What's Contemporary Now?

As one of the first brands to democratize luxury fashion, H&M helped reshape the relationship between designer creativity and the wider public. From its landmark collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld in 2004, they’ve brought the creative genius of Versace, Margiela, Comme des Garçons, and countless others to the masses. A model that today reigns supreme when it comes to commonly practiced brand strategy and reaching key consumer touchpoints. Ann-Sofie Johansson, H&M’s Creative Advisor and Head of Design Womenswear, has been central to this evolution, along with playing a role in the brand’s dedication to nurturing emerging talent, with the return of the H&M Design Award taking place this November.

In this conversation, Johansson considers what fashion must preserve in an increasingly technological and commercial landscape, from the value of craft to the need for greater individuality and optimism.

“I think we need more optimism also, because if we're not optimistic, what is the point of doing anything really?” - Ann-Sofie Johansson

Episode Highlights:

02:18–03:17 | The Making of a Fashion Creative, Growing Up in Sweden

03:17–04:40 | Swedish Values and the Culture of Collaboration

04:44–06:00 | How London’s ’80s Club Culture Changed Her View of Fashion

06:06–07:18 | When a Personal Passion Becomes a Creative Career

07:56–09:31 | Four Decades at H&M, Staying Curious in a Changing Landscape

09:40–11:43 | The Karl Lagerfeld Collaboration That Democratized Luxury Fashion

11:43–12:53 | How Designer Collaborations Bring Creative Worlds Together

12:53–13:59 | Beyond Designer Labels, Rethinking the Meaning of Luxury

13:59–15:30 | Cultural Relevance and Creative Instinct in Choosing Designer Collaborations

15:46–18:19 | Commercial Appeal vs. Conceptual Design, What Audiences Want from Fashion

20:23–23:15 | H&M Studio and the Search for New Creative Possibilities

23:39–28:00 | Fashion, Image-Making and Technology, Rethinking the Runway with Nick Knight

28:00–32:35 | Fashion’s Responsibility to the Next Generation of Designers

32:35–33:14 | Instinct and the Qualities of Great Design

33:14–34:17 | Why Optimism Matters in Creative Culture

34:17–35:34 | Finding Your Voice in a World of Constant Visual Influence

35:34–37:07 | Illustration and the Importance of Craft

37:07–40:09 | AI, Human Creativity and the Future of Design

40:09–41:15 | Can Fashion Become More Individual in an Era of Globalization?

41:15–43:15 | Social Media, Algorithmic Echo Chambers and the Future of Trend Forecasting

43:16–44:17 | How Brands Participate in Contemporary Culture

44:17–46:27 | The Cultural Connections Between Fashion, Art, Music and Literature

46:27–47:00 | What Is Contemporary Now? The Timeless Value of a Good Conversation

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Copenhagen Fashion Week marks its 20th anniversary at a moment when the fashion system is being asked to account for itself. In conversation with CEO Cecilie Thorsmark and COO Isabella Rose Davey, this episode examines how a regional fashion week evolved into a platform with global influence, and what that evolution reveals about the future of the industry.

“Fashion weeks were falling out of sync with the world around us. They were celebrating fashion in a bubble, while everything else was changing.”

CEO Cecilie Thorsmark 

“What feels contemporary now to me is generosity.”

COO Isabella Rose Davey

Episode Highlights:


A reflection on Copenhagen Fashion Week’s evolution from a regional showcase into a global platform with cultural and economic impact over its 20-year history.


Insight into how Cecilie Thorsmark redefined the purpose of a fashion week, shifting it from celebration alone to a system that engages with responsibility, progress, and accountability.


A candid discussion about implementing binding sustainability requirements, including the real challenges of enforcement, support, and industry resistance.


An exploration of why sustainability works best as infrastructure rather than storytelling, and how Copenhagen embedded it into participation itself.


A deep dive into CPHFW NEWTALENT and what emerging designers actually need today, beyond visibility, including mentoring, financial literacy, and long-term business support.


A reframing of the term “emerging designer,” challenging age-based definitions and highlighting reinvention, experience, and second chapters.


A conversation about the advantages of being small, agile, and human, and why Copenhagen’s scale allows for experimentation and intimacy that larger fashion weeks often lose.


