Ganni’s Joy Ride collection, presented outdoors on a pier covered in pastel chalk drawings just before the sun set, was a love letter to Copenhagen.
The idea was the fruit of a collective brainstorm. “The design team right now is very international, and they have experienced when Copenhagen is best, and that’s for sure summer,” explained Ditte Reffstrup at a preview. “We really wanted to celebrate that feeling you have when you walk around the city…it feels so free.”
Copenhagen really is a wonderful capital and Ganni offers a way for people to tap into a certain brand of Scandi style, one that’s colorful, playful, and cool. Reffstrup has a knack for translating insider trends for a wider audience. Noting that many models were showing up to the office in vintage cowboy boots, the team developed their own boot and shoes versions for spring.
Kickstarting the show was champion BMX rider Malene Kejlstrup Sørensen who cycled onto the pier and executed some tricks. What followed was a collaboration-rich collection, featuring Barbour x Ganni jackets. Reffstrup took her bow in a Levi’s x Ganni skirt with a double button-front, one functional, the other just for show. And that BMX energy was best captured by a color-blocked nylon jacket and coordinating pants that was part of the 66° North x Ganni partnership. It’s not only people, but brands that want to tap into the Copenhagen scene evidently.
As Reffstrup doesn’t have a driver’s license, she bikes for necessity, by custom, and occasionally also to escape or meditate. Sometimes when she’s taken a ride the designer will feel her heart pumping; this idea was first translated into the heart monitor squiggle, which was then worked into hems via the use of curved and custom-designer hardwear closures.
If this collection were given an EKG, the lines would be spiked and spread wide; there was more variety than cohesion. The show experience, however, was off the charts. For the finale, models came out rolling or pedaling bikes, mimicking how the looks would be seen “in the wild.” Only someone without a heart wouldn’t want to follow their lead and ride happily off into the sunset.
