Why Ganni Is Switching Copenhagen For Paris Fashion Week

Ganni has long been Copenhagen Fashion Week’s flagship brand. But after two seasons off showing in the Danish capital, Ganni is making the move to Paris Fashion Week for spring/summer 2025, with a show on Tuesday 24 September. And it’s not a one-off.

“Ganni has established itself globally, and as we enter our next chapter of growth, showcasing in Paris is a natural evolution for our brand equity and scale,” said Ganni CEO Laura Du Rusquec in a statement. Du Rusquec, who was previously deputy CEO of Balenciaga, joined Ganni in April, replacing outgoing CEO Andrea Baldo after five years. Her main focus is global expansion, with the Paris move being part of a long-term strategy, according to the brand.

“Paris offers an unparalleled global platform, and we are excited to present our SS25 collection, along with our ongoing vision and commitment to responsibility in the fashion industry,” Du Rusquec said.

Ganni was launched as a fashion label in 2009 by husband and wife duo Nicolaj and Ditte Reffstrup. Ditte is creative director, while Nicolaj stepped down as CEO to make way for Baldo five years ago and focus on the brand’s ambitious responsibility goals. It’s arguably the most prominent Danish brand, with 700 global stockists and 70 stores.

Although Copenhagen Fashion Week continues to grow and attract global buyers and press, the Copenhagen-to-Paris pipeline is a well-trodden path for maturing labels. From Cecilie Bahnsen to Heliot Emil, many Danish brands have permanently moved to the French capital, which Ganni describes as the “premier fashion stage”, in search of boosted exposure and orders.

Ganni hasn’t shown in Copenhagen for two seasons now, since its AI-inspired spring/summer 2024 show, instead opting to support emerging talents on the schedule. For autumn/winter 2024, the brand curated an exhibition around material innovation, with looks from budding Scandi labels. But after its second season off for spring/summer 2025, rumours began to swirl that the brand was decamping to Paris or another major fashion city to reach its next phase. Showing straight after Dior, a few hours before Saint Laurent, on the second day of Paris Fashion Week, is certainly a new frontier.

John Galliano And Chemena Kamali Among The 2024 Fashion Awards Nominees

Chemena Kamali, John Galliano, Jonathan Anderson (for JW Anderson and Loewe), Miuccia Prada (for Miu Miu), Pieter Mulier and Rick Owens have been nominated for Designer of the Year at the 2024 Fashion Awards, the British Fashion Council (BFC) announced this week.

The award recognises British or international designers whose collections have made a notable impact on the industry, “defining the shape of global fashion”, according to the BFC. Last year, Anderson was named Designer of the Year.

The Fashion Awards – founded in 1989 to raise money for the BFC Foundation, which provides funding and business mentoring for emerging UK-based brands – will take place on 2 December at the Royal Albert Hall in London, sponsored by Pandora.

The nominees for British Menswear Designer of the Year are: Craig Green, Grace Wales Bonner, Anderson, Kiko Kostadinov, Kim Jones and Martine Rose, the latter of whom won last year’s category award. In the running for British Womenswear Designer of the Year are: Erdem Moralıoğlu, Anderson, Maximilian Davis (last year’s winner), Roksanda Ilinčić and Simone Rocha.

Nominees for New Establishment Menswear, which the BFC reintroduced as a category in 2023, are: Aaron Esh, Foday Dumbuya, Nicholas Daley, Priya Ahluwalia and Stefan Cooke and Jake Burt (jointly for Stefan Cooke). For New Establishment Womenswear, there is: Dilara Fındıkoğlu, Emma Chopova and Laura Lowena (jointly for Chopova Lowena), Jawara Alleyne, Laura and Deanna Fanning (jointly for Kiko Kostadinov) and Marco Capaldo. Bianca Saunders and Chopova Lowena won in the menswear and womenswear categories last year, respectively.

On the shortlist for British Accessories Designer is: Anna Jewsbury for Completedworks, Helen Kirkum for Helen Kirkum Studio, Jack Cannon and Joe Gelb for Hatton Labs, Rosh Mahtani for Alighieri and Stephen Jones. The nominees for Model of the Year are: Alex Consani, Alva Claire, Amelia Gray, Anok Yai, Liu Wen and Mona Tougaard. Paloma Elsesser took home the award in 2023.

The BFC has already announced that artist, photographer and filmmaker Tyler Mitchell will receive the Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator. “Mitchell’s work is incredibly innovative and progressive, telling the authentic and nuanced stories of those from Black identities,” said BFC chief executive Caroline Rush in a statement. “Always ahead of the curve, he consistently challenges the industry’s perceptions of beauty and fashion imagery – striving to make it more reflective of real life.”

Sophia Neophitou-Apostolou, creative director, publisher and global editor-in-chief of 10 Magazine, 10 Men Magazine and 10+ Magazine, will receive a Special Recognition Award for her contribution to the fashion industry. “Neophitou-Apostolou’s visionary approach has had a profound impact on the industry, where she has shaped the modern landscape and consistently championed new talent,” said Rush.

A Blind Model Just Made History At Copenhagen Fashion Week

It took a matter of seconds for Lucy Edwards to make history on Sinéad O’Dwyer’s spring/summer 2025 catwalk, and the hairstylist Anna Cofone four months to make it happen. The broadcaster – who has been an informative and spirit-raising presence on the For You Page since she started uploading TikToks at the beginning of lockdown – this afternoon became the first blind person to model at Copenhagen Fashion Week, and the first blind person to have walked for a London brand. She strode, accompanied by her guide dog, in mini-skirted tailoring as guests were left questioning why this sort of thing isn’t more commonplace. “Just because a person is blind, doesn’t mean they don’t care about their appearance,” Cofone, who runs Hair and Care, a non-profit tasked with broadening fashion and beauty spaces to those with low vision, says. “It’s the absolute opposite.”

Cofone understands this more than most. “My father had retinitis pigmentosa, and I think he used fashion and grooming as a way to maintain independence when he was losing sight,” she says. “He was so passionate about self-care, and was so proud when someone took the time to describe clothes to him, guiding his hand over the shape of a lapel, encouraging him to feel the fabric beneath his fingers. He died 15 years ago and I started Hair and Care in 2019 to help keep his memory alive.” Cofone, who attributes her own success to her father’s resilience, began working with Lana del Rey two years after he passed. Then along came gigs with Dua Lipa, and almost every single international edition of this magazine, alongside countless fashion weeks and campaigns. “Hairdressing isn’t accessible for blind and low-vision people: going into salons is a real challenge and there’s a lack of education on how to communicate with them. Hair and Care runs monthly styling workshops from my studio in Hackney, and we’ve helped to support over 300 women with varying degrees of visual impairments since 2021.”

It was in one of these sessions that Cofone first met the 28-year-old Edwards, who has been blind since the age of 17 as a result of a rare genetic mutation known as incontinentia pigmenti. She has since signed ambassadorships with Pantene and Barbie, and earlier this year published a motivational memoir – Blind, Not Broken – based on her own path to self-acceptance. “She was one of our guests at Sinéad’s London Fashion Week presentation last season,” Cofone says. “The plan was that she’d walk, too, but we couldn’t get it across the line.” There were, of course, a series of other “firsts” to execute: inviting showgoers with visual impairments to experience a tactile tour of the collection, and recording audio descriptions for each look. O’Dwyer and Cofone went even further for spring – partnering with the Danish Association of the Blind on a guest list and creating booklets of fabric swatches and evermore detailed aural guides, which attendees listened to on headsets donated by Sony.

The seasonal grind is hard enough for independent designers, but here is someone who makes things actively more challenging for themselves in order to accommodate an audience of fashion fans so egregiously overlooked. “The most important thing was to make sure the experience would be safe and accessible for Lucy,” Cofone says. “From travelling with an airline that she trusts, to ensuring she could sleep in the same hotel as Hair and Care, to securing shuttle buses, time alone with a movement director and perfecting the tactile markings on the catwalk.” (That O’Dwyer absolutely should be taking home the 2024 Zalando Visionary Award is obvious.) “The dream is to work with the British Fashion Council and be the voice that helps brands to be accessible for blind and low-vision people,” Cofone adds of this life-altering if not culture-shifting project. “The women and young girls who come to our workshops leave feeling changed. Less isolated, empowered to take on a more visible role in public life. It’s about giving people a purpose, confidence and a chance to harness their identities.”