Ganni
6th February 2024
Words: Charlotte Harney
Ganni presents the ‘FUTURE, TALENTS, FABRICS’ exhibition
Copenhagen Fashion Week
This season Ganni switched things up. Rather than presenting a much anticipated AW24 catwalk during Copenhagen Fashion Week, the brand turned their attention to the future of fashion. After a decade of shows, Ganni turned their efforts to support emerging Scandinavian talent. In collaboration with the Copenhagen Fashion Week NEWTALENT program, GANNI presented the ‘FUTURE, TALENT, FABRICS’ exhibition.
Nikolaj Art Gallery, set in one of the city’s oldest Church’s, was home to the exhibition. The grand location was apt for this event; high ceilings, majestic windows and a magnificent amount of floor space allowed for each section of the exhibition, as well as Ganni’s own new collection, to have its moment. Upon entering you’re greeted with designs that whisper to Ganni’s signature styles, shapes or moods but that showcase something undeniably new and raw.
‘Fabrics of the Future’ is Ganni’s in-house initiative. A platform set up to “research, develop and invest in innovative lower-carbon and preferred materials that are alternatives to conventional materials and will play a crucial role in making fashion more responsible”. Ganni commissioned works and full looks from a group of creatives, designers and artists alike, to create a design using ‘Fabrics of the Future’, including fabrics like CeliumTM by Polybion, a next-gen alternative to petroleum-derived synthetics and Savian by BioFluff, a plant-based fur alternative. This is the next step in the brand's part for a more sustainable fashion future. Ganni is a B corp certified company and “believe its a moral obligation to do better every day”. In an aim to do so, Ganni collaborates with it’s supply chain to reduce it’s emissions, as well as publishing an annual Responsibility Report to publicly share its progress and has “committed to a 50% absolute carbon reduction by 2027”.
Nicklas Skovgaard
Nicklas Skovgaard is part of the CPHFW NEWTALENT programme. The Danish designer founded his brand in 2020. In June 2022, Ganni collaborated with Skovgaard on a on-of-a-kind collaboration using Savian by BioFluff as part of Ganni’s Global Fashion Summit activation. Skovgaard showcased his ‘Lecia Coat’ at this exhibition, emanating a powerful but playful character. The piece, including the hat and leggings were made using Fabrics of the Future Savian by BioFluff, Oleatex bio-based alterative and CIRCILOSE®. “Volume, draping, ruching and contradictory fabrics’ make up Nicklas Skovgaard’s collections. Hand woven textiles combined with technical fabrics give a unique view on his collection, merging sophistication with artistic tendencies.
Alectra Rothschild/ Masculina
Celebrating queer and counterculture, MASCULINA is a brand built on “the notions expression and high-glamour”. Her time at McQueen and Mugler is evident through her designs as Alectra Rothschild creates pieces that either “hug or control the body for a dramatic, undressed, and slightly chaotic aesthetic”. ‘A Phone Call With Trixie’ features a corset and shredded denim jeans, embodying a rebellious but dramatic mood, giving an elevated, glamourised nod to punk rock nightlife. Working with zero-waste techniques Rothschild see’s creating with sustainability in mind “as more of an opportunity than an obstacle”.
A.Roege Gove
Founded by Amalie Roege Hove, this knitwear brand is “build on a modern and artistic approach to design and craftsmanship”. Starting in 2019 with a line of knitted bags, A. Roege Gove found stardom among Copenhagen’s fashion elite. Expanding to clothing, the brand showcases an effortlessly cool look with a low rise skirt and knitted top featuring cut-outs and lace up details. ‘ARH look 01’ uses Fabrics of The Future InResST, CIRCULOSE® and using post-consumer recycled wool yarn from Omega yarn mill. The brand aims to push the boundaries of material behaviour and focuses on celebrating the female form through its range of fluid to sculptural pieces.
Sarah Brunnhuber / Stem
Made from her own left over 100% wool yarn, using innovative zero-waste weaving techniques, this red dress is striking to the viewer and wearer alike. Figure hugging but sculptural in it’s details, the Ganni Next-Gen Talent has created a unique but wearable piece. Starting her design journey at the Design Academy Eindhoven, Sarah Brunnhuber launched her brand Stem to offer an industry-changing approach on how to produce clothing. Stem’s motto is “Produce better, produce less – buy better, buy less”, disrupting the current cycle of over production by having an experimental, zero waste approach.
@stem_____
Jens Ole Árnason
There is something really breathtaking about fashion and art colliding. This piece created by Árnason feels as though it has a personality and movement to it, similar to the way clothing does. Formed in a similar world, it’s exciting to see Ganni’s leftover fabrics being used for a sculptural art piece; essentially using waste to create something beautiful. Jens Ole Árnason shares this view and suggests we star to see “fashion, craftsmanship and art as things that are connected - they inspire and influence each other”. After securing a BA and MA in Fashion Design, Árnason aims to challenge traditional textile craftsmanship through fashion, art, sculpture and installations. Since collaborating with Ganni in 2022 for the GFA pop-up, he has spent his time creating art pieces including sculptures from deadstock materials.
Sahar Jamili
Sahar Jamili is a visual artist with a Danish-Azerbaijani-Iranian background, who aims to confront racism within Denmark and pay tribute to those surviving it. This being said, their work in this exhibition clearly tells a story, evokes many emotions and holds a deep, questioning feeling. Sahar has created a sculptural piece that features a cage, based on their recent work Insight Out that was shown at Kunsthal Charlottenborg, filled with Ganni waste, “presenting a visual commentary on overconsumption within the fashion industry”.
@me_unit
Sisse Bjerre
‘Paper Land’ is created from paper and Savian by BioFluff, combining textiles from Ganni’s Fabric of the Future initiative with the paper- mâché techniques Sisse Bjerre uses in their own practice. This Ganni Next-Gen Talent explored alternative processes of making garments, using paper primarily but experimenting with materials found in nature such as moss and branches, bridging the gap between reality and fantasy. Quite literally creating wearable art, Bjerre has an environmentally conscious approach to fashion evoking “discussions on environmental concerns and our connection to nature”.