With Tom Petty on the speakers, beer in hand, and perfectly dishevelled cool kids in the courtyard, Sunflower’s SS26 show proved once again that no one captures Copenhagen’s laid-back energy quite like founder and designer Ulrik Pedersen
Real heads know the best thing about a Sunflower show is the vibe and on that front, this evening’s offering over-delivered. Held, as usual, in the brand’s cosy courtyard and packed, as usual, with local cool kids and stylish gentlemen, the spring/summer 2026 show was steeped in Sunflower’s specific variety of cool. “Learning to Fly” by Tom Petty blared through the speakers as models (perfectly street cast – the sort of folks who certainly dress this good in their everyday lives) ambled down the runway, stopping occasionally to lean on a beat up car in the centre or the platform.
Sure, Sunflower makes it look effortless, but the whole thing is by design. “For us, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to do a show if it were only for showing a collection, because basically everyone has seen it,” says founder Ulrik Pedersen, noting that the buyers placed their orders a couple months ago, in Paris. “For us, it’s more to create a vibe around Sunflower, and show it the way we want it to be shown.”
Staging a whole fashion show just for vibes feels like a lot of work (not to mention, not particularly cost-effective). But the Sunflower show has one more purpose. “As a brand, we and everyone else has a responsibility,” says Pedersen. “If we want to have a Copenhagen Fashion Week, then we also have to attend and be a part of it.” Amen.
All of that isn’t to say that the clothes weren’t noteworthy. For spring/summer 2026, Sunflower is firmly in its bag, showing the sort of 70s-tinged cool guy looks that would make you stop someone on the street and say, “Hey, where did you get that suede coat?” “We like to play around with classic menswear but give it a back-in-the-day rock n’ roll twist,” says Pedersen. “I love seeing musicians and artists from the late 70s up to the 90s, because they were super well-dressed in a good way. Today everyone is just walking around in a T-shirt.” He cites Roxy Music’s Bryan Ferry as one example (probably lost evident in the sharp blazers and that polka dot tie), but notes the collection isn’t inspired by any single person, more an entire era and scene of excellently dressed people. The emphasis on tailoring is greater than ever. In fact, Pedersen sums up the season’s ethos perfectly: “For us, it’s super important that you wear a suit without looking like a banker.”
While suiting is at the core of the collection, there were hardly any complete suits in the runway. Sunflower’s mix-and-match, style-over-fashion approach is emphasised by the way in which a pair of slim leather pants are paired with a relaxed, double breasted blazer. Elsewhere, unmissable overcoats – that aforementioned suede, especially – are worn with distressed, bootcut denim. Speaking of denim, many of the jeans that came down the runway are Sunflower deep cuts – seasons-old denim naturally distressed through years of wear. “We had to collect them from friends and friends-of-friends,” says Pedersen of the brand’s charming, not-so-on-the-nose approach to sustainability. “Showing this on a runway might also be a signal that it’s super nice that everything doesn’t have to be new.”
Also on the runway, more women than usual, looking cool as can be in the season’s oversized tailoring, loose ties and button-downs. “Personally, I think our clothes look much nicer on girls,” notes Pedersen. But the biggest shocker of all was the single pair of women’s skinny jeans, perfectly worn-in and making a strong case for the silhouette.
There’s one more great thing about a Sunflower show: the afterparty, which this time around was cohosted by Chris Black and Jason Stewart of beloved American podcast How Long Gone (Stewart, who also goes by DJ Them Jeans, provided the funky tunes). Shortly after the models walked their finale, many joined the crowd in the courtyard to crack a beer and enjoy the great vibe that had already been set. “We have DJs, beer and just a good time,” says Pedersen. “The people who come, the models, everybody is allowed to stay until the next morning.”
See all the looks from Sunflower's SS26 collection below.
