Five years after launching his eponymous label, Nicklas Skovgaard has scooped the 2025 Wessel & Vett Fashion Prize –cementing his place as one of Denmark’s most exciting design voices
Last night in Copenhagen, Danish designer Nicklas Skovgaard could be found in a local bodega, beer in hand. Nearby, his oversized Wessel & Vett Fashion Prize cheque was propped against the wall, along with a towering bouquet of flowers and, surrounding him, a circle of friends and collaborators. It was a low-key, high-spirited end to a night that had seen Skovgaard claim the Nordic region’s most prestigious award for emerging fashion entrepreneurs — and one that cements him as one of Scandianvia's most compelling new fashion voices.
At the Tom Christoffersen Gallery earlier in the day, Skovgaard joined fellow Wessel & Vett prize finalists Mfpen and Stel in presenting to a dual jury of creative and business leaders, among them Fondazione Sozzani’s Sara Sozzani Maino and Mulberry CEO Andrea Baldo. The atmosphere, he says, was surprisingly warm: “You could really feel that the jury was there to support us with their hearts full of love.” Yet the crucial nature of the presentation sparked jitters for Skovgaard. “I was super nervous,” he says. “Even though I know my work inside out, standing up and presenting it all, from the brand's DNA to business strategy, in 25 minutes was nerve-wracking.”
Ultimately, Skovgaard chose not to lean towards a heavily corporate pitch but instead trace his journey “from childhood to where I am today.” After all, fashion, as he puts it, “is storytelling”. “It’s about being creative and honest. So instead of focusing only on the business side, I wanted to show them who I am and why the brand exists.”
Founded in 2020, the Nicklas Skovgaard label is known for its hand-woven textiles, sculptural silhouettes and a sensibility he often describes as “a meeting of romanticism and realism.” His collections – tactile, emotional and rooted in craft – have earned acclaim across Europe and a growing list of international stockists. Yet what the prize seems to recognise most is his ability to balance intuition with structure, artistry with pragmatism.
The win, which comes with a 500,000 DKK grant (around €67,000) and two official Copenhagen Fashion Week slots – including the coveted AW26 opener – gives Skovgaard what he’s long craved: space to step back and plan. “Running a small brand, it can be hard to take time out and really reflect,” he says. “You’re going from collection to collection, doing everything yourself. Preparing for this prize made me sit down and ask, Where am I? Am I happy about it? What’s the dream? It gave me perspective.”
That perspective has sharpened his next move. For five years, he has personally overseen nearly every aspect of the business – design, development, sales, communication – an invaluable education in building a brand from scratch. “But now I’ve reached a point where I need the right partners to take it to the next level,” he says, explaining that he plans to invest the prize money in hiring an in-house sales agent to drive strategic growth.
Skovgaard’s journey has always been as much about process as product. Teaching himself weaving on a children’s loom, he transformed a fascination with texture into a fully formed label that debuted at Copenhagen Fashion Week 2023. Earlier seasons, he admits, were more like research projects – instinctive, uncommercial, exploratory. “The first two years were driven by experimentation and intuition,” he says. “It wasn’t about sales yet; it was about figuring out what the brand could be.”
That spirit of exploration still underpins everything he does. Past Wessel & Vett winners (from Cecilie Bahnsen to A. Roege Hove) have gone on to shape global perceptions of Danish design, and Skovgaard seems poised to continue that trajectory, albeit in his own distinctly emotional register. As prize founder Nina Wedell-Wedellsborg put it during the announcement, his work “turns nostalgia into something fresh and relevant,” blending theatricality with sincerity.
For all the grandeur of the prize, there’s something grounded in how he sees his success. "It felt so good to just be with everyone who’s part of the brand," he says humbly. Still, he's dreaming big. “Last night, I just had this feeling that there are no limitations to what I can dream for the future of this brand,” he says. “That makes me very happy and proud.”