Cecilie Bahnsen emphasizes that the collection is a symbol of how the work evolves in the atelier and she wants to tell the story of each piece until it arrives on the runway
Faraway, so close! a trick by Cecilie Bahnsen SS24
After FW23, Danish designer Cecilie Bahnsen returns to Paris to present her SS24 collection. The volumes on the runway appear as a mix of large, elaborate pieces that sometimes meet classic lines. The handcrafted production highlights some unique characteristics of the clothes that are found in the shapes and decorative complements.
From ribbons to ruffles and again to the stitching that characterizes the application of details such as pockets, nothing is left to chance. Transparencies in the SS24 collection play a key role by sometimes allowing a glimpse of the body, sometimes highlighting the styling composed on several layers. Ruffles and tulle are contrasted with rational elements such as shirts, plaid patterns or a series of denim pieces.
The title of the Spring Summer 2024 collection is Faraway, so close!, indicating the encounter between the playful aspect and the contrast in the same. The runway is traversed by a wide range of color shades, immediately after white and black it is the turn of pink and red investigated in different shades also through patterns. Flowers, ruffles, stitching and ribbons adorn the different pieces adding a character close to that of couture to the garments.
Slowness: the value beyond the SS24 walkway
A continuous, slow, but paced rhythm. That’s what the models brought to the stage as they walked down Cecilie Bahnsen’s SS24 runway to the finale. The concept of slowness, however, returns among the values the brand promotes, especially through the enhancement of craftsmanship.
During some interviews, the designer said that this collection is a symbol of how the work of a line and its history comes to an end. Of all the hands and steps that are required for each piece to be completed and make it to the runway. One starts with the pieces that are in the studio, in the case of his brand, and then acquires the rest that are missing and integrates them.
In the same way Bahnsen explains, this complexity is balanced by the result of the garment that women wear without posing the question of complicated workmanship. Even the succession of colors on the runway represents the collection’s working process, the shades, the layering, the transparencies.
Between haute couture and genZ: the contemporary collections of Cecilie Bahnsen
Through her collections, the designer tries to hybridize a world of high fashion production, likened to couture, with the ready-to-wear attitude. The encounter between these two souls of the brand makes it versatile, beyond any limits of definition of femininity or age. Indeed, the choices implemented in some looks bring it particularly close to GeZ, just think of the juxtaposition of vaporous tulle with monochrome, comfortable sneakers.
For accessories, the collaboration with Asics also for this show marks the return of a partnership that has lasted for several seasons. If the previous model reworked by Bahnsen was inspired by a Mary Jane reproduced through the sporty brand’s shoes, original models embellished according to the mood of the fashion show are proposed again for this collection.
Last year she had decorated the GEL-NIMBUS 9 thanks to leftover fabric and beads, this season instead features total black in the shoes. The chosen model is GEL-QUANTUM, as reported by highsnobiety.com, decorated with a series of small flowers and paired with neutral black socks.
Everyday Couture: definition of the Scandinavian timeless wearing
The Scandinavian idea of comfort and practicality guides the creation of the brand’s collections. «Notions of everyday couture come to life in Cecilie Bahnsen’s Copenhagen atelier», the brand itself explains. The need for versatility in garments is then complemented by the need to provide products that reflect the manufacture, using materials of the same level.
For this reason, one of the brand’s suppliers is Nona Source, a project supported by LVMH that allows through a platform to resell the group’s fabrics. Selected by the luxury maisons that are part of the same, the products can be scraps as well as small remnants of all kinds from velvets to leathers.
Because of this, Bahnsen’s work is also based on the construction of collection pieces based on the sensory performance of the fabrics when they are actually used in production. «Inspiring one another through personal interpretation. Coming together over the sound of fabric rustling, papers crinkling, and sewing machines humming. Creating the soundtrack of the atelier». This is how the work behind the brand is described, where comfortable design meets complex styling.
Cecilie Bahnsen pillars: femininity, shape and wearability
Cecilie Bahnsen’s design is a mix of where she comes from, Copenhagen, and her time studying and working between Paris and London. From The Royal Danish Theatre to Christian Dior and John Galliano via Erdem. Founding her brand in 2015, the designer set herself a few main pillars to work on.
Starting with fabrics to make shapes that render her romantic idea of femininity in motion is one of them. Through a freedom of expression that allows the pieces of the collections to be mixed and matched in various ways, the individuals become the key to unique interpretations of the garments through their own silhouette.
Form is another of the basic points that finds fulfillment in the construction of clothes recognizable by their own structure and sculptural form, which is essential to the fabric work done by Bahnsen. At last, wearability, the last pillar that wants to invite to make these clothes a habit to wear, just because the pieces are designed to be durable and use fabrics to be collected. In addition to the present, the designer also thinks about the future and the journey these clothes can take through sharing and passing on.
Cecilie Bahnsen
Cecilie Bahnsen brand is based with its own studio in Copenhagen. French fashion and the design culture of Scandinavia meet in the collection of the fashion house. One of the core values of the brand is to give the clothing a timeless scent, producing with fabrics that can last for more than a season permitting the exchange of pieces among different generations.
