Sinéad O’Dwyer SS25 Show Zalando Visionary Award Winner

Showing for the first time in Copenhagen as the winner of the Zalando Visionary Award for 2024, Irish designer Sinéad O’Dwyer presents her Spring / Summer 2025 collection, titled Everything Opens To Touch.

The outdoor location of the Opera Park is transformed into the seductive world of a dreamy hot summer, with sculptures based off 3D scans of Sinéad’s early cast works of artist Jade O’Belle and sound by Witch Trials and Cosha, the latter reading a poem written for the show by London-based author Anastasiia Fedorova. This audio element creates a fuller immersion into the designer’s inclusive world, which she continues to craft alongside her models and collaborators, which include Alva Claire and musician Mahalia this season. For a second time, the brand has collaborated with Hair and Care Foundation, to bring a runway experience to blind and low vision guests, this time through immersive audio descriptions and the provision of fabric swatches to touch throughout the show. Hair and Care also championed the inclusion of a blind model and broadcaster, Lucy Edwards, to walk in the show with her guide dog – a first for CPH Fashion Week – and worked alongside the Danish Association of the Blind to invite blind and low vision guests to experience the show.

 
Sinéad O’Dwyer

O’Dwyer reimagines her signature designs, such as shibari-inspired harnesses, with new short sleeves, micro-culottes with slanted rara ruffles and signature fitted shirts in new materials, notably a deep blue denim for a refined yet free-spirited take on long luminous nights and endless days of summer. The brand has collaborated with Grounds Footwear to create a new take on their bubble soled shoes; with laced-up uppers inspired by Irish Dancing shoes, and a naked thong sandal. Savage X Fenty help bring the runway looks to life by providing lace underwear, which can be seen beneath layers of denim and fine wool. Ecco provides bags which O’Dwyer customises in signature ‘Squiggle’ stretch nylon.

In blue, I am carried
Deliciously
It is the perfect blue of deep water,
The white of crisp paper,
Or a sail.
I find my weight again, a pebble in your hand
Hard and smooth
Bare legs
Big trees in the distance.
The rich green
satin
with darkness pooling in its corners.

After a day of heat,
when everything discolours,
Suddenly,
Park after dark.
Small choreography of fingers
hard edge of denim
And everything opens
To touch

Your lustrous skin between elastic,
the body joyfully
Breathing
in the material –
and the material suggests
we have a party.
Electric light pools above your collarbone.
And to the light, I say,

Dress me up. Give me the uniform of your desire.
The fabric is so smooth, delicate
yet assertive
Co-ord of the night sky.
As it softly glows, above

The horizon expands
and the field we’re lounging on by extension – endless
We are cutting through the landscape, fast
Limbs on the grass touch,
An intimate communion,
with the little whisper of nature
That becomes a roar
You can only hear in the body
Because when everything is so alive
It demands to sing
through you

The future opens like a mouth
All the celebrations and kisses
And the bursting fruit
I can see it
for you
Let’s hang on for just one second
before it drops
like an avalanche
The curve of your neck as you reach for the drink
Like after laughter – that pleasurable pull of something
Invisible
Touch rustling through the grass
And then
We are
here

Show
Creative Direction and Design: Sinéad O’Dwyer
Styling: Ai Kamoshita
Casting: Emma Matell
Makeup: Trine Skjøth
Hair: Anna Cofone using Authentic Beauty Concept
Sound: Witch Trials and Cosha
Poem: Anastasia Federova
Movement Direction: Grace Nicol
Communications: RAVEN and Smarts Agency
Set Design: Tilda Heron
Experience for blind and low vision guests in collaboration with Hair and Care Foundation.
Production: SUB ROSA
Guest Management: Mørch & Rohde

Collection
Creative Direction and Design by Sinéad O’Dwyer
Shoes by Grounds x Sinéad O’Dwyer
Bags sponsored by Ecco
Underwear by Savage X Fenty
SS25 Design Assistants: Niall Kelly, Katy Clark
Knitwear Development: Ilana Blumberg
SS25 Studio Team: Felicie Sarazin, Ava Whiting, Christine McKay
CPHFW Studio Volunteers: Kristyna Toms, Maria, Laura Farah, Julie Kemmerich

A special thanks to
Adele, Kevin and Aoise O’Dwyer; Preben, Ellen, Lise and Ottilie Landmark; Roy Welland and Sabine Auken.
Zalando, Copenhagen Fashion Week, Hair and Care Foundation, Danish Institute for the Blind, Alexander Papatheodorou, Oliwia Jancerowicz, Claire Murphy, Rose Bradshaw, Ilana Blumberg, Lene Nielson and Adrien Caddy, Ai Kamoshita, Cosha and Witch Trials.

ABOUT ZALANDO

Founded in Berlin in 2008, Zalando is building the leading pan-European ecosystem for fashion and lifestyle e-commerce around two growth vectors: Business-to-Consumer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B). In B2C, we offer an inspiring and quality multi-brand shopping experience for fashion and lifestyle products to about 50 million active customers in 25 markets. In B2B, we are using our logistic infrastructure, software and service capabilities to help brands and retailers run and scale their entire e-commerce business, on or off Zalando. As an ecosystem, Zalando aims to enable positive change for the fashion and lifestyle industry.

ABOUT COPENHAGEN FASHION WEEK

Copenhagen Fashion Week (CPHFW) is the biggest fashion week in Northern Europe, held biannually in January/February and August. Regarded as the fifth global fashion week, Copenhagen Fashion Week welcomes leading international press, buyers and industry leaders across their global network to four days of shows, presentations, installations and events alongside the trade show CIFF x Revolver. Sustainability is the core focus for Copenhagen Fashion Week, striving towards making substantial changes to inspire and encourage the industry to accelerate their sustainability efforts. In January 2020, Copenhagen Fashion Week unveiled an ambitious three-year Sustainability Action Plan, presenting an innovative system of requirements for brands to be part of the official schedule that was implemented at the AW23 edition of CPHFW. The Action Plan is revised and released every three years, positioning CPHFW as the leading fashion week within the sustainability field.

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With love,

FWO