Like many designers this season, Cecilie Bahnsen decided to switch from her home-base (Copenhagen) to Paris. No wonder why, noting the circumstances, it’s the only place where the buyers are heading to – if they still can. This is a very brief collection, presented as a look-book, which rotates around Bahnsen’s distinct signatures. The designer wandered a lot through quarantine, not only in her hometown, but also in her imagination. When she began to think about the direction for her spring-summer 2021 collection, she visualized a woman on a journey across a natural landscape. Bahnsen cited a famous Danish painting by the artist P.S. Krøyer, which depicts women walking on the beach in the town of Skagen. Her designs this season are indeed fanciful: dreamy wandering clothes for women gliding through the current limbo state of the world. Bahnsen, with her billowy textured silhouettes, acknowledges that beauty can lift our spirits up and push us forward during dark times. That optimism was illuminated in some of her newer pieces, like a soft, sheer green 3D sequined dress and hot pink knitwear layered over organza frocks. Everything she made this season was designed to be moved in. The beads and sequins, she said, were placed to make subtle sounds and shine in the wind and sunlight. Bahnsen also added to the mix practical sweaters and a classic raincoat, which she created in her second collaboration with the British outerwear brand Mackintosh. These clothes would most definitely turn heads if they were worn on a typical weekday stroll.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.