This month Chinese magazine Shopper features a special edition of some of the best street style photos from GadeMode.

All photos are by Mathias Vestergaard.

See more pages here

In an intimate space at LitteraturHaus in Copenhagen’s Nørrebro district, Malene Marron presented her simple collection with a laid-back show. An almost ballet-like dance signaled clothes made for an active everyday life, and added variation to the show. On the girls, a series of light, silky nightgowns cut low on the back kept you wondering if the naturally beautiful models were wearing anything underneath, while hausfraus will enjoy the collection’s relaxed and cozy cardigans. For the boys, an overall punky cool look with asymmetric cuts, oversized collars and aggressively pleated pants made for a practical and active urban look. While not breaking any new ground, many of the items will find their way into wardrobes of minimalism-loving Scandinavian boys and girls.

Spread from Dansk Daily (pdf)

Copenhagen Unfair is a small, alternative fashion fair and yesterday five young designers showed their collections in one show. Unfair is located in Copenhagen’s raw, trashy meatpacking district, Kødbyen. The models’ faces were painted with scary grins, creating an extremely dark mood reminiscent of Heath Ledger’s Joker character in Christopher Nolan’s latest batman movie. The brand Asfalt showed happy harlequin colors in stark contrast to the styling, and Tolsing showcased the stewardess from hell and some really cool drop-crotch pants for girls. Screwed put out a look of baseballpreppy hip-hop, Art For The Common Man presented t-shirts and sweatshirts with artsy prints, and finally, Veronica Vallenes, whose collection seemed to be the most coherent and well defined, gave us a fresh take on tailored jackets for women, with loose fits and pantsuits as the dominating element. Creating an engaging show with five young and different designers is truly an impossible task; however, there was a number of really cool items, and having an alternative scene for the very small designers is indeed important. The lack of attention given to this event was what made it unfair.

Spread from Dansk Daily (pdf)

While AnnHagen has been all about bondage, dark rock, goth and deconstruction, mr. Simonsen is associated with luxury and couture.
A slightly deconstructed blue cocktail dress and the bondage belts and straps on the back of some nicely tailored men’s coats and leather jackets, provided a link to Annhagen as we know it. Moving on from this heritage, Simonsen had added padding on hips and shoulders, sculpting the collection’s simple black dresses and beautiful doublebreasted female office suits. Everything was beautifully cut, tailored and fitted, and although some pieces seemed a bit off, the overall impression was a new statement of beauty and elegance, cemented by a short, sexy tube dress with asymmetrical patches of fur, and a range of long evening dresses. This might not please fans of the original, moodier AnnHagen style, but for someone dressing celebrities for the red carpet, this collection had everything. If only Danish celebrities would dare to go there.

Spread from Dansk Daily (pdf)

Cheap Monday brought the recession out in the open by opening their show yesterday with models wearing bags, hats, ties and even guitars made out of cardboard. A refreshing and humorous take on the much-debated financial crisis. The recession feel was underlined with trashed and torn jeans that looked as if they had just been repaired with pieces of gaffer tape. The color chart was in dark, rusty hues and oily blues – a suitable and safe choice for the A/W season. Boyfriend fitted blazers and oversized cape coats teamed up with tight, cropped jeans was for the girls. The boys’ look was loose and antifit with big coats, knitwear and chinos. Although one could have hoped for a little more renewal, Cheap Monday still faced the facts of the crisis and presented a recession concept with jest and humor.

Spread from Dansk Daily (pdf)

Much like entering the Rick Owens store in TriBeCa, N.Y., the guests at jean//phillip’s exclusive show were greeted with the deep rhythms of warm and glitchy minimal techno, setting the mood for a no-nonsense show. While continuing his established aesthetics and sticking to some of his signature looks, designer Jean Phillip delivered an incredibly sharp and balanced collection. Combining shiny patent leather shoes and heavier boots with bondage belts and transparent tops, the overall look was both dark and dandy. Boys will have to show some courage to wear jean//phillip’s rather bold pieces on the street. The masculine corsets – a repeated item in the show — could easily be layered with a sharp white shirt under a tight fitting jacket, however, as a unique vest alternative.
With an extremely sharp vision, a showroom examination will reveal if the production quality has matured and lives up to the designer’s obviously high goals. However, there is no doubt that this is a strong collection.

