It’s Copenhagen Fashion Week, which usually means traipsing from show to show through Denmark’s cobblestone streets and drinking spritz after spritz under the warm, summer sun. This year, it’s unusually stormy for a Danish summer. During fashion week the weather feels especially egregious. But you could overlook the poor forecast on Copenhagen’s Østergade Street, where Sweden-born brand J.Lindeberg has unveiled its first store. On opening day, the flagship is buzzing with energy despite the gloomy elements.
From the outside, you can see pedestrians admiring the spectacle oozing out from the store: attendees smoking the skinniest cigarettes you’ve ever seen, the sound of performers echoing about, and luminous colorful lights dancing onto the sidewalk. Inside the event are three gray machines with lengthy, robotic arms twirling black and white pom-poms. Red and orange chrysanthemums cascade down marble benches where guests are seen chatting away, Negronis and juices in hand. Artists Raiden and Space Idol perform for attendees, while select guests wear soon-to-be-seen pieces including a baby blue puffer shirt and shorts set and light-wash denim laser printed with the brand’s “JL” logo. Although many guests have taken a flight to attend, the event feels intimate, a manifestation of the tight-knit global community the brand has built over its nearly 30-year history.
“The new store is innovative, active, and engaging, and shows our mission to bridge the unexpected and keep breaking conventions,” says J.Lindeberg CEO Hans-Christian Meyer.
The store opening marks the brand’s first time back at Copenhagen Fashion Week since 2019. German designer Jens Werner resigned as head of design that summer. Since then, Neil Lewty has assumed the position of chief creative officer and revived J.Lindeberg’s athleisure meets high-fashion aesthetic. Alongside Meyer, Lewty has aimed to bring the brand’s name back into the fashion conversation while staying true to J.Lindeberg’s DNA.
Back in 1996, Johan Lindeberg started the brand after resigning from his role as marketing director at Diesel. It launched simultaneously in New York and Stockholm with a line of men’s and women’s golf clothing, which grew to include denim, ski, and activewear collections over the years. In 2023, Lewt wants to modernize the brand by blurring the lines between style and function, and fashion and sport. This new era is all about striking the balance between contrasting components.
For J.Lindeberg’s Spring/Summer 2024 collection, Lewty was inspired by the metropolis of New York City and rural landscape of Sweden’s Gotland island. The result bridges the gap between the worlds of fashion and motorsports. Throughout the collection, you’ll find the motocross theme in pieces like gradient-lensed goggles, biker shorts made from technical fabric, and a blue leather jacket that looks like it was plucked off of an MX competitor. Two-piece sets like a creamy, beige long sleeve button-down and matching pants digitally printed with black and white images of motorcyclists, or a gray-toned suit with a print reminiscent of tire marks, are among the other standouts from the season.
“We envisioned an immersive experience that revs up the spirit of adventure while maneuvering a new thrilling, high-octane intersection between fashion and sports,” says Lewty. “You can mix sport function with fashion and wear it on any occasion—this is the way we believe people like to dress, mixing functional sports clothes with everyday wear—the new normal.”
