The whole week has been nearly perfect, if a little hot. We were hoping our luck would hold out, but today, we saw our first rain clouds during fashion week. After a brief downpour, the clouds passed — just in time for the closing show of the spring-summer 2025 season, Rotate Birger Christensen. This is one of the most coveted slots on the Copenhagen Fashion Week schedule — a last hurrah typically reserved for big-name brands and spectacle-worthy productions. In other words, expectations are high — the anticipation even higher.

On this final day of fashion week, guests descend upon Slotsholmen Island in the heart of the city. Behind the imposing facade of Christiansborg Palace, an archway leads to a little oasis that unfolds like a pop-up storybook. Let me describe the mise en scene: A cluster of pastel-colored roses are floating on the light-reflecting pond, which anchors this secret, pocket-size garden. Jets of water spurt from the fountain’s copper statue; I can feel its windborne spray. All around, there’s greenery and florals — and a champagne cart serving mini Moets. Where to look first? It’s all so beautiful. 

Even more so when everyone takes their seats, the dream-like soundtrack percolates the freshly rained air, and the first look walks down the pebble-scattered runway: bulbous mini shorts with a train that sways to and fro, paired with a simple white cropped top with a lettuce-edge trim. Next: capri pants and an off-white jacket with big rounded sleeves. It’s all very romantic and whimsical — and full of beaded and piped florals — but that’s just Rotate’s modus operandi.

A Retro Romance

Creative directors and influencers Thora Valdimars and Jeanette Friis Madsen created Rotate as a capsule collection under the 150-year-old Danish retailer, Birger Christensen. The brand found an instant fanbase, quickly becoming the go-to purveyor of partywear worn by it-girls across the world — and one of the biggest success stories to come out of the country. That’s no surprise: Rotate has a massive appeal. Thora and Jeanette combine flirty silhouettes with glamorous finishes in their statement-making designs — which cover everything from denim separates to embellished event-wear.

For spring-summer 2025, the duo tap into the joys of a summer romance. In Copenhagen, the season is a highly anticipated event; everyone patiently waits for that first turn in the weather. When it finally does arrive, the city comes alive. It’s exactly that feeling —  that elusive warm-weather magic, that giddiness, that anything-is-possible spirit that every summer dater is familiar with — that Thora and Jeanette try to evoke in this collection. To translate it into clothes, they cast their imaginations back to the 1920’s — an age characterized by a cheerful, albeit a little misguided, optimism. 

As is appropriate for the theme, we’re treated to what’s called “le flou” in French — flirty and flowy clothes that ooze a certain kind of hyper-feminine fluidity. Silhouettes are softened and fall gently on the body. Skin is glimpsed through hazy layers of lace, chiffon, and open-work stitching. We see clever twists of fabric around the hips, and so much lightness and movement in billowing skirts and dresses. There’s an ethereal, doe-eyed sweetness to everything. Just like the summer season in Copenhagen, I can’t get enough of this. 

Delicate Details

Perhaps one of the most straightforward nods to the ‘20s comes in the form of fringes — edging shorts or swinging from the halter neckline of a black dress and dusting the ground. Gracing several hemlines, we see an abundance of romantic ruffles that swish and sway as the models walk. “We drew inspiration from the 1920s in our details and finishes, where you will find fringing, stained-glass style and scalloped sequin embellishments, ruffles and frills, relaying the sense of optimism and escapism synonymous with the period,” the pair told Grazia. 

Sequined, embroidered, and beaded, intricate details are the show’s common denominator. We see the season’s florals imagined through beaded rose motifs that appear on sheer dresses, piped peonies that grace dresses and sets, and delicate laser-cut daisies. Of course, I’d be remiss not to mention an ivory dress — my favorite of the season — with a voluminous bubble-hem skirt that’s layered like rose petals. It wafts ever so gently with every huff and puff of the wind. 

A Taste of The Past

But there’s another through line: funnel-shaped bust and pleats that taper in toward the waistline. In other words, silhouettes pulled from the historical costume archives. Think: a playful white mini dress with piped florals and a puffball hem, an ethereally sheer dress with beaded roses, and many, many mini shorts, flirty dresses, and delicate slips. Royal dressing for the royal garden. 

The pièce de résistance is, of course, the final look, with its bubble-hem details and shimmery, silver fringes — 2,000 silver tennis bracelets by famed Danish jewelry brand, Pandora. The fitted black bodice hints to the broader “balletcore” trend (as do the bubble-gum pinks we see throughout the collection).

By the time it comes out on the runway, the sunshine is turned up to its highest setting. When the models all lap around the garden for the finale, everyone looks like they’re lit from within. Thora and Jeanette step out, aglow with happiness. Many guests jump to their feet, applauding the end of fashion week, the joys of sun-soaked summers, and of course, an endlessly romantic collection befitting the fantasy setting.