5 min with Baum Und Pferdgarten during Copenhagen Fashion Week

Baum und Pferdgarten celebrates creative, individual and expressive style through collections filled with playful prints, artful colours and fluid, androgynous tailoring. What’s more, it strongly believes in the importance of circularity and is working hard to become more responsible and transparent in all aspects of its operations – including sourcing recycled and organic fibres with a lower environmental impact.
Here, Rikke Baumgarten and Helle Hestehave – the duo behind the brand – reveal some great memories from CPHFW and the magic behind Copenhagen style.

Could you share some of your fondest memories to date from Copenhagen Fashion Week? 

Rikke: I’m especially proud of our Autumn Winter 2016 show where everything just came so beautifully together; the collection, the mood, the venue and the soundtrack. We were inspired by the movie ‘I Am Love’ and Villa Necchi outside of Milan where the movie takes place – we ended up having the show in Thorvaldsen’s Museum here in Copenhagen. Thorvaldsen worked as a sculptor in Italy for most of his life and the museum reflects this in a beautiful manner. We also worked with two really talented composers for the soundtrack who incorporated voices from the movie and recorded “real-sound” from Italian church bells, street noise etc.

Helle: To me, the Spring Summer 2020 show was an important milestone. I feel like we really set a new direction for the brand and came with a fresh point of view. We started working a lot with transparent fabrics and silhouettes in a way we are still exploring.

Copenhagen Fashion Week typically plays host some of the best style in the world, both on the streets and the runways. What do you think makes ‘Copenhagen style’ so special?

Helle: All the collections from Copenhagen tend to be very wearable and appeal to a broad audience of real people. Plus, the people in the streets of Copenhagen are really good at dressing complicated pieces down and making it real rather than an inaccessible dream.

Rikke: Copenhagen style is very effortless and represents a kind of casual coolness where less is more.

You’re showcasing for AW21 digitally – can you reveal anything about the collection and what challenges did you face creating this way?

Rikke: We can definitely reveal the challenges! Less than a month ago we cancelled the entire production we had been working on for months and changed our format 100% – from one digital format including a lot of people in one venue to another digital format where nobody has had to meet in person. The new format is all about celebrating the diverse ways of creative expression we experience from the #BaumFamily.

Helle: That’s all we can reveal for now – but please stay join our Instagram for the live streaming of the show on Wednesday, Feb. 3^rd at 20:00 CET!

Copenhagen has been hailed as “fashion’s sustainable capital”. How important is sustainability to Baum und Pferdgarten?

Rikke: Obviously, sustainability is very important to Baum und Pferdgarten!

Helle: With every collection, we are working towards becoming more and more sustainable in terms of fabrics, production and transport – but we are also looking into converting everything around the collection like the wrapping, the hangtags and so on. We are very happy to be part of Copenhagen Fashion Week where sustainability is at the top of the agenda!

Post-pandemic, what does the future hold for the brand?

Rikke: We feel like everybody in our team and the Baum community is holding their breath and just waiting for this to be over, so we can all start to live life to the fullest and enjoy ourselves again.

Helle: We are very confident in the future and have high hopes for Baum und Pferdgarten.