Above: Two showgoers carrying matching Bottega Veneta bags at Milan Fashion Week in February 2020.
Seleen Saleh, who's photographed street style around the world and just released her book, Street Culture, documenting the street style of BIPOC creatives, put her finger on it right after the images from Copenhagen Fashion Week first hit, telling us, "The images coming out of Copenhagen were refreshing! There was more focus on Black showgoers and great style. There was also less focus on influencers."
The sentiment when we spoke with both Seleen and Acielle, of Style du Monde — who captures images for Vogue, The New York Times, and POPSUGAR — is that street style will reflect the larger reprioritization the whole industry is making. "I'm mostly looking forward to more inclusivity and diversity in the fashion world. Sustainability is more than a trend. We see fashion brands practicing zero waste and slow fashion, upcycling and recycling," Acielle told us of the things that are getting her excited for the future. And if we connect the dots, that emphasis on slowing down and thinking about sustainability and about representation (which has been so seriously lacking from the industry) means we're reimagining who and what we want to see from street style, too. That could mean less from big brands, fewer It items, and more from micro influencers, who are engaging with smaller labels, showing off vintage and recycled clothing. And like Seleen suggests, Copenhagen's street style is our early indication that that's already happening.
