Fashion In Motion x Copenhagen Fashion Week Talk Program

Copenhagen Fashion Week is delighted to announce a dedicated talk program to be hosted at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Taking place throughout the day on May 29th, the program will activate Copenhagen Fashion Week's global network through a series of conversations and panels. As part of the CPHFW x Fashion in Motion collaboration, the event will present industry leaders from diverse organisations and disciplines to explore key topics currently facing the creative industry.

Accelerating Positive Change through Collaborations in the Creative Landscape

How can the cross-pollination of creative industries and leading organisations challenge the status quo, accelerate sustainability efforts, and build new business models to promote change?

This talk explores the power of collaboration between leading fashion organizations and sustainable innovators, and how these collaborations can accelerate positive change. Through the cross-pollination of resources and expertise, fashion is embracing new business models and focus areas that challenge the status quo, influence and provoke consumer habits, and demand legislative change.

Thursday, 29 May / 13:00 - 13:45 BST / V&A Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL

Moderator:

Emily Chan, Senior Sustainability Editor & Acting Executive Fashion News and Features Editor, British Vogue

Emily Chan is the Senior Sustainability & FeaturesEditor at British Vogue and covers all things related to sustainability in fashion and beyond, from the designers pushing for change to the climate activists we should be paying attention to.

Panelists:

Cecilie Thorsmark, CEO, Copenhagen Fashion Week

Following Thorsmark’s appointment as CEO of Copenhagen Fashion Week in 2018 came her announcement to transition the event into a pioneering industry platform and organisation with the capacity to further the industry’s sustainability potential. In January 2020, Thorsmark launched the ambitious three-year action plan “Reinventing Copenhagen Fashion Week” presenting an innovative system of minimum sustainability requirements for all brands on the official show schedule. The system successfully came into effect in 2023, making Copenhagen Fashion Week the first and only fashion week worldwide to introduce a mandatory set of sustainability requirements. In 2022, Thorsmark was inaugurated into The BoF 500, the definitive professional index of the people shaping the $2.4 trillion fashion industry. Prior to joining Copenhagen Fashion Week, Thorsmark held the position of Global Fashion Agenda’s Communication Director for two years, following a six-year tenure at the Danish Fashion Institute.

Yvie Hutton, Director of Membership & Designer Relations, British Fashion Council

Yvie is currently Director of Membership & Designer Relations at the British Fashion Council, responsible for the Membership programme, curation of London Fashion Week and supporting designers through initiatives funded by the BFC Foundation; New Gen, Fashion Trust, Vogue Designer Fashion Fund, and theGQ Designer Fashion Fund. Prior to this she ran her consultancy which included working for the world-renowned award-winning session stylist Sam McKnight on brand, distribution, and product devolvement. Launching ranges in 10 countries and winning 6 awards all in the first year of trading. Before that she spent 11 years as Managing Director of Jonathan Saunders, a luxury fashion brand where she was responsible for growth strategy and partnerships.Showing in both London and NewYork fashion weeks, winning many accolades including theVogue Designer Fashion Fund in 2012.

Omoyemi Akerele, Founder & CEO, Lagos Fashion Week & Style House Files

Omoyemi Akerele is the founder and CEO of Lagos Fashion Week and Style House Files, playing a pivotal role in shaping the African fashion industry for over two decades. Her work focuses on strengthening the textile and apparel ecosystem by creating opportunities for brands, businesses, and communities to grow sustainably. Through Lagos Fashion Week, she has built more than just a platform for showcasing talent; she has driven industry wide advocacy, created capacity-building programs, and facilitated access to new markets. Initiatives like SHF Trains, Woven Threads, and Green Access support emerging talent, promote sustainability, and foster innovation across the value chain. A strong advocate for sustainability and the circular economy, she works to embed responsible business practices into fashion’s future, championing solutions that prioritise environmental stewardship, ethical production, and economic inclusion.

Supporting and Empowering the Next Generation of Creative Talent

A discussion on the importance of supporting the next generation of talent by building new systems to cultivate success.

The future of fashion is shaped by emerging talent, yet the path to success in an increasingly competitive industry can feel daunting. This session explores the essential nature of support systems, mentorships, and resources required to empower the next wave of designers, artists, and innovators, while also create equitable opportunities that allow fresh voices to flourish, while contributing to a dynamic fashion ecosystem.

