Forget Paris—Buyers, Tastemakers, and Trend Forecasters Are Saying Spring 2027 Trends Start in This City

Fashion month might technically begin in New York, but for the last few years, I've found myself getting my first real read on the season several weeks earlier—and several thousand miles away. Every August, Copenhagen International Fashion Fair, better known as CIFF, takes over Copenhagen's sprawling Bella Center, bringing buyers, designers, editors, and industry insiders together to see what's coming next. While the term "trade show" might conjure images of fluorescent lighting and endless rows of booths, CIFF is anything but. It's cool, sexy, and increasingly one of the most important stops on the global fashion calendar.

In recent years, CIFF's influence has stretched well beyond Copenhagen. The organization has staged showrooms in Paris and Milan and partnered with international fashion organizations and events, including the Council of Fashion Designers of America and Paraiso Miami Swim Week, as part of a larger push to bring global brands into the Scandinavian market while giving Danish and Nordic designers a bigger platform abroad. The result feels less like a traditional trade fair and more like a meeting point for the people deciding what fashion will actually look like six months from now.

That's precisely why I keep coming back. CIFF has drawn me to Copenhagen for the past few years, and I've come to think of it as the first stop on my womenswear calendar—a preview of the ideas, silhouettes, colors, and products that will inevitably resurface once the New York, London, Milan, and Paris shows roll around. In Copenhagen, however, there's another layer to the trend forecasting: money. Buyers are placing their first major orders of the season at CIFF, meaning you're not just seeing what has runway or social media appeal. You're seeing what stores are actually betting people will want to buy.

That space between creativity and commerce is particularly visible among Copenhagen Fashion Week names like Gestuz, Herskind, and OpéraSport, whose runway ideas can be traced back to the racks at the Bella Center through a much more commercial lens. Between those shows and the 1000+ brands gathered at CIFF this season, I spent the week comparing notes with buyers, tastemakers, and fellow editors about what they were seeing and, crucially, what they were buying. Consider this your first look at the trends poised to define spring 2027.

Shop the CIFF Spring/Summer 2027 Trends

Headscarves and Bandanas

If there was one styling trick I saw almost everywhere in Copenhagen, it was a scarf tied around the head. Bandanas and headscarves appeared on the OpéraSport runway and throughout Copenhagen Fashion Week, but what made the trend feel particularly convincing was how many buyers and editors had already adopted it themselves. Consider it the latest extension of that distinctly Scandinavian approach to getting dressed: Start with relatively simple pieces, then add one slightly unexpected element—preferably in a great color or print—to make the entire thing feel more interesting. At CIFF, scarves offered an easy injection of color against otherwise neutral outfits, whether tied under the chin, wrapped closely around the hair, or worn casually as a bandana.

Frog-Closure Details

Frog closures aren't exactly new to the fashion conversation, but Copenhagen made it clear that the detail isn't disappearing anytime soon. If anything, it's becoming more deeply embedded in the way designers are approaching everyday clothes. The decorative knotted fastening has been steadily gaining ground over the past few seasons, appearing on everything from jackets and cardigans to blouses and dresses, and at CIFF, the detail felt less like a novelty and more like a fully established style code. It's a lesson in thoughtfully designed minimalist dressing!

Heeled Thong Sandals

Humble flip-flops have been inching their way into high-fashion territory for seasons now, but Copenhagen might have finally completed the transformation. Havaianas was practically unavoidable during fashion week—most notably thanks to its ultra-viral kitten-heel flip-flops—and that influence spilled directly into CIFF. The Brazilian brand has become an unlikely fixture of Scandinavian style, where its ultra-casual sandals are routinely paired with the polished, minimalist clothing Copenhagen does best. For spring 2027, however, buyers seem ready to take the idea one step further. Across the fair, thong sandals were getting an upgrade: slightly higher heels, sleeker shapes, and more refined finishes that make them feel less beach-bound and more appropriate with trousers, skirts, and dresses.

Moss Green

Copenhagen has a way of making you reconsider colors you hadn't previously thought much about, and for spring 2027, that color is moss green. At Gestuz, the earthy shade appeared with the brand's signature cool, slightly undone sensibility, making a hue that could easily skew outdoorsy feel unexpectedly sleek. Elsewhere throughout the week and inside CIFF, similarly murky greens offered a compelling alternative to the burgundy, brown, and khaki palettes that have defined fashion's recent infatuation with sophisticated neutrals.

Exaggerated Brooches

The easiest way to make a very Scandinavian outfit feel considerably less basic next spring? Pin something enormous to it. At Herskind, exaggerated brooches punctuated the brand's otherwise streamlined looks, adding a decorative, eccentric element to clean tailoring and layered separates. It's a small styling move with an outsized effect that feels particularly relevant after seasons of fashion becoming increasingly interested in personalization.