Caro Editions (Q4032)
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Caro Editions is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Caro Editions |
Caro Editions is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
Copenhagen Fashion Week is trying out a new format this season, adding presentations to the calendar alongside runway shows. Caro Editions was listed as a drop-in event, so it was a surprise when guests, having walked through the brand’s new shop, past a changing room closed off with Josef Frank fabric from Svenskt Tenn, and out the back, found a catwalk instead. Benches had been set up on either side of a row of trees in a brick parking lot and guests including the top Danish models Nadja Bender and Freja Beha Erichsen sat chatting and having drinks. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, and the merry, high summer atmosphere matched that of a collection in which every look was topped off by a Pierrot-ish dome hat with a fold-over brim in a contrasting fabric.Having modeled for 10 years, Caro Edition’s founder and designer Caroline Bille Brahe said, “I’m just doing it the way that I think a show should be: very Copenhagen style, down to earth, good music.” She also wanted the models to look like they could be wearing their own clothes. In a pre-show interview she explained that the brand had relocated production, upped its quality, and that not all designs would be offered as wholesale; she is bringing things closer to home in several senses.Bille Brahe once told me that in design she finally found a place where she belonged, so perhaps for this mother of three the label is a bit like another “baby.” Certainly she’s protective of Caro Editions and has strong ideas about what she likes and doesn’t like, but by the sound of it, she’s also hoping to find a new way to exist in fashion.“I love to make clothes,” she said, “but I actually don’t like to make them the same every time. If I could choose, each piece in the collection would not have the same fabric.” It’s one-off pieces she most enjoys making, and it’s what her customers enjoy buying too. The joy of discovering something special seems to lower price resistance, which is good because the garments in this collection will be more expensive than in the past given that the production has been reorganized, and because Bille Brahe traveled to select quality fabrics.
6 August 2024
Just as Denmark ranks high on the happiness index, so do the designs offered by Caro Editions, the nearly two-year-old brand founded by the Copenhagen power couple Caroline Bille Brahe and Frederik Bille Brahe. These clothes reflect the joy Caroline feels after many years of searching to find her place in the world after modeling for a decade. “You come to a certain point where you’re like, ‘Okay, but who am I? And what do I actually do?” she said at a meeting in her charming studio. “For me it was a struggle for many years to figure out where I belong and what I actually wanted to do with my life.”Her first impulse was to open a vintage store, but she found that wasn’t a perfect fit. Now, she enthuses, “Monday is my favorite day because I know I have a whole week of work [ahead] and I love it. I’m passionate about it.” The strength of that emotion carries over into designs that build on her own style. She’s always worn vintage, and loves big shoulders, prints, Chanel ballet flats, and hair ornaments.One of the hero pieces of the Caro Editions fall collection is a shawl-collared tweed jacket that’s worn belted at the waist. It carries the slight fragrance of the ’40s and is a good example of the way Bille Brahe translates her passion for the past in ways that work for today. Elsewhere, a sort of moto-shaped topper is reimagined in pale pink, and fuchsia bows dance at the waistline of a chocolate-and-whipped cream polkadot dress. “I actually love really girly stuff,” the designer said, “but also I like the mix of wearing something girly and having a denim jacket on top to kind of mix it up.”Don’t call Caro Edition’s look Scandi cool; she’s not having it. “My brand is Danish because I’m Danish and because I live here,” she said. She finds a lot of what we call Scandi style exists only for the cameras, with the exception being that “people in Scandinavia have to dress in a certain way because of the weather.” One thing is for certain, slip into the brand’s soft brown chocolate velvet flapper dress embroidered in India with individual “jewels,” and you’re sure to be put in a blue-sky mood.
1 February 2024