetting itself looks different, and the people doing it are putting their own twist on their own clothes. In that way, it’s very much a call back to the original street style stars, like Taylor Tomasi Hill and Joanna Hillman, who captivated fashion fans with their own brand of personal style in before influencers and brand partnerships dominated fashion week and flooded social media. And, if we consider that Copenhagen offers us a glimpse into the future of fashion weeks — and fashion in general — the shift to style that’s more personal may be more of a guide than the idea of trends as we know them.(SD-Agencies)