Fashion's most solid partnership

This show review was translated from Danish to English by Graham Addinall.

LÆS DEN DANSKE UDGAVE HER

Baum und Pferdgarten, Wednesday, January 30, 2024, at 19.00, Refshalevej 183, 1453 Copenhagen K

Set designer Nikolaj Lorentz Mentze had hung his Apollo chandeliers for HAY low over the catwalk and dimmed the light so much that the great hall almost fell into darkness to sharpen the anticipation for Baum und Pferdgarten’s show.

It’s not that often that you get invited to a twenty-five-year fashion anniversary, so there’s nothing to say that they wanted to set a special mood but Rikke Baum and Helle Hestehave definitely set the scene for quarter of a century collaboration with a collection that celebrates togetherness: Love Und Friendship Since 1999. When the chandeliers were lit and raised under the ceiling, we had no doubt what it is that has made it possible to stay together for so long: energy, humor and diversity.

Instead of going into the archive and turning it into a retro collection, Baum und Pferdgarten had chosen to focus on what has made their brand so enduring, reinterpreting the most popular signature designs so that they point forward.

Before the show, I asked the duo what thoughts they had about the future: “We think it’s more important than ever to know who you are and what you stand for as a designer and brand. We have spent an incredible amount of time on this in connection with this collection and what will follow. Fashion changes extremely quickly, and so do trends. But in the last twenty-five years we have learned to believe in our own style, and that is probably why we are still standing here today,” they answered.

And it could be seen on the catwalk. It’s a collection where they move forward without letting go of the style they’re known and loved for and doesn’t make them look like anything else we’ve seen at fashion week so far. They still have the same youthful energy, which convinced this reviewer, just one year after the brand was launched, that here were two of Denmark’s future stars. In all modesty, in my capacity as fashion editor at ALT for Damerne at the time, I helped to give them a push when they received the Guldknappen fashion award in 2000, and every year since then it has been a pleasure to see how they have used their talent to achieve success.

For the anniversary wardrobe, they had revisited the lace and sequins, the white blouse and shirt stripes, the soft denim and fine wool, the ski skirt and the mini skirt and given it all a twist while still keeping their DNA recognizable. They left the leopard at home from the catwalk (but it is there in the collection) and instead incorporated the zebra as a new strong print in a nice graphic black and white maxi coat. Also supercool was a jacket and pair of trousers in black vegan leather with quilt-like, square embroidery, which stylist Kristine Halken had used separately to show their versatility.

There were several of us who, in the confetti rain of the finale, got a good look at the black and white miniskirts with rosettes of silk ribbon as decoration. They looked like showpieces, but they were so beautiful that they deserve to be included in Baum und Pferdgarten’s further journey.

See a selection of the show looks below and see the entire collection here.

Forrige Næste