Everything is filtered through a speckled, glittering light — the floors, the walls, and even the guests posing for their pre-show photographs. What a fun atmosphere. The champagne tower is flowing. Conversations are cranked up to full volume. Donna Summer — the queen of disco! — is oohing and aahing in the background, singing Love to Love You Baby with her breathy and borderline erotic vocals.

The energy is high, high, and sultry. What else do you expect from a show called “Temptation Dance”? And what else do you expect from Danish brand Gestuz, which has a penchant for cutting pieces that are equal parts ultra-feminine and rock ‘n’ roll? 

This season at Copenhagen Fashion Week, the brand is presenting a ’70s-meets-’80s version of that femininity, and this comes through as soon as the first couple of looks are presented on the runway. High-waisted leather shorts and a matching oversized shirt, buttoned only at the collar, followed by a head-to-toe brown corduroy set. I mean, does it get more ’70s than brown corduroy? 

But first, some background

Founder and creative director Sanne Sehested cut her teeth in the industry working as a womenswear buyer for Danish group Bestseller, owner of fashion brands like Vero Moda, Jack & Jones and Only, before transitioning into product development and design. Finally, in 2008, she launched Gestuz. It was a lifelong dream come true, building a brand on a foundation of edgy femininity, with heavy focus on clean lines, high-quality fabrics and practicality. 

It’s been close to a year and a half since my last Gestuz show, but I remember it vividly. For its spring-summer 2023 collection, Gestuz turned to Los Angeles — my neck of the woods — for inspiration, blending a playful, noughties-driven sensibility with Copenhagen-chic staples: supple leather, reliable denim, and utilitarian silhouettes. All solid, wearable pieces and easy wardrobe workhorses that are still affectionate to today’s trends. 

This is how Gestuz has evolved since its inception; it’s still powerful, understated, and modern, but always with a twist. “Gestuz is for the strong, fashion-conscious woman who keeps a strong focus on the trends but wants to discover her own personal style,” Sanne said back in 2015. Cut to nine years later, and this is still very much the case. 

From Boardroom to Dance Floor

The Gestuz woman here is party-ready all day. She’s dressed to the nines for every event on her calendar — whether it’s a boardroom meeting or an après-work cocktail hour. “It is a story of a muse bringing the party elements into every part of her life,” the press release states. No need to save that dress for a “special occasion.” Gestuz makes the case that every day is a special occasion. 

Sanne favors impactful-but-relaxed shapes: assertive shoulders, a cinched waist, and low-slung, roomy bottoms. Here, she didn’t veer too far from these signature silhouettes. Leather outerwear is reinforced with shoulder pads and cut for an oversized look. Ditto for denim jackets, blazers, and knits. A lot of these pieces are proposed as coordinating sets, making the exercise of dressing a no-brainer.

Hemlines are either floor-sweeping or cut shorter than short so that legs can steal the scene. The former is especially true with some of the brand’s more see-through pieces, which make a recurring appearance throughout the show. Semi-sheer lace maxi dresses and skirts are worn underneath coats, sweatshirts, and blazers. One look is particularly striking: a sheer red dress with a small puddle of a train layered underneath an abbreviated leather bomber with shoulder pads and ruched details on the sleeves. Oh, and red leather gloves!

Speaking of color, Sanne employs this specific hue of arresting red in several looks to deliver a powerful effect to the eye. “Red lips and leather pieces were some of the first words added to my moodboard when creating this collection,” Sanne says, according to the press release. “There is a heaviness to the collection, but not in a way that drags you down. It is rather something that grounds you and brings you a feeling of sensual luxury.”

Yes, there’s a certain teasing sensuality to everything here. Full-look lace might be too bold of a statement for the boardroom, but after going through an all-too-comfortable phase of office-dressing, it’s fun to see a shift from informality. At the end of the day, even if she’s overdressed for the occasion, the Gestuz woman is too confident to care. “She knows she is a temptation; she knows she looks good,” the press release says. “She knows it might be a little too much, but she is dressing for her.”