Sunset on my last night in Copenhagen

First, I’ll say that I did not go and see the famous mermaid statue when I was in Copenhagen. I made that mistake back when I was a teenager and I came to this town. It’s only about two feet tall and you can’t even touch it. While I knew that would be a disappointment, something that was unexpectedly impressive on my most recent visit to the Danish capital was the people and the fashion. I was just here for Copenhagen Fashion Week, and I’m still reeling from all the beautiful, blonde, blue-eyed people I met. And I’m not just talking about the fashion people; the people walking down the streets, waiting for buses, minding their own business were outrageously attractive. Wonderful to look at, but terrible for my self esteem.

It was a fairly quick trip: Only four days of fashion. And there were some shows that I was particularly impressed by. Anne Sofie Madsen, who worked with McQueen in London for several years, did a fabulous show of directional, subversive club dresses; the Wood Wood show, which, much to my amusement, started at 1145pm, was some of the best street clothes I’ve seen anywhere; and I loved the Bruuns Bazaar show because it was simple, clean and perfectly wearable. Soulland was a mens label I loved so much I’ve been harassing the Danish Fashion Council girls to find out where I can get my hands on some of the stuff here in New York.

Not that my entire trip was fashion shows. I’m still a tourist at heart, which meant I made stops to at the State Museum to see their Matisse show, and of course I couldn’t leave without a trip to the Tivoli Gardens and a few twirls on some of the amusement park rides. (Fun fact: The Tivoli is the secondly oldest amusement part in Europe, dating back to 1843. Take that, Six Flags!) There was also dancing, dining, drinking and more. Have a look at some of my snaps from my Danish fashion week diary.

The fairy godmother of Danish fashion, Eva Kruse, with the grandfather of British fashion, the legendary Colin McDowell.

A gorgeous little girl and her puppy: Everything and everyone was so ridiculously perfect in this town.

The Anne Sofie Madsen show’s finale

Love magazine’s Anders Soelvsten Thomsen, the first Danish friend I ever had and who I met back in the early 2000s when we were mere club kids, with me at the Bruuns Bazaar show

Nadja Bender, Lindsey Eixson and Caroline Brash Nielsen at the finale of the Designers Remix show

My friend Jakob Hedberg, a Swedish art director I met when he worked with us at Vmagazine. He has his own magazine based in Stockholm now, as you can see here. The title is a bi-annual that says everything about Swedish fashion, though soon it will expand to include all of Scandanavia

The finale of the Wood Wood show, one of my favorites of Copenhagen fashion week

Anne Christine Persson, my tour guide and all purpose Danish liaison for the entire week. She was tall, blonde, gorgeous and, much to my amusement, always wore high heels. In the morning, on cobblestones, just standing around a cocktail party. And I can appreciate that in a woman

Look, even the graffiti in this town was beautiful. This was written on the wall of a bathroom in a nightclub 

The last look at the Soulland show, which was one of my favorites. Who wouldn’t love a navy trench coat covered in buttons? Yes, please

The State Museum’s Matisse show was small, but concise and impressive

 Hans Christian Andreson, the children’s poet and one of Denmark’s greatest historic literary exports, is decorated throughout the city. In the Rosenborg Garden there’s this wonderful memorial statue, which I loved not only because of the beautiful way it has aged and the posing, but also because HC looks so stylish. IHe knew how to work 19th century fashions. Look at that cravat!

The Tivoli Gardens. Oh, how I loved this place. It was like a more historic, more sophisticated version of Six Flags, but with smaller rides and fewer obese people with mullets and fanny packs

A children’s parade in the Tivoli

This is Heidi Hardgrove, another lovely lady from Copenhagen fashion week who, much to my surprise, was born in Missouri. Just like me. (Sadly, since she lived in Denmark since she was three, spoke Danish, and had been involved in several bizarre accidents including saunas, wrist braces and falling down stair cases at underground porn parties, the similarities ended there.) She’s here with Fabian Hart, my new favorite German fashion person

This is me and Anders trying to be really creative. Bear with us

And finally, perhaps my strongest memory of Danish fashion week, a scene from one of the parties. These beautiful people know how to have a good time, and at one party, held in an abandoned house-turned-boys-insane-asylum, that meant swinging upside down from the windows. Well, it was memorable, Copenhagen. See you next season!