Ganni continues its swift upward climb (the brand recently received an investment from LVMH partner L Catterton), but the label’s designer, Ditte Reffstrup, is paring back. Last night’s show was just as packed and just as Instagrammed as any other Ganni runway outing; nonetheless, it felt lighter. Reffstrup did this on purpose. She minimized the floral-print dresses—typically a given each season—and toned down the embellishments. Backstage, she talked about how terrible the state of the world is right now and how no one should fret and fuss over their clothes. She wanted the models to look and feel “like angels” and encouraged them to look up. “We walk around our own cities all the time and we forget to look up at the sky, to take our eyes off of our phones and our heads out of business and be present.”
The show was in part a love letter to Copenhagen. Reffstrup commissioned Ana Kras to wander the city and photograph whatever caught her eye. Those photos dotted the venue, and the music, all by Danish artists, was curated by Dev Hynes. Reffstrup thinks that the rest of the world thinks they know what Copenhagen style is, but really, she says, they don’t get it. The designer wanted to prop up the city’s organic look—something that isn’t so contrived or try-hard, or spotted in a street style snapshot. Effortless is the word, but non-bohemian. She did this with a cropped pleated bomber jacket, white jeans, and a printed tee. She did it with a brown polka-dot dress layered over a sheer zebra-print turtleneck, and she did it with a hot-pink boiler suit that slouched off the body. There were trend-driven, profit-inducing items too: chunky hiking boots, raver pants, a motocross one-piece, and logo tees.
Overall Reffstrup did a great job turning down the volume, but the best example of Ganni’s new direction came by way of a sharp gray suit. From a distance it looked plain, but up close a gleam hit the eye from the thin line of crystals embroidered to the seams of the trouser legs. It was cool, easy, a little surprising, and totally Ganni—born and raised.
