Cecilie Bahnsen Imagines a Full Wardrobe For Fall 2023

The brand’s latest could be seen as a departure from the dresses it’s become known for. But for the Danish designer, it all goes back to the process of actually creating clothes.

Having one of your designs blow up can be a double-edged sword: Yes, it brings your brand a lot of attention (and, hopefully, sales), but you run the risk of becoming known for one thing and one thing only. How do you grow beyond that? And more importantly, how do you show people what you can do?

Cecilie Bahnsen has become internationally beloved for its voluminous dresses, usually seen in soft shades of white and pink. And most of the Copenhagen-based label’s collections will innovate and iterate on the style, exploring new cuts, fabrications and shapes, within that framework. But Fall 2023 ushers in a new challenge for the designer of the same name: What many would call her signature dress goes out of focus, instead making way for a different type of femininity.

“We wanted to move closer to the body,” Bahnsen says. “I feel like it’s a very wearable, comfortable and beautiful collection, but it was really [about] exploring what femininity is for Cecilie Bahnsen and keep pushing that.”

Fall 2023 began with the sheer “pencil skirt” lining coming out from beneath short dresses in the sculptural style the brand’s known for. “As we styled and worked with it on the girls, we just fell in love with that very simplistic, Scandinavian minimalist silhouette,” she says. Bahnsen then started adding long bows that trail down the back like a train, inspired by Japanese design, which give the looks a soft, ethereal feel when they move: “You have this very simple front, but these beautiful details that surprise you.”

Bahnsen describes the process of creating the collection as very hands-on, with her and her team working with scraps and other fabrics to create patchworks and smocking with no specific goal in mind — just letting the process guide them. It was “a creative experiment of not knowing what’s gonna come,” she says. A lot of the results borrowed from how the people who work for the brand dress, like “how the girls put it on in the studio with their trainers or how they put a bow to be able to sew,” reflecting this idea of “everyday couture,” according to the designer.

Another big exploration (and departure) for Bahnsen this season is the color story, which veers much bolder and brighter than is typical for the brand (especially considering how the first few collections were primarily black and white): There are shocks of yellow and blue, plus mixed shades of the same family.

“I really wanted this idea of building tones and matchings different things together,” she says. “We’ve never had as many colors together.”

This connects back to the process for Bahnsen — “how, when you have the organza layers, you’re building up your look or your tones,” which creates new colors. “I wanted to do the same thing with the fabric.”

Other highlights include a series of denim looks, which the brand approaches with the same eye for tailoring and structure as it does its dresses, with stitching at the knee to give the leg a considered shape. Plus, the collaboration with Asics is back — and with a larger production run, so hopefully you’ll actually be able to snag a pair during the first drop in June.

The big takeaway here is: It’s not about a Cecilie Bahnsen dress — it’s about a Cecilie Bahnsen wardrobe.

See the full Cecilie Bahnsen Fall 2023 collection below.

Cecilie Bahnsen Fall 2023. Photo: Imaxtree