Spread from Dansk Daily (pdf)

The scene was set for a bash on Thursday night when Soulland presented its new show ‘Savage Mountain’. Located in the raw and industrial Carlsberg Brewery buildings, and with a mountain placed in the center of the catwalk, expectations almost peaked before the show. The first outfit had a cozy look in nude colors, with chinos teamed up with a knitted cardigan. This classic grandpa look was contrasted by the models’ scull painted faces, which left an ambivalent impression of coziness and horror. Basic and wearable items like knitwear, shirts and waistcoats in both bright and pale colors dominated the look. More experimental pieces like knitted pants and a jumpsuit in green gave this increasingly popular streetwear label some extra edge and grit. The overall impression didn’t move mountains, but Soulland still presented a good and varied show with a solid and wearable interpretation of the grandpa look.

Spread from Dansk Daily (pdf)

Accompanied first by feminine jewelry-box music, the models marched out one-by-one wearing nude make up.

Soon enough, though, the peaceful atmosphere was cut off abruptly by loud dupstep, filling the overcrowded room with dark sounds from London’s underground. The stage was set for a dark, postapocalyptic
mood that emanated death, decadence and sex. Complementing the predominance of black were a range of grays and whites. Especially, the limited color palette drew attention to the silhouettes of Vilsbøl’s sculptural, often asymmetrical pieces. The models’ look, not significantly different from the last collection, was constructed around tightly fitted dresses paired with big, padded shoulders, exhaling powerful feminine sexuality. Especially interesting, were the knitted and braided shoulder cushions, a refreshingly 21st century take on this signature ’80s look. Another focal point for both girls and boys was a rich use of mixed materials like leather, knitwear, suede and shiny fabrics, which kept the mood of the show in accordance with the season. For the boys, the grunge look with drop crotch pants, heavy knits and generally loose fits mixed in well with the overall dark and dramatic mood of the show. Most remarkable however was Vilsbøl de Arce’s ability to show a coherent collection with edge and expression, whilst keeping it wearable.

Read the full paper. Review is on page 29.

New York – probably the city with the highest concentration of luxury flagship stores in the world. You can shop in Ralph Lauren’s country club-setting on the Upper West Side or experience genuine British elegance at the Midtown Burberry flagship store.

Recently, designers and architects have been taking such concept stores to a new level. The SoHo Prada store, is such an example. Its spacious set-up combined with its bright lighting  and the affectionate attention given to detail make your shopping experience unique.

Now, Danish fashion brands are catching up with this emerging trend, with new concept stores popping up all over Copenhagen each month.

“You need to constantly renew yourself – a flagship store rarely exists more than 4-5 years.”

Read the article on pages 14-15

During Scout Festival 2008, I tried hard to catch the attention of the daily press. I felt (and I still feel) that Scout Festival has some really interesting elements that were worth writing about. First of all, we made history by building the first newbuilt mosque in Denmark.

All existing mosques are old factory buildings with a carpet. Secondly, the festival was a physical manifestation of all the more flimsy words we talk about every day: innovation, creativity, freedom etcetera. It was all there – right in front of you. According to the Danish prime minister, Denmark is supposed to be a leader in innovation. Whenever government officials, however talk about innovation it seems that they have no real clue what it actually is or how it looks in real life.

But no matter what I did or said, it was of no real interest to the journalists, so I ended up writing a letter to the editor instead. In my letter, I formalized my complaint that the press was ignorant towards really important matters.

