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Stine Goya
Copenhagen-based label <anchor>Stine Goya</anchor> is known for its playful, colourfully printed dresses and separates. Goya is committed to sustainable practices, reducing waste and using smart fabrics.
#TheBrand | Stine Goya on how Scandi style is driven by gut instinct and individuality
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stine goya

Oliver Holms for Stine Goya

# #TheBrand | Stine Goya on how Scandi style is driven by gut instinct and individuality

The Copenhagen Fashion Week designer opens up about colourful capsule dressing and how her brand is moving with the times

Each month, we look into an exciting and innovative label that is taking the fashion world by storm in our regular feature #TheBrand. This time, in celebration of Copenhagen Fashion Week, we turn the spotlight on Danish designer Stine Goya, a woman known for her love of colour, print and the most playful of silhouettes.

Along with many other Scandinavian designers, Stine Goya this week presented her autumn/winter 2022 collection in Copenhagen, via a fashion week which is quickly growing on the world stage, aiming to lead the change when it comes to sustainability, but also gaining attention because of the much-coveted ‘Scandi style’, an aesthetic which women the world over want to emulate, and which has led to brands like Ganni, Cecilie Bahnsen and Stine Goya becoming household names.

“I don’t believe that there is such thing as the Scandi look,” Goya says. “Scandi fashion is so many things at once, but Danish style in particular is driven by gut instinct. It’s really about feeling good, pairing comfort and practicality with self-expression and individuality. We are not afraid to take a risk.”

stine goya

Courtesy of Stine Goya

Where Scandi style was once synonymous with minimalism, it is now much more often associated with bright colours and voluminous shapes. It is now all about self-expression and vibrancy.

“We have the confidence to style pieces in a different way, combining the unexpected and thinking outside of the box – it is very much about mixing without necessarily matching. The Danes dress to suit a life that’s vibrant, active and expressive. And most importantly, you always want to be comfortable – Danish weather can be really tricky, so we always have to consider this.”

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While Goya does not believe that Scandi minimalism is a thing of the past, she feels that there is now a more “general craving for playful and colourful designs” – and this is part of the reason she launched her label 16 years ago.

“I always knew I wanted to establish a brand that would inject joy into the world through colour and print. When I founded my brand in 2006, I was able to do just that. Back in the day, Scandinavian fashion had been all about minimalism – muted palettes, slick shapes and classic finishes – but I recognised that there was a hunger for more playful, artistically driven design and easy-going silhouettes that were giving the wearer a certain confidence.”

stine goya

Oliver Holms for Stine Goya

If you consider the success of Goya’s brand, this was certainly an accurate theory, but it has also never been truer than it is now, post-pandemic.

“I feel like people want to have fun again and this is reflected in the way they dress and express themselves,” she says, explaining that the pandemic had a huge impact on her brand, and on fashion more generally.

stine goya

Courtesy of Stine Goya

“My brand is known for festive dresses and clothing, which all of a sudden didn’t make sense anymore since people were stuck at home and didn’t have any reason to celebrate. Luckily though, we feel that crisis is behind us and people have a desire to dress up again after being at home in tracksuits for so long.”

Now, Goya’s vision and her belief in dopamine dressing – “I practice it every single day” – is resonating more than ever with her audience. In fact, in spite of the movement towards buying less, but better, and embracing a capsule wardrobe over trends, colour and print can still dominate, she says.

“In my opinion, colour and bold prints form perfect investment pieces as they are not beholden to trends. When it comes to building a capsule wardrobe or figuring out your signature style, focus on quality, but also find pieces that speak to you, something you can’t draw yourself away from.”

stine goya

Courtesy of Stine Goya

Revealed today, Goya's AW22 collection was as bright and colourful as ever, continuing to make a case for injecting joy into everything we wear. While doing this, the designer is also working on growing her brand as she adapts to the changes that are taking place in the industry.

“I feel like there is finally a global understanding of the importance of working in sustainable ways, in every sense of the word. It means focusing on product, people and planet – we are striving every day to be as inclusive and as environmentally responsible as possible and are challenging ourselves to do better.”

stine goya

Courtesy of Stine Goya

Goya says that the past two years and the challenges it has brought on has also “injected a new spirit” into herself and the team – and she believes they will come out the other side so much better.

“It allowed us to take a few steps back and reassess our businesses processes and what really matters to us. We realise now more than ever that we have to be so much more than just clothes. I hope that in five or 10 years, the Stine Goya universe will be as joyful and bright as it is now but in a more sustainable and even more inclusive way. The best is yet to come.”

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