Thursday, 29 May / 14:00 - 14:45 BST / V&A Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL

Moderator:

Mahoro Seward, Acting Fashion Features Editor, British Vogue

Mahoro Seward is a London-based writer and editor, working between fine art, fashion and pop culture. They are currently acting fashion features editor at BritishVogue, previously holding the same title at i-D, and have contributed to titles including Wallpaper*, ArtBasel, Frieze, Crosscurrent and Vogue Business.

Panelists:

Sarah Mower, Fashion Journalist & Critic

Sarah Mower MBE is a fashion journalist and critic for US Vogue and an advocate for young designers. She is the British Fashion Council's Ambassador for Emerging Talent and Chair of the NEWGEN committee, the scheme responsible for the rise of a constellation of design stars who show in London Fashion Week, including Christopher Kane, Mary Katrantzou, JW Anderson, Jonathan Saunders, Roksanda Ilincic, Nicholas Kirkwood, Peter Pilotto and Simone Rocha.

Nicklas Skovgaard, Founder & Designer, Nicklas Skovgaard

Nicklas Skovgaard is a womenswear brand, with a strong elocution intending to delight through unexpected parallels. Founded in 2020, the Copenhagen-based brand aims to explore the relationship textiles can hold in expressing narrative through the marriage of unexpected material and classical form. Constructing two collections a year, each body of work for Nicklas Skovgaard builds upon the last, acting with an evolutionary purpose and building an ever-evolving vocabulary. Orchestrating these classical and strange symphonies within his eponymous textiles and recognizable design, Nicklas Skovgaard is a brand cultivated on the edge of romanticism and realism.

Caroline Issa, CEO and Fashion Director, Tank Magazine

Originally a retail and consumer goods consultant with an undergraduate business degree from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, she joined TANK Magazine in2002 and has since become CEO and fashion director ofLondon-based quarterly title TANK and editor ofBecauseLondon.com.She is the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees at Artangel and is a Non-Executive Director of the BritishFashion Council, both not-for-profit organisations committed to championing and developing excellence in the art and fashion worlds respectively.

Tolu Coker, Fashion Designer and Multidisciplinary Artist

Tolu Coker is a British-Nigerian fashion designer and multidisciplinary artist known for her storytelling through sustainable design. A Central Saint Martins graduate, she launched her eponymous label in 2021 after working with brands like Maison Margiela and Celine. Her work fuses Yoruba heritage with contemporary tailoring, often exploring identity, culture, and community. Celebrated for her innovative approach, Coker is a finalist for the 2025 LVMH Prize.

Future Education: Embodying Positive Culture and Environmental Impact

This session explores how education and innovation can amplify the role of fashion in shaping a more responsible and inclusive future.

This session explores how education and innovation can amplify the role of fashion in shaping a more responsible and inclusive future. By weaving sustainability, cultural understanding, and social consciousness into the fabric of fashion education, we can equip the next generation with the knowledge and values needed to drive meaningful change.

Thursday, 29 May / 15:00 - 15:45 BST / V&A Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL

Moderator:

Dal Chodha, Editor

London-based writer and consultant Dal Chodha is Editor-in-chief ofArchivist Addendum – a publishing project that explores the gap between fashion editorial and academe. He is aContributing Editor atWallpaper*and PathwayLeader of the BA Fashion Communication: Image& Promotion course at Central Saint Martins. This book was first released in 2020 and a second,You gotta keep your head straight about clothes, was published by Tender books in 2023.

Panelists:

Fabio Piras, MA Fashion Course Leader, Central Saint Martins

Italian-born Fabio studied Fashion Design at Central Saint Martins. He launched his label at London Fashion Week (1994–2001) and built a successful career in creative direction and consultancy across Europe and Asia. In 2014, Fabio became Course Director of CSM’s MA Fashion.

Else Skjold, Associate Professor, Ph.d. in design and sustainability, The Royal Danish Academy, Institute of Design, Products & Materials

Else Skjold is founder of the MA Fashion, Clothing & Textiles; New Landscapes for Change and Head of Klothing – Center forApparel, Textiles & Ecology Research at the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen. She is also work stream leader for textiles in the national Danish partnership for circular economy of plastics and textiles, TRACE (trace.dk). In her research, she is typically focusing on ways that textile knowledge - and heritage might inform and stimulate sustainability work.

