Why Villa Copenhagen is my home during CPHFW

There are certain things I have come to expect from Copenhagen Fashion Week. My diary will be rearranged several times before I have even arrived, I will find myself crossing the city (and changing outfits) at speed between shows, and it will take me a few weeks to properly catch up on the sleep missed. But there is one constant that makes all of this considerably easier: I stay at Villa Copenhagen.

By now, arriving at Villa is like a homecoing. The staff remember me from season to season, greeting me by name – and often with a hug – which is a particularly nice way to begin another hectic fashion week.

After enough seasons of CPHFW, I have realised how much happens (and changes) season to season, day to day, and even minute to minute. However, my Copenhagen address always stays the same. This is what 24 hours at Villa Copenhagne looks like for me.

I never skip breakfast during fashion week. There's a chance it could be the only substantial meal of the day amidst a busy schedule. Villa's breakfast is served in Public, the old sorting room of Copenhagen's former Central Post and Telegraph Head Office, and everything on offer is to fresh and seasonal – plus pastries from the hotel's own Rug Bakery.

There aren't many moments during Copenhagen Fashion Week when you can genuinely switch off, which makes the quiet early hours before the day's schedule begins all the more valuable. If I have time, I head to Villa's rooftop to enjoy the heated outdoor pool and sauna. There is something particularly lovely about starting the morning on the rooftop, overlooking Copenhagen, before spending the rest of the day rushing around the city below.

One of the reasons Villa works so well during CPHFW is that you don't necessarily have to leave the building before the meetings begin. By breakfast, familiar faces have started appearing. Editors, designers, creatives and friends are passing through the hotel, and a quick hello can quite easily become a meeting that would otherwise have taken three weeks of emails to organise.

This is one of my favourite things about fashion week. For all the carefully planned schedules, the encounters you haven't planned are often the most valuable.

Now, the official schedule kicks off. Shows, presentations, appointments and meetings pull us across Copenhagen, often with very little breathing room between them. To navigate such a whirlwind, I know that where you stay makes an enormous difference. Villa's position beside Copenhagen Central Station puts you right in the middle of the city, making it that little bit easier to dash from Skall Studio in Christiania to Baum und Pferdgarten in the King’s Garden – and everywhere in between.

Every season, Vogue Scandinavia has its own event calendar running alongside the official CPHFW schedule. During the SS27 edition, we returned to Villa Copenhagen to host one of our favourites. For the third season, Vogue Scandinavia and Villa Copenhagen teamed up with Social Works Management for The Sorting Club: our boozy afternoon tea, bringing together friends from across the industry for an afternoon of drinks, conversation and catching up – even the rain couldn't dampen the mood.

It's also here that you realise the scale of what Villa can accommodate. Its spaces can host everything from an intimate gathering of 30 to a big bash for 1,200 people, giving us the ultimate hosting versatility during fashion week for any type of event.

One of the great luxuries of hosting an event at the hotel where you're staying is being able to make a quick pit stop back in the room – whether it's for a phone call, change of outfit, or urgent meeting. During fashion week, my room at Villa becomes wardrobe, office and sanctuary in roughly equal measure. Having somewhere that feels like a genuine base rather than simply somewhere to sleep makes an enormous difference.

By late afternoon, I’m usually ready for another coffee before heading back out. Rug Bakery, Villa’s in-house bakery, is an easy stop downstairs. Everything is made in-house, with a focus on sourdough and Danish rye – the latter giving Rug its name. An insider's note: later in the day, the bakery becomes Rug Kitchen, shifting from coffee and pastries to sourdough pizzas, wine and cocktails.

The show schedule may start to wrap for the day, but Copenhagen Fashion Week just changes gears. After the runways come the cocktails, dinners, exhibitions and launches. Sometimes, some of the week's most interesting conversations happen once everyone has stopped looking at the clock quite so closely.

It's always a joy to return to the room – at Villa, they are designed with a sense of Nordic elegance that I really appreciate. By this hour, I really savour the simple luxuries: heels off, a rainforest shower and a space that has been carefully prepared with turndown service.

And then, hopefully, a few hours of sleep before it all begins again.