It was printed on Friday August 8th 2008, and can be found online, or you can download my original script here. (Danish only)

Danish fashion brands such as; Designers Remix Collection, Wood Wood, Dyrberg/Kern, Vondahe are currently launching their own online stores, but such E-business can prove to be rather tricky. The breakthrough of e-business revolutionized the way people buy electronic equipment, and e-business has made competition increasingly fixed on prices.

Through the optimization of supply chains and massive advantages of scale (larger clientele), online retail practices are dominated by the Goliaths. According to, industry insiders profit margins can be as low as 10% in consumer electronics, effectively driving out small competitors. Compared to electronic equipment, fashion products are much less standardized and implementing a successful and matching e-commerce strategy is indeed a challenging task.

This article was cowritten with Helle Rohde Andersen, and published in Dansk Daily on Saturday 09.08.08. Read the full article in Dansk Daily Online, or download pdf.

The Danish jewellery industry as we know it today can be traced back to the early 19^th century. Around 1904, when silversmith and sculptor Georg Jensen started his workshop in Copenhagen in, he was initially inspired by organic shapes and insects.

Within a few years, his work was highly demanded by wealthy citizens and aristocrats throughout the world. The genuine craftsmanship combined with precious materials and his signature Scandinavian design has been the cornerstone of Georg Jensen’s jewellery through the years. Since the establishment of Georg Jensen the gold- and silversmith profession has developed radically. Today, new companies are shaping the field turning the noble craftsman profession into a growing and successful fashion industry.

This article was cowritten with Helle Rohde Andersen, and published in Dansk Daily on Friday 08.08.08. Read the full article in Dansk Daily Online, or download pdf.

One of my recent passions include writing a weekly column about cocktails. It is a voluntary project, but also an excellent reason to get a drink on a plain tuesday afternoon. The column is published almost every week on www.eventuelt.org.

Cocktails – the stronger the better! I generally prefer Martinis and martini-like cocktails, including (but certainly not limited to) Manhattans, Gimlets, (strong) Margaritas. I also love the old classics like the Sazerac.

“The stronger the better!”

In my favorite Martini you find: stirred Plymouth Navy Strength poured in a chilled and Noilly Prat coated cocktail glas garnished with an olive and a lime twist and with just a single drop of Angostura bitters. If the omnipresent Plymouth is not available, I use frozen Tanqueray (just keep it in the freezer where it belongs). The olive, the twist and the vermouth can also be left out, if there is an emergency and no time to fiddle around.

You can find my column at Eventuelt.org (in Danish)

The full title of this article is “From Foucault and filter coffee to Latour, oysters and champagne” and it is my personal account of how I see voluntary work in student organizations and what I find so fascinating about it.

Of course I use the insights, I gathered through my involvement in the Students Association at the department of Information Studies (SAIS). Since 2006, we have transformed the board of SAIS into an exclusive dinner club. This might sound less than serious, but it has been an important move, since the voluntary work is no longer felt as a burden: we always have a good time at meetings. In other words: what we have done, is to provide the participants with something more than just filter coffee and a guilty conscience. Through such enjoyable meetings we create and sustain an energy level that helps us keep the organization running accordingly.

This article was published in the student magazine Kontekst, but had previously been published in Delfinen in a shorter version. Read about it here.
Read the full text(Danish only)

In the April 2008 issue of Delfinen (#140) the theme was “Social Responsibility”. Therefore, I decided to write a short text about voluntary work in student organizations. In the article, I provided my own perception on putting student work in a broader perspective and adviced the reader to try this too.

This article was later re-written and published again in another student magazine called Kontekst. Read about it here.

Read full text (Danish only)

In the March 2008 issue of Delfinen (#139) the theme was “Tradition”, so I wrote a brief essay on how to behave correctly. My claim was that Emma Gad (the Danish equivalent to Miss Manners, aka Judith Martin) had been widely misunderstood as a dictator of proper behavior, which is really not the case.