Orsola de Castro, Creative Director, Activist, Author, Estethica

Orsola de Castro is an opinion leader in sustainable fashion, a mentor, curator and author. Her award winning brand From Somewhere (1997-2014) was pioneering in the field of upcycling and sold in some of the world’s best boutiques - collaborations include collections for Topshop and Speedo. In 2006 she started Estethica, the highly acclaimed Sustainable Fashion Showcase at London Fashion Week, and in 2013 she co-founded Fashion Revolution, now the world’s largest fashion activism movement, with teams in over 80 countries. Her first book, Loved Clothes Last was published by Penguin life in 2021 and translated into Italian (Corbaccio Editori) French (Edition Marabou) and German (Doerlemann Verlag).

Zowie Broach, Head of Programme, Royal College of Art

Zowie Broach as an educator, has radically changed the paradigm of what it means today, to consider how we might design, act and think about Fashion. Zowie previously co-founded the label Boudicca, who were the first independent British Label to show during Couture Paris, as well as exhibiting at Chicago Arts Institute and theTel Aviv Museum; whilst Boudicca was also recently part of the Design Museum in London 'REBEL: 30 years of London Fashion ". Their Invisible City collection AW04 is part of the permanent collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Today, Zowie is a principle-investigator about whether machine intelligence can support and relate to the manual intelligence of Haute Couture which relates deeply to the consultation she was part of for Cartier. Zowie supports a new disruption to the industry from graduates across high luxury to research, questioning and impacting a fashion future. Her relation to protest at the end of the century now finds a return to similar areas where research looks to connecting worlds crossing the digital territories and the planet Earth we call home. Zowie Broach has been voted into the top 500 Fashion Leaders, Business of FASHION for the last 8 years. Zowie Broach is the recipient of the prestigious 2024 Sir Mischa Black award for Innovation in Design Education. This is the first time honouring fashion education in its history.

The Face of Fashion: Model Representation and Diversity in the Work Force

Exploring the urgency of inclusive representation in order to positively shape the future of fashion.

This talk delves into how diverse representation on and off the runway is a vital shift needed towards an inclusive and equitable industry. From casting to leadership, this talk will explore the importance of challenging barriers and creating inclusive spaces.

Thursday, 29 May / 16:00 - 16:45 BST / V&A Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL

Moderator:

Veronica D'Souza, Founder & Advisor, Geist Agency

Veronica D'Souza is a trailblazing social entrepreneur and global advisor known for building ventures that challenge inequality through business, design, and storytelling. She co-foundedR uby Cup, which has provided sustainable menstrual health solutions to over 150,000 girls in East Africa, and CARCEL, a fashion label employing incarcerated women in Peru and Thailand to create garments from natural materials. With over 15years of experience across five continents, she brings radical imagination and systems thinking to organizations navigating sustainability, inclusion, and impact. Veronica is the founder of GEIST Agency and serves on the board of The Danish Design Council and The Soulfuls, as well as on the juries of the INDEXAward—the world’s leading prize for design to improve life—and Ars Electronica, a global platform for art, technology, and society. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Vogue, Forbes, and The Guardian, and she is recognized as an EY Social Entrepreneur of the Year, a World Economic Forum Global Shaper, and a Humanity in Action Senior Fellow.

Panelists:

Daniel Peters, Founder & Managing Director at The Minority Report Group

Launched in July 2020 by brand and marketing specialist, Daniel Peters, the Minority Report Group exists to create inclusive workplace culture for diverse voices, by advancing the conversation around equity and inclusion to a point of measurable change. He has previously held roles at Burberry, the British Fashion Council, Selfridges, Dazed Media and Huawei, but also launched and ran a successful menswear popup retail business, BOBShop, which sold a curated edit of British menswear brands and lifestyle goods.

Aram Ostadian Binai, Founder, Social Entrepreneur, Talent Strategist, Creative Inclusion Advocate at The Soulfuls

Founder & CEO of The Soulfuls, an award-winning platform empowering the next generation of diverse female talent. Social entrepreneur and consultant working at the intersection of inclusion, leadership, and creative industries. Leads programs in mentoring, talent development, and cross-cultural collaboration. Recognised as ELLE Denmark’s Voice of the Year and board member of the Danish Fashion Ethical Charter. Holds an MA from London College of Fashion and executive training from Harvard Business School.

Ceval Omar, Model and Activist

Ceval is a trailblazing model and activist based in Paris, recognized as one of the first Black trans models to collaborate with hi-end brands such as YSL Beauty and British Vogue. Passionate about human rights, she advocates for greater diversity and inclusivity in the fashion industry.