Against a backdrop of industrial settings, Jannik Wikkelsø’s Spring outing projects a concrete thread of hard-edged utilitarianism—where nostalgia dwells with a sombre reality.
Flowers and poise have emerged as major themes at the Copenhagen ready-to-wear shows. Not for Han Kjøbenhavn. Designer Jannik Wikkelsø is not averse to romance, but he does have a serious sensibility—urban, strong, even (that dreaded term) utilitarian, but all the while cohesive.
For Spring, Wikkelsø has established his codes. He favours the outlandish and created some of the most innovative pieces we’ve seen all week. He also loves a bit of drama on top—rain be damned, ça va sans dire—and achieves it by extrapolating volumes and taking them to extreme proportions.
Sometimes the swathes of faux fur, teamed with tousled denim fabrications, stand in for head-to-toe looks—and that’s where his zany sense of balance comes in.
“The inspiration came from me growing up in the suburbs of the country,” offered Jannik Wikkelsø backstage post-show, where he detailed how the country’s downtown rebelliousness informed his creative practice for this season.
“This area of Copenhagen being industrial recalls my childhood and where I grew up, so it’s a very personal collection; it was hard to balance the core emotions of my upbringing and still, you know, being able to take that emotion and boil it into a shape that made sense for the people who support the brand.”
Without signs of peacocking braggadocio on display, Wikkelsø doesn’t shy away from his sensitive thinking. “Sometimes as a designer, pushing boundaries is difficult to interpret as a mere human being, so my whole thing while creating this lineup was to use my brand as a platform, just like my current state of mind and creativity to link one aspect with another.”
If volume is one measure of a designer’s skill, intense Wikkelsø will keep his spot as one of the most promising designers in Danish fashion. His perfectly cut outerwear will gain cult status among the aficionados in no time.
And his poignant, nostalgic approach to a modern-day wardrobe puts him on a Rick Owens wavelength. But Wikkelsø’s mission to harmonise the unfamiliar added not so much newness to his stylistic repertoire, but something could find its trove and go deeper in there. The opening look was a stunner: an unfettered, sinuously sculpted offering that made Wikkelsø’s show an emotively thumping pleasure.
by Chidozie Obasi
All runway images by James Cochrane