Stamm - AW24

For Stamm’s autumn/winter '24 collection, designer Elisabet Stamm connected the three most vital locales in her life: her home-slash-studio, the museum (or, in a pinch, an art gallery or sculpture park) and Danish discount supermarket Netto. The first two spaces were incorporated quite literally. To set the stage, Stamm decorated a wing of renowned art centre Copenhagen Contemporary with items from her own home. “Everybody who has been in my space has been on that couch,” says Stamm, referencing the plaid couch that today sits proudly in the gallery hall like a Marcel Duchamp readymade.

Netto, meanwhile, was included via the glaring yellow of the chain’s unmissable signage dotted the collection’s otherwise subdued palette (not to mention the lemons dotting the show space and the streaks in the models’ hair). Then there was the models’ walks. “I’ve told them to imagine it’s windy and you’re in a bit of a rush and you have to get to Netto so you just keep walking,” says Stamm. “It’s a struggle, but you keep walking.” Here, one floor up from the James Turrell exhibition (“How can I be showing upstairs from James Turrell?”), Stamm presents a charmingly personal snapshot of her day-to-day. A life in which art, home life and her brand are inextricable. Models carry pillow bags and laptops. Some wear under eye patches.

Stamm’s third Copenhagen Fashion Week outing, the collection further establishes the brand’s DNA. Namely, the exaggerated shapes, the effortless sportiness. “That comes naturally to me, because whenever I work on a design, on the body, I always want it to be flexible and adjustable,” she says. She rebuffs a bit at the word oversized – those jackets perfectly hug the shoulders, those trousers are cut vast but precise, particularly those with the exaggerated boxy waists. Still, you aren’t likely to see second-skin or otherwise constraining silhouettes on her runway anytime soon. “One thing I really like is that when I see people wearing my designs, they always start to move,” she says. “I think that’s something special about it. It invites you to breathe and feel free.”

In fact, the garments are just as sculptural as their reference points. In researching the collection, Stamm spent hours in museums and sculpture parks – often with her son – sketching various bronze works, occasionally snapping detail images on her iPhone. Later, the bronze folds and shadows were laser-printed onto denim for a clever Trompe-l’œil affect. Elsewhere, the sculpture’s nicks and weather-worn imperfections were blown up and printed on a large, round-shouldered puffer.

On her many trips to the museum, Stamm couldn’t help but notice the other patrons. They inspired her in a different sort of way. “I always see these people wearing these down jackets in navy blue that are totally square fitted,” says Stamm. “They’re clicking pictures, consuming the art. Being so square, being so conservative. And that’s the moment when I have to get back to work. I have a mission. I want to free them from that.”

See all the looks from Stamm's AW24 collection below: