It’s the middle of August 2023 and the Danish It-girl brand Ganni is throwing a party to celebrate the last night of Copenhagen fashion week. In a room hidden behind a heaving dancefloor, Paloma Elsesser, the curve New York model who opened Ganni’s show hours before, is dominating the karaoke room and creative director Ditte Reffstrup is dancing on the bar.
It feels like a celebration from a different era. Independent designers are struggling. The news of Matches Fashion’s closure in March was followed by announcements that the Vampire’s Wife and Mara Hoffman would shut down. Roksanda had filed a notice of intent to appoint an administrator, a fate avoided only by the entrance of a buyer. All offer similarly playful garments and are, in many ways, despite higher prices, Ganni’s peers. But the Danish brand, which Reffstrup took over in 2009 alongside her husband, Nikolaj, has reason to be cheerful.
