Vain - SS24

For its Copenhagen Fashion Week debut, Finnish brand Vain went big, opting to show in an expansive paintball arena. It was not only a practical choice – creative director Jimi Vain and CEO Rope Reinola welcomed around 300 guests – but one that also reflects the brand’s ethos. “We’re young nihilists,” says Vain, half-joking. “Not really. A little bit. In a good way.”

It’s the culmination of a big year for Vain. First there was the viral McDonald’s collab, followed by a well-received Pitti Uomo debut. The collection is a reflection of this rather explosive rise from Finnish obscurity to buzzy notoriety in just two years. “The main theme is the chaos, and the chaos in our lives,” says Vain. “Two years ago we started the business without knowing anything, and chaos has been a theme in our everyday life.”

Amid the madness, Vain and Roope describe a sort of Groundhog Day-esque repetitiveness. “It’s a conclusion for the past two years, where everything has been kind of foggy and chaotic,” says Roope. “It’s the same thing from the morning to the evening and the next day and the next week.” Wake up, work, sleep, repeat. To that end, the collection is a to-the-point reflection of what’s made the brand so popular. Plenty of black – long black coats, black hoodies, black turtleneck, sharp black leather jackets that pin the arms to one’s side like a straight jacket – peppered with the brand’s signature heart. Mini leather laden with buckles and straps and rings add a dash of sex appeal.

Underscoring it all is a cheeky knowingness; the references to death, the general doom and gloom, is not to be taken so literally. “It’s a dark humour,” says Vain. “The people who understand it understand it.” Case in point: that Birkin-inspired canvas bag; an instant must-have for cool kids worldwide.

As for how it may or may not be received, Vain doesn’t necessarily care. If people like it, they like it, if they don’t, they don’t,” says Vain. “It is what it is.”