When reading her books on manners you find that her guidelines are always deeply concerned with how we can be nice to each other.  Furthermore, I argued that gentleman behavior had been threatened by the feminist movement, where the act of holding a door for a woman was seen as disrespectful to a woman’s integrity and self-respect.

Read the full text
(Danish only)

During fall 2007 I spent three months in New York City. It was a great experience for me. During my time in Manhattan I wrote several articles about life in the city. While I was there I was contacted by Chris Pedersen, whom at the time was the fashion editor of Euroman.

He asked me to shoot some street style photos from NYC and he wanted to know if I wanted to set up and interview with New York-based menswear designer Thom Browne. In my opinion, Euroman is the best men’s magazine published in Danish and I felt honoured to take up the job. Next to this, I was excited to see if it was even possible to accomplish since I had been a fan of Mr. Browne’s clothing for a long time. I managed to set up time for an interview and subsequent photo shoot. Thom Browne’s PR company handled it all smoothly.

The portrait was eventually published in the March 2008 issue of Euroman. Due to copyright restrictions it is not available online.

The theme of the February 2008 issue of Delfinen (#138) was “Make it new”, so in my last article about New York I focused on some the current trends in NYC. What I found was that many restaurants and bars were practicing a kind of pseudo-secretness.

Pseudo because they were never really secret – you could always look them up in Yelp.com or some other city guide – but they still pretended to be. One of my favourite spots when I was there, was La Esquina. On the corner of Kenmare and Lafayette in SoHo, the place appears to be a take-out joint, but there is a door that will lead you down to the basement where a hidden restaurant and bar is located.

I wonder if we will ever see anything like this in Denmark.

Read full text(Danish only)

In my second article about New York, I focused on how to get there. How can you get to experience the life in Manhattan if you are from Denmark and do not have a work permit?

I asked two Danish students, who were doing internships at the time.

Martin was interning as an architect and Marianne was at a non-profit organization. It was really interesting to see how they had each managed to find a way to do so. Furthermore, they both explained what they found to be the most interesting aspects of the city.

The article was published in the December 2007 issue of Delfinen (#137)

Read full text(Danish only)

During my fall 2007 stay in New York City I wrote a series of articles about life in the city, compared to my home town Aarhus. The articles were published in the student magazine Delfinen. In this first article in what became a trilogy (published in November 2007, #136) Here, I focus on the street life of the city. I felt inspired by an exhibition on Jane Jacobs, henceforth, I tried to pinpoint what it is that makes life in NYC so special and how we could learn from it in Aarhus, Denmark.

Read full text (Danish only)

In the September 2007 issue of Delfinen (#134) I wrote this incredibly short power review of the graphic novel adaption of Paul Auster’s City Of Glass.

Read the full text(Danish only)

After a short break, Helle Rohde Andersen and I resumed our scribblings about fashion. In our fifth fashion article, published in the May 2007 issue of Delfinen (#133), we provide an account for how fashion affects national economics.

By linking the rising US-inflation in the 70s with the introduction of casual Friday and the burst of the dot-com bubble to men wearing Bermudas and flip-flops to work, the article satirically states that fashion is extremely important for our national economy.

“Most people think that fashion is a superficial phenomenon, which only applies to superficial people. In this article we will prove that fashion influences our everyday life, more than we would think. Additionally, we will show you how bad style choices have caused national and global catastrophes throughout history.”

Read full text (Danish only)

I spent the summer of 2006 in London attending a three-week course in microeconomics at the London School Of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Personally, I found simple microeconomics to be applicable in many areas of life and back in Aarhus I was wondering if I could use it to explain why it is so difficult to meet new people in Aarhus.

