Henrik Vibskov SS26 show ‘Everything Cracks Eventually – I’ll be gentle’
London based makeup artist and beauty editor Astrid Kearney reports for ZOOT from Copenhagen Fashion Week SS26, diving deep into the season’s standout shows with a sharp eye for detail. Blending beauty insight with designer storytelling, she connects with the creatives and philosophies behind the collections.
This is all about the show of Henrik Vibskov — renowned and award-winning Danish fashion designer, artist, curator, and musician. Once again he blurred the boundaries between fashion, art, and performance, affirming his role as one of the industry’s most original voices.
Article Astrid Kearney
Catwalk photos James Cochrane
Backstage photos Tonya Matyu
Illustrations Louise Boughton & Anna Huang/Dolls in a Row from Drawing Cabaret Couture
Henrik Vibskov doesn’t march his ideas into battle – he lets them incubate, wrapped in care until they are ready to hatch. A graduate of Central Saint Martins and a standout on the Copenhagen scene for over 25 years, Vibskov has carved a world entirely his own – part theatre, part provocation, part tender daydream – where clothes are not just worn but lived in, performed in, believed in.
For Spring/Summer 2026, in a vast industrial space with a broad central platform cool enough to be its own sculpture, Vibskov turns his gaze to protection – not the hard, militant kind, but its softer, stranger cousin: the quiet acts of care that shield life until it’s ready to emerge. Inspired by his New York installation The Bank Is Dead, the collection unspools a meditation on what we guard, what we let go, and the paradox that strength can be tender.
The runway is a dreamscape of black eggs – alien, gleaming, potent, dotting the floor like an interstellar orchard. Towering yellow structures, part eggshell, part mobile sanctuary, glide slowly across the space. Their caretakers, mystical in slow-motion procession, tend to each fragile orb, inspecting, adjusting, almost praying over them. This is “prot-egg-tion” made literal: the shelter of the shell, the watchfulness of the mother hen, the intimate underside of safety.
The clothes themselves are carriers of care. Vibskov mines the shapes of protective objects from his own studio life: the swollen silhouettes of instrument cases, the drape of garment bags, the elongated curve of a double bass rendered into a dress. Denim bears ghostly imprints of cases; jacquards tangle fierce hens with their precious eggs; earthy root vegetables surface as prints, hinting at the hidden worlds beneath our feet worth preserving. Protective amulets shimmer on wrinkled cotton, and even playful nods to canine territorial markings appear small, humorous reminders that defence can be instinctive and primal.
Hair and makeup struck a balance between intention and effortlessness: many models wore their hair swept forward from the crown, curving around the fringe in an almost sculptural wrap – effortlessly cool. Skin glowed with a luminous, lived-in radiance; brows left bare, lashes uncoated, only a touch of ache-shade washed under and over the eyes, and lips left soft and moist, as if fresh from a whispered secret.
There is no waste here. Every element of the set is repurposed – yellow structures from past shows in New York and Guangzhou, black eggs made from reusable isomalt, the carpet destined for future events. In Vibskov’s hands, sustainability is not an afterthought but an extension of the ritual: we care for the future by tending to the present.
Everything Cracks Eventually – I’ll Be Gentle, feels like a quiet promise, an act of faith in what we cannot yet see. It asks us to hold space for the unknown, to trust in the transformation that comes after the shell breaks. And in an industry that too often confuses loudness with power, Vibskov offers a radical whisper: softness is strength, and protection -real protection – is an act of love.
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Show Credits:
Design Team – HV, Judith Klingenfeld, Andreas Hermann Bloch, Lærke Engelshardt,
Baptiste Comte, Aviva, Laura, Brendan
Management, Logistics, Accounting – Anja Gordon, Elvira von Wieding
Development & Production – Joost Jansen & Valerie Bonn
HV Installation Team – Baptiste Comte & Elvira von Wieding
Sales Team – VALD Agency & DUNE Japan
Press – Nat Studio CPH
Backstage photography – Emily Wilson
HV Boutiques – Dorthe and other sweethearts in Copenhagen
Moto and the Svipsies in NYC
Casting – Tuono Casting @tuono_casting
Styling – Christian Schleisner @stylist_christian_schleisner
Makeup – Lead artist: Jenny Jansson using MAC Cosmetics
@jenny_jansson @maccosmeticsnordics
Hair – Lead hair: Amalie Holmqvist using Maginista
@amalie.holmqvist @maginistahaircare
Music by – Anders Singh Vesterdahl
To boot…
HENRIK VIBSKOV
www.henrikvibskovboutique.com I @henrikvibskov
“Our novel zero-waste woven textile system eliminates garment production waste. A Stem garment is made from (recycled) natural fibres and produced using our unique weaving, cutting and sewing technique. Every Stem garment is fully biodegradable. All materials are carefully chosen. We use 100% natural fibres, including recycled cotton (strengthening the yarn by blending it with 50% virgin cotton) and Tencel™ Lyocell thread made from eucalyptus pulp. Our trimmings (zips, buttons) are all second hand, deadstock or biodegradable.”
Copenhagen Fashion Week
@cphfw
ASTRID KEARNEY, makeup artist, creative & writer
www.astridkearney.com I @astridkearneymakeup
Read more from Astrid for ZOOT here.
