Cmmn Swdn’s Emma Hedlund and Safir Bakir double debuted today, launching womenswear at their first Copenhagen Fashion Week show. The location was Thorvaldsens Museum, a repository of sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen’s work, and his finds from around the world. This complemented the Swedish husband-and-wife team’s theme: in between spaces. “It is a very personal collection; it’s about two cultures colliding and that space in between that we experience every day, more or less,” said Hedlund in a pre-show interview. (Bakir is of Iraqi heritage.) “So it’s two geographies, two cultural heritages…the Scandinavian simplicity that meets the sort of opulence and the embellished Middle East.”
Burnished metallics—copper, bronze, and silver—were used like neutrals on textural lamé knits, one of which was worn under a mustardy tweed coat for the finale look. It was an unexpected combination that worked. Another great topper was made of a faux fur print and accessorized with silver gloves.
Hedlund and Bakir’s label was founded in Malmö, Sweden, in 2012 as a menswear brand, but the pair lived and showed in London for many years. They moved back home a few years ago. With that homecoming came stake-taking as well, allowing them, said Hedlund, to “reconsider what’s important to us, why we started the brand, what kind of story we want to tell.” It turned out that tale was one that reflected their status as a couple, his and hers—hence the expansion into womenswear, with which the show opened. Tailoring is the point of commonality between the brand’s menswear past and its new category. The first exit featured a boxy jacket, the next one was gently curved at the waist. Both were shown with pointy collars and large fur clutches. Later men’s looks had softer, almost Byronic neck ties. Sequined glen plaid pieces seemed misplaced among a collection that had a pleasing, earthy, palette that was in harmony with the museum surroundings.
