I came across Henrik Vibskov many years ago, when I was still a teen writing articles for a local art magazine, and I just recently rediscovered him – nonetheless, in an even brighter light. For me, Henrik was somewhat lost in unsystematic files of my found (and later, accidentally hidden) gems, but in reality – he continued to grow as an amazing designer and artist and has successfully put his name on the map.

“The Transparent Tongue” SS13

So let’s start with the beginning: Henrik Vibskov is a Danish fashion designer with a fashion label under his own name. He grew up in the middle of the countryside in Jutland, Denmark yet graduated from the well-known (and sometimes cursed) Central Saint Martins in London. Fun fact, in his interview with the Feature, he mentioned that he only applied to CSM to impress a girl. Newsflash – he got both the girl and the diploma. Actually, a pretty impressive career with that, too.

“The Mint Institute” AW08“Stuck Under The Surface” SS20, photo: Victor Jones

The former small-town boy engages in visual art, music, and fashion from his base in Copenhagen. He’s a man of many talents – makes accessories, does interior design and is active as a musician. He has quite a few awards under his belt, has produced large-scale solo exhibitions at museums and galleries, designed costumes for numerous operas and performances – so crowning him with a single title would be a vast under­es­tim­a­tion.

“0000 : State on State, Chicago”

As many of his followers, I’m mostly mesmerised by Vibskov’s la-la-lands: he invents warped yet mesmerising unique universes and a set of logic in rela­tion to each of his fashion col­lec­tion. Each of his shows looks more like art performances, making me question if he makes fashion artsier, or the other way around – art more fashionable?

Either way, it’s safe to say that his work steers clear of Scandinavian minimalism. Unlike, his Danish comrades he uses col­ors. Many of them… He’s more col­our­ful and louder, he’s the avant-gardist of new gen­er­a­tion.

“Please Analyse Moisturize Volumize Me”, photo: Alastair Wiper

Henrik designs col­lec­tions that bewitch audi­ence biannually and has pro­duced many, 36 to be exact, men’s (and later also women´s) col­lec­tions since he gradu­ated from Central St. Martin’s in 2001. Currently, he’s the only Scandinavian designer on the offi­cial show sched­ule of the Paris Men’s Fashion Week, which he has been since January 2003. 

“Eskapist”, photo: Nils-Emil Nylander Museum of Art and Craft NYC 

“The Big Wet Shiny Boobies”, “The Land of the Black Carrots”, “The Solar Donkey Experiment”, “The Great Chain Of Sleepers”, “ The Kitchen Of The Non-Existent” are just a few names of many shows that Henrik has brought to the pub­lic. Each title refers to one of his hypnotic worlds. And I have to say… He has a bit of a copywriter in him too.

So, to wrap it up: Vibskov has suc­ceeded in estab­lish­ing a recog­nisable and unique sig­na­ture style and has already executed it across multiple dis­cip­lines. He’s praised by both crit­ics and buy­ers – he understands that people crave the otherworldliness, and so delivers it to them. His show-goers par­ti­cip­ate in some­thing twis­ted from daily life and for someone like me, who’s not necessarily interested in the fashion industry per se, it definitely sells his fashion shows.

Artist’s website | Instagram | Facebook

Image courtesy of – Henrik Vibskov

“The Human Laundry Service” AW09