A. Roege Hove - AW23

A. Roege Hove’s autumn/winter 2023 collection is a real exercise in contrasts; shadow versus light, sheer versus opaque, clinginess versus volume. “I’m mostly into black and white,” details designer Amalie Røge Hove, who, when I reach her to discuss the collection, is wearing a white button-down shirt over a black knitted top of her own design. Despite the pared back colour scheme (punctuated by shocking pink), Hove has pushed her beloved aesthetic forward – perhaps more so than ever – via technique and material. Most notably though, her signature stretchy nylon-cotton is joined this time around by a new contender: wool.

“Working in wool really gave us another dimension in the collection, because we have another variation in thin-to-thick,” explains Hove. “It’s a little bit easier for us to build a more full look.” Wool didn’t enter A. Roege Hove’s hyper-specific lexicon by happenstance; as a nominee for the coveted Woolmark Prize, the designer was given a grant specifically to develop her wool programme. Still, as a knitwear designer, the material fits suitably into her universe.

Set in the black box of a Copenhagen theatre, there’s nothing to distract from the clothes. Clingy long sleeve knits dip off the shoulder, seemingly dripping from the torso, styled with sturdy rubber boots. Elsewhere, flouncy ballerina skirts float like extensions from the body. “Last season was about adding a bit of volume. This season it’s perfecting that volume,” Hove says. “It’s not just about something slim meeting volume, but creating a volume that fits the brand.” While a live draping on one of the models helped emphasise the true sculptural nature of Hove’s fantastical designs.

But the greatest achievement is her so-called three-layered technique, in which, as the name suggests, three layers of knit are stacked atop one another. “To me, it was really interesting creating these layers,” says the designer. “You can create these layers with styling or you can have a piece where all the layers are in one.” The resulting pieces are “boxy and thick” – a structured top becomes Hove’s take on a blazer, a skirt gathers and balloons unexpectedly.

Not merely a feat of construction, the layered pieces serve as a practical option for those of us not quite daring enough to bare a flash of nipple. And for those who fell for such nipple-baring designs, they haven’t been forgotten. “The body is still a really big part of how we design,” says Hove. “In creating something a bit thicker, I would hope that the sheer, really slim pieces would be appreciated more.”