Cecilie Bahnsen's 'Easy'-Looking Signature Dresses Are, in Fact, Rather Complex

Cecilie Bahnsen has built a business around what she’s described as “everyday couture,” and established a signature, now-recognizable aesthetic with her voluminous pastel shirred dresses. However, with her brand’s Spring 2024 collection, the Danish designer wants to make one thing clear: These clothes may be meant to be lived in, but they’re not easy. It took a lot of work — a lot of hands, a lot of hours — to make them.

“You work on this collection for half a year, drawing the textiles, doing all the swatches in the studio, working with our mills in Italy, bringing them to life — (Spring 2024 is) really about celebrating this process, telling this story of what it takes to make a great collection and actually how many hands touched it and made it real,” Bahnsen told Fashionista backstage on Wednesday.

In the show notes, she wrote about the “paradox” of this work, of how the effort that goes into a handmade garment, from the construction to the embellishment, can get lost in the transience of a fashion show. Clothes will read as “effortless,” when, in reality, they’re quite complex.

Bahnsen doesn’t want to lose that feeling of ease, of course — it’s not the wearing of the clothes that’s effortful. She’s interested in reframing the conversation in a way that honors the work that goes into making them accessible for the customer.

“It’s a balance: You can still have beautiful craftsmanship, but (be able to) just put it on,” she said.

For Spring 2024, textiles are a big focus: Smocking and abstract florals continue to be constants in Cecilie Bahnsen’s design language, and the brand expands these flourishes into knitwear. It’s also doubling down on separates, especially through the styling, juxtaposing different materials and levels of transparency through layering to create a look that feels complex, that requires closer examination — and that also allows customers to pick and choose what makes sense for them.

“I (get) this really true inspiration from historic textiles, going to Italian archives, to Swiss archives for embroidery — but (I’m also inspired by) the girls (in my studio) wear the clothes and how they comes to life, how you would just put it on with your T-shirt or jeans,” Bahnsen explained. “It gets a personality and an attitude.”

The goal is to have a collection that emphasizes individual pieces versus the full look, offering “different pieces that you can style and make your own,” she continued. Spring 2024 is about “being brave enough to say that the brand is not only to be worn with Cecilie Bahnsen. It’s also be worn with something you already have and to make a new look.”

See every look from Cecilie Bahnsen Spring 2024 below.

Cecilie Bahnsen Spring 2024. Photo: Launchmetrics Spotlight