What came first, the chicken or the egg? Contemporary style or successful digital campaigning?
Coco Gauff wore a hot pink Ganni set after winning the US Open. Everyone wants to be Coco Gauff. And everyone wants to be a Ganni Girl.
The Danish contemporary ready-to-wear fashion brand best encapsulates the modern age of fashion. An authentic-but-targeted social media presence, a more tasteful influencer strategy, an ethos of sustainability, and clothes people actually want to wear have transformed the brand into an omnipresent force of fashion. Ganni is a genius that utilizes both sides of the fashion brain: the left side powers the social media marketing powerhouse and the right side is the whimsical fashion lover who pairs cowboy boots with peplum-sleeved blouses.
In the new world order of fashion, just as many eyes are on Copenhagen as they once were on New York. Ganni has certainly been a force in generating global interest in Scandi Style. Initially founded in 2001 as a cashmere brand by a Copenhagen gallerist, the label we know and love today emerged like a butterfly when the creative husband-wife duo, Ditte and Nicolaj Reffstrup, took over the company in 2009. When the Private Equity Firm L Catterton acquired majority stake in the brand in 2017, the quest for Ganni as a global style superpower had actualized.
Balancing ultra-feminine details with sportier, sometimes more masculine silhouettes, Ganni captures the essence of the working woman — or, at least, the working woman who can afford to splurge for luxury fashion. The Ganni Girl works in marketing and only buys secondhand designer bags. The Ganni Girl is training for a marathon and bikes to get her iced matcha latte. The Ganni Girl treats perfume like fine wine and reads what the TikTok girlies tell her to. What came first, the chicken or the egg? Contemporary style or successful digital campaigning? Distinguishing between what we personally find tasteful and what the world (i.e. Instagram and TikTok) finds tasteful is becoming increasingly difficult. Is the Ganni Girl truly an original in her own right, or is she a product of mass social media marketing spoon-feeding her what it means to dress like a cool girl?
Ganni’s price point is likely most attainable to Zillennials (anyone born between 1990 and 2000) and those older, in terms of spending power, but the brand is still mostly shaped with Gen-Z in mind. They’re upfront and earnest about their sustainability. They’re young and fresh, a departure from the stodgy world of couture fashion. And they’re fun! Their accessories are reimagined, abstract classics, such as their Chelsea or Western boot, and are as frequently spotted online as they are on the streets of New York. Brands like Ganni feed themselves with the bread and butter of socially discernable products; their brand strategy never leaves them hungry. It only leaves the consumer hungry, and we can’t ever seem too full or sick of Ganni’s flouncy sleeves and statement boots.
I’m not proposing that Ganni’s success is only due to their ability to translate fashion from the studio to our fast-paced, digital world — that only explains the wheels behind their success. They have built an efficient machine that produces interesting, wearable, and stimulating objects of style. I don’t doubt that I would gravitate to their designs, even if I stumbled upon their store by chance, even if I had no idea that cool people wore Ganni. Even in the age of infinite fashion options, I’d still choose Ganni. 🌀