GANNI Pre-Fall 2019
Words by Elizabeth Clarke
No doubt you’ve spied them – those cool girls dressed in bold slogan tees, fluffy jumpers, printed wrap dresses and sneakers. They are the #GanniGirls - a global style tribe who worship at the altar of Danish fashion brand Ganni for their playful and experimental aesthetic and effortless chic.
Based in Copenhagen, Ganni is co-owned by creative director Ditte Reffstrup and her husband, co-founder, Nicolaj Reffstrup, who took up the label nine years after it was founded as a cashmere label. Transforming it into a cult fashion go-to, today it boasts mass market appeal and a perfectly positioned price point. This along with their unique twist on ‘Scandi-style’, has made Ganni one of the hottest fashion brands on the planet with a devoted and ever-growing tribe of #GanniGirls.
Want to be one of them? Here are 8 things you need to know...
1. Whilst the Ganni girl is every girl, it is actually Copenhagen’s ‘It-Girls’ that were Ditte’s original inspiration and key to keeping the brand intrinsically Danish to the core.
2. #GanniGirl, the hashtag, started in 2012 when fellow Dane Helena Christensen snapped a selfie with actress Kate Bosworth for Instagram (both wearing Ganni) and captioned it “#GanniGirls”.
3. Pre-Ganni, Ditte was a fashion buyer, and it was in this role she learned exactly what sells, and what doesn’t. More importantly she discovered what makes women feel confident in their clothes. As the ultimate #GanniGirl, she keeps this front of mind and has a policy to never produce anything she wouldn’t wear herself.
4. The pre-fall collection “Life on Earth”, now instore at Adam Heath, is a chic and sophisticated one – think trench coats, long line puffers and shocks of leopard print and dark moody abstract prints. “When I was 14 I went to Liverpool to stay with my sister at university,” Ditte told Adam Heath. “Imagine - I was this naïve country girl who’d never left Denmark stepping into Britpop mania. In Liverpool I heard bands like Pulp and Elastica for the first time. I discovered punk and stayed out dancing... the whole world cracked open. With Pre-Fall I think that this duality comes through. You have the innocent country girl meets something darker and messier."
5. Whilst Scandi-style is typically known as either boho-chic or clean and minimal, Ganni’s bright, colourful and exuberant take on it is entirely different. Known unofficially as the third archetype of Scandinavian style, Ganni is not just a look; it’s a state of mind and an attitude. “I felt like something was missing out of Copenhagen, and that the world hadn’t seen what we were all about,” says Ditte. “The girl that I saw on the street that inspired me, my friends, or even the way I dressed myself – it was not out there. I wanted to show the world that there was another style of Scandinavian design.”
6. Not a single piece of Ganni is released until it has passed Ditte’s ‘life’ test, which includes a 2O-minute bike ride to work, dancing, and taking care of three children.
7. Ganni currently has more than 25 sustainable practices and projects in the works and been actively charting their carbon footprint since 2016, offsetting their CO2 emissions with carbon credits. For their latest collection, Ganni commissioned Swedish Stockings to make their legwear and socks entirely from recycled materials.
8. Ditte’s design process is a purely organic one. “I design 24 hours a day and always go with my gut feeling,” she says. “When we finish a show I will always go on an inspirational trip the day after. It is a never-ending process … I never think that I do stuff well enough—I always want to be better and better!"