In this essay about provincialism I used (a simplified version of) George Akerlof‘s lemon theory to analyse the situation. When you meet a stranger somewhere you can never know as much about the person as someone you have known for years, so you have to evaluate if this person is worth talking to, or if you would be better of talking to someone else. For reasons of simplicity let’s say that there are only two kinds of people: interesting people and boring people. If the stranger actively tries to have a conversation with you, you might easily draw the conclusion that he doesn’t have enough friends for himself, and thus you can be fairly certain that he is a boring person, since nobody else wants to hang out with him either. All the interesting people already have enough friends, since they are so interesting.

This is clearly not how it actually happens inside one’s head. However, microeconomic theory was never meant to predict thought – only behavior on a statistical level of generality. In this sense, the theory fits quite well: everyone in Aarhus seems to be going out with their own friends all the time, and if you try to talk to someone you don’t know, they will often perceive of you as strange and rather suspicious.

The essay was published in the October 2006 issue of Delfinen (#127).

Read the full text. (Danish only)

During my first year of studying (and ever since, actually) I’ve spent a lot of time having lunch with my study group. However, we never just had lunch. During the meal discussions always revolved around the quality of the food and the atmosphere.

We tried different canteens on campus and compared results, and in the September 2006 issue of Delfinen (#126) we wrote a comparative review.

The review sparked some controvercy: a week after it was published my editor at Delfinen received a two page letter from the Dean, complaining that our review had errors of fact and that we were destroying the working environment for the employees.

The review is written by Kasper Schiølin, Janus Novak Olesen, Lasse Damgaard and Mathias Vestergaard. Photos by Lasse Damgard.

Read the review (Danish only)

In our fourth article for Delfinen, published in September 2006 (#126), Helle Rohde Andersen and I tried to reveal the various dresscodes on the different faculties on campus. Although it was meant as a funny exaggeration, some people took it too seriously and I was actually threatened at a party, a couple of months later.

“It is correct. There is no official dresscode on campus (although you sometimes wish there was). However, this does not mean that you can dress in whatever way you want. There are plenty of implicit dresscodes that you must know about.”

Read the article (Danish only)

In this article, published in the May issue of Delfinen (#125), Helle Rohde Andersen and I give advice on how to deal with a fashion crisis.

“You know the feeling.  You stand in front of your walk-in-wardrobe that mostly resembles a messy thrift shop. Your level of inspiration has dropped to zero, you’re fazed-out and you consider hanging yourself with your necktie since it is still a preferable alternative to a night in front of the telly watching re-runs of another miserable show. You have to get out and mingle.”

Read the article (Danish only)

In the March 2006 issue of Delfinen (#123) Helle Rohde Andersen and I wrote an article about fashion in the academic world. This was our second article in this series of fashion related articles for Delfinen.

This piece followed up on our first article and by showing real students on campus with great style, we tried to help the reader improve his or her own style.

Read the article (Danish only)

In the February 2006 issue (#122) of student magazine Delfinen, Helle Rohde Andersen and I wrote this introduction to our upcomming series of fashion related articles. Our main motivation, was to put fashion on the agenda in the academic world.

The title of the article refers to first page of economist Michael E. Porter’s book The Competitive Advantage of Nations, which we read in the previous semester. The first paragraph of the article says:

“WARNING! If you are really contend with your stone-washed jeans from Jack and Jones and find it hillarious to wear t-shirts with bold prints like ‘I fuck on the first date’, you will most likely find the tone in the following both arrogant and insulting. That is of course not the point – we are just trying to help you – because you really need help – really!”

Read the full text (Danish only)

In 2004, a questionnaire on the educational levels of elementary school children in Europe, showed that Danish kids were not nearly as well educated as our neighbours. After the publication of these results, there was a public debate on how we should improve the overal level. This feature was my contribution to the debate.

My argument was that we should use new and cost effective IT-platforms like www.netfidus.dk in our existing classes like Danish or Math, instead of making it a new subject in itself.

The feature was published in the weekly it newspaper Computerworld in January 2005.

(Danish only – reprinted with permission from Computerworld)