CPHFW toasts the designers showing for AW25 with an intimate lunch at Apollo Bar

Yesterday afternoon at Copenhagen’s Apollo Bar (the Danish capital’s unofficial fashion hub), Copenhagen Fashion Week held an intimate lunch to toast the designers showing at the upcoming autumn/winter '25 edition. Hosted by CEO Cecilie Thorsmark (who kicked things off by introducing each of the designers present), the event was rife with “calm before the storm” energy; an opportunity for designers to mix and mingle before they retreat to their ateliers for the final push ahead of their shows and presentations.

Over a spread of pistachio-crusted soft boiled eggs, radicchio with grapefruit and red peppers resting on tahini, guests engaged in “how are things going?” chatter and light industry gossip. Among those seated around the two long tables were Bonnetje designers Anna Myntekær and Yoko Maja Hansen – who nabbed this season’s open New Talent slot – and Barbara Potts and Catherine Saks of Saks Potts, which thankfully has returned to the schedule this season. New faces, making their CPHFW debut, included CMMN SWDN founders Saif Bakir and Emma Bakir Hedlund and the team from Iceland’s 66°North, who will take advantage of the presentation format. Also in attendance, McKinsey & Company’s Anita Balchandani, who presented an enlightening (and moderately unsettling) State of Fashion Report at Soho House following lunch.

Related: CPHFW announces AW25 line-up: These are our key takeaways

But the talk of the table was the schedule itself, which dropped online just hours before the event. Specifically, the addition of an extra day featuring the show of just one designer: Stine Goya. With a go-ahead from Stine Goya CEO Thomas Hertz (also the designer’s husband), Thorsmark announced that the Goya will be showing at Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg, against a backdrop of a group show curated by the designer herself. Located 20 minutes from Copenhagen by plane, it marks the first truly off-site show of CPHFW. Further proof that our region’s most significant fashion week always has a few more tricks up its sleeve. See you in January.

And see all the photos below: