In Copenhagen, They Miss the Rain…
MARGIT BRANDT, VISBOL DE ARCE
While Nordic beauty might captivate other cultures, for Spring 2011, Copenhagen Fashion Week is dominated by all things African and Caribbean. Malene Birger, the darling of Denmark’s socialites and aspiring starlets, adorned flowing tan and khaki colored gowns and ivory suits with cowry shell necklaces and suchlike accessories. Margit Brandt, the brand that defined Danish design in the seventies, is seeking to revitalize its reputation with a collection of sexy safari-wear, featuring glistening bronzed models languidly slinking across the floor of the Kunstindustrimuseum Design Museum, barely dressed in olive, sand, and ecru colored jackets, dresses, and bikini bottoms. Stine Goya sent her models out in sunny animal print jumpsuits with floral headdresses through a captivating maze of rooms filled with installations–including a stuffed giraffe, that recalled Victorian cabinets of curiosities. And the Swedish label Minimarket took the inspiration for its cayenne, coal, and blue print dresses and jumpers and elaborate flowered headdresses from voodoo art and kitange textiles. Even the extraordinary otherworldly designers of Vilsbøl de Arce, a favorite of Lady Gaga, turned away from their signature dark palette of lacerated leather toward a range of polished wood, taupe, sepia, and an orange as radiant as a sunset over the Sahara.