Blog:Fine Chaos - The Definition of Chaotic

Image courtesy of Fine Chaos S/S26

The Fine Chaos Spring/Summer 26 show took place at Bella Center which is the regular CIFF venue. As soon as you walked through the ever so beautiful entrance which, during CIFF’s 65 iteration, had scattered poppy flowers, a red fountain in the middle and orchestral music being played in the surrounding speakers. But the day before the show, as I walked through the entrance for my first day at the event, something caught my eye to the right. A trade show booth unlike anything I’ve previously seen.

August 6th, the second day of the Copenhagen International Fashion Fair three-day event, is an event I previously used to attend for different purposes. This time around, I wanted to scout brands to write about for the Codex, and I am so glad I went.

As I prepared myself for my trip from Sweden to Copenhagen, I brought my notepad, a charger, my phone, keys, and wallet. As I arrived at Bella Center after the hour-long journey, I walked around the fair as I normally do, and got in touch with a few brands that I had previously mapped out as interesting. But nothing piqued my interest as much as the booth that had dismembered mannequins, huge anarchistic messages, and overall a fairly dark aesthetic.

Having spent a good part of the afternoon walking around and networking, it was time for me to leave Bella Center for this time. I had no plans on going back the following day, but upon leaving, I wanted to actually see what the brand that I previously had seen was all about. I met Ludvig, a co-owner of the brand. He had his back turned against me, wearing a black tank-top, most likely from the Fine Chaos brand, black baggy cargo trousers, and his hair with bleached highlights were impossible to miss. He sat down by his laptop as is normal during fashion fairs whilst I looked at some of the clothes and some of the props that they had put up. Eventually I walked up to him and we chatted for roughly five minutes.

Ludvig, from my brief encounter, seems like one of the most joyous people I’ve ever met at CIFF. He had a very calm demeanor and it felt like we had known each other for years whilst we spoke.I had a lot of thoughts, and probably even more questions, most of them about the concept of Fine Chaos, and what they represented. He asked me if I was going to attend CIFF the next day, which wasn’t on my agenda prior to him asking. The reason he asked me was because he wanted to invite me to their show the following day. He told me that it’s better to experience it rather than him telling me what the brand is about. Later that night I attended a small party at SOHO House where I met him again. He remembered my name which is quite nice considering how many people you meet in this industry.

The next day, my legs were cramping, I was slightly hungover but I still decided to travel to Copenhagen and CIFF to see the show. It was one of the best decisions that I’ve made in recent memory.

As I had a press pass, I managed to get into the venue and wait inside Bella Center rather than standing outside in the growing queue, catching a glimpse of some of the preparations that were still ongoing before the crowd and queue that was gathering outside could come in. It was quite fascinating to see how people ran around, put things in place, did a few last minute checks and tests. The area was somewhat secluded by a 175 CM tall wall or so. There were devil nets and other semi-eerie things scattered, with a girl sitting inside of a stick house, adding to the cult-like feeling. The entrance to get into the show was filled with graffiti messages and logos, with a devil net on top whilst the rest was draped in black blankets.

A neon sign with ‘ENTRANCE’ in red, had been placed above the small doorway that had been covered in curtains, which felt like walking through a cave. There was also a person sitting inside the small entrance tunnel. The person didn’t greet you or acknowledge you looking at them, they just stared at you, which added to the already eerie atmosphere.

I had almost forgotten about the Jägermeister shots they were handing out as people gathered in line whilst the speakers were playing out a message I couldn’t really grasp, although it did echo something along the lines of “Fine Chaos is…”.

As I walked to my spot where I could get a good angle of the models walking down the runway, and where I later could see them walk up and down a set of stairs that belongs to the venue, I noticed a few interesting details.

There was an enclosed pot of flowers in the middle of the cross-shaped runway, a holographic cross was being displayed on the wall by a projector, dirt was placed around the LED light cables that shaped the cross, two see-through plastic “coffins” had been made with dirt around them, making it look like the caskets had been dug out of the ground.

The two caskets were later filled with two guys dressed in all black with hoods as they posed like they had been buried, with their hands placed on their chests. I later found out from a person who has worked with Fine Chaos for a few seasons that those were the DJ’s and they were about to have a “DJ battle”, which they partook in roughly five minutes later.

As the DJ’s rose from their “graves” that were placed on the right and left arms of the cross, they walked past each other and into the two DJ booths, decorated with sticks, that faced each other on the long end of the cross. As they took their positions, loud music with an initial drum solo was being played from the speakers. We had reached full attendance at the show and there was an exciting moment of anticipation as techno music started playing.

The first model came down the aforementioned set of stairs, dressed in a purple hoodie, a black cap, white and brown camo trousers with a large white belt tied around them, whilst wearing some type of tabi boots. They walked aggressively around the cross-shaped runway, walking up and down, and side to side. I was mesmerised, and from the miniscule research I had done whilst hungover a few hours before, the brand really lived up to its own image.

21 looks in total, featuring plenty of Yu-Gi-Oh inspired details in print and accessories, jackets and trousers that fit the brand’s rave-culture, skirts and shirts that somehow did not feel out of place with the theme of the collection, and lastly a long beautiful dress as the last model walked down the stairs, the music switched to something more serene as she walked a lot slower than the previous models. Was it because the dress was harder to walk in, or was it to encapsulate the end of the show but also something more “holy grail”-esque that fit the rest of the show.

As the models did one final lap around the cross together, the team behind Fine Chaos emerged as the models got back up, a huge round of applause and big cheers came from the crowd whilst the music was still playing. It felt more like a victory lap if anything, celebrating a successful and interesting show.

Ludvig certainly was right, he had told me that it was better to experience it rather than him giving me a few sentences, because some things cannot be described with words.

_{By: Jez}