Come Fashion Week, Villa Copenhagen becomes less 'hotel' and more 'headquarters' – where editors work and rest, show-goers mingle, industry players hold court and the real action happens between martinis and meetings. See all the highlights from the AW26 season below
When the fashion flock descends on Copenhagen each season, there is one address that becomes less hotel, more headquarters. Set within the former Central Post and Telegraph Head Office, Villa Copenhagen has cemented itself as the unofficial nerve centre of Copenhagen Fashion Week – a place where editors file stories between shows, the most influential show-goers slip in for fittings, and the industry holds court over coffee.
There's no mystery to the venue's magnetism. There is the grandeur: soaring ceilings, marble columns and that glass-roofed courtyard bar where martinis appear with a flourish. But the setting also feels distinctly Danish, with sustainability woven into the infrastructure, a bakery perfuming the lobby with cardamom and butter, an outdoor pool heated by excess energy.
For eight seasons of Copenhagen Fashion Week, Villa Copenhagen and Social Works have built, curated and continuously evolved their collaboration – together shaping the hotel into the ultimate fashion week hub. In short, Villa Copenhagen is not merely where you stay during fashion week, but where the week unfolds. From backstage action to oyster-laden lunches, here are three ways Villa Copenhagen proved itself the place to be during the AW26 season.
The styling lounge
Each season, Villa Copenhagen transforms into a temporary fashion ecosystem thanks to The Social Works’ Styling Lounge. Taking over the hotel’s Playroom on the ground floor, the space is reimagined as a curated showroom spotlighting a sharp edit of rising local talents alongside established Scandinavian names, spanning ready-to-wear, accessories and beauty.
Conceived and orchestrated by Social Works as a dynamic meeting point for the industry, the lounge becomes a working hub throughout the week. Editors and stylists peruse the racks, pulling pieces that will define street style moments, while talents – from models to digital creators – drop in for on-site glam appointments. Beauty partners including YSL and REDKEN ensure hair and make-up are polished to runway-adjacent perfection before the next show call time.
The season's unmissable events
Beyond fittings and meetings, Villa Copenhagen sets the tone for the week’s most talked-about gatherings. Each season, Villa Copenhagen, Social Works and Vogue Scandinavia intentionally rethink and reinterpret the hotel’s spaces, developing conceptual events that highlight the property’s versatility and contemporary spirit.
This season saw a kitchen takeover that quickly became the stuff of Instagram lore: larger-than-life croissants, lavish blocks of butter and perfectly chilled martinis served in the heart of the hotel’s kitchen. Among the guest list were names like Emma Fridsell, Alana Hadid and Mathilde Goehler – a cross-section of international and Scandinavian style influence.
As always, the gathering was developed collaboratively across concept, production and menu, shaping a languid lunch of oysters, pastries and fries served with a particular cadence of Copenhagen ease.
The preferred hotel of Vogue Scandinavia editors and staffers
The Vogue Scandinavia aren't just bringing suitcases to Villa Copenhagen, but also stacked schedules that run from 7am to well past midnight. During CPH Fashion Week, the hotel becomes our basecamp.
Mornings begin at Rug Bakery, where we huddle over strong coffee and oven-warm pastries, mapping out the day’s run-of-show. Afternoons often mean commandeering one of the hotel’s design-forward meeting rooms – from the moody Playroom to the chandelier-lit Boardroom – for interviews, fittings or filing write-ups.
And when the final show wraps, there is the promise of retreat: a restorative swim in the sustainably heated outdoor pool, a sauna to reset, or a nightcap beneath the courtyard’s soaring glass ceiling. And the rooms themselves, harmoniously designed and cocooning, provide that perfect kind of deep exhale required during fashion week.