A thoughtful examination of why brands should be allowed to end, evolve, or transform without stigma, and how creative energy changes form rather than disappears.


Cultural insight into why Copenhagen feels different, touching on quality of life, generosity, openness, and the city’s ability to foster genuine connection during fashion week.


A closing reflection on what feels contemporary now, distilled into two values that define the platform’s ethos moving forward: responsibility and generosity.

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With a quick trip to Copenhagen for the city's 20th anniversary fashion week, we will be attending the shows, interviewing the organizers, and participating on a panel with Vogue business to explore the idea of what a magazine is today. Their impressive programming, in addition to the designers, includes an impressive array of subject matter that warrants a timely exploration and we'll be back on Monday with a full episode sharing all of the juicy details.
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The episode follows AMBUSH’s evolution from jewelry made for friends to a brand that Yoon describes as a platform, shaped by experimentation rather than a rigid business plan. She speaks candidly about learning in real time, being paid to learn, and why every job and skill eventually becomes useful. From research as a daily practice to AI as a tool that can accelerate creative work without replacing it, Yoon makes a case for staying open, resisting the urge to live in boxes, and trading horizontal expansion for deeper, more human storytelling. Her definition of what feels contemporary now is simple and powerful, pursuing who you are fearlessly, and staying uniquely human in a world increasingly driven by algorithms.

Episode Highlights:

A childhood shaped by movement and solitudeGrowing up between Korea, Hawaii, California, and Seattle, Yoon reflects on how constant relocation fostered independence, imagination, and an ability to adapt quickly to new environments.

Solitude as a creative advantageTime spent alone became a space for imagination rather than isolation, laying the groundwork for curiosity, inner confidence, and long-term creative resilience.

Subculture as a formative educationFrom Seattle’s grunge era to Tokyo’s club scene, Yoon describes how underground culture, music, and nightlife taught her more about identity and community than any formal training.

Discovering design through curiosity, not strategyHer path into graphic design and later fashion emerged organically through interests in magazines, presentation, and visual storytelling, rather than a predefined career plan.

Being paid to learn as a philosophyYoon frames early jobs, including PR and corporate design work, as opportunities to learn on someone else’s dime, reinforcing her belief that no experience is wasted.

AMBUSH as an organic unfoldingWhat began as jewelry made for friends evolved naturally into a brand, then into a platform, driven by experimentation, relationships, and responding to real demand rather than market forecasting.

Tokyo as a creative accelerantMoving to Japan exposed Yoon to layered subcultures, cross-pollination between music and fashion, and a culture open to hybridity, shaping AMBUSH’s DNA.

Fashion as communication, not productYoon describes fashion as a visual language for expressing identity and connection, rather than simply clothing or commercial output.

AI as a tool, not a replacementShe speaks openly about embracing AI as a powerful assistant that can accelerate research and execution, while insisting that creative intent and thinking cannot be outsourced.

What feels contemporary nowFor Yoon, being contemporary today means fearlessly pursuing who you are, resisting algorithmic pressure, and staying grounded in humanity, curiosity, and purpose rather than chasing scale.
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Asad Syrkett joins What’s Contemporary Now? for a wide-ranging conversation about design as a cultural language and the quiet ways environments shape identity, memory, and access. From a childhood spent moving through New York City’s homes, department stores, and streets, to a new chapter living and working in Milan, he reflects on how early encounters with the built world formed a lifelong curiosity long before he had the vocabulary of architecture or interiors.

Grounded in his background in architectural history and editorial leadership, Asad speaks to why design is never neutral, how interiors hold narrative and emotional weight, and why aspiration today feels less about status than self-knowledge. As attention splinters and taste is increasingly mediated by screens rather than experience, the conversation returns to what endures: craft, context, and the human touch as the most contemporary forces shaping how we live now.

“If you like it, I love it. I’d rather a space reflect real engagement with the self than something copied from Instagram.” - Asad Syrkett

Episode Highlights:


Living in Milan versus passing through itAsad reflects on the shift from visiting Milan for work to truly living there, and how permanence deepens relationships, curiosity, and cultural exchange beyond the churn of Salone and design week.


A childhood shaped by environments, not fashionGrowing up in Harlem and New York City, Asad became attuned early to how homes, retail spaces, and objects reflect identity, class, and aspiration, long before he had the language for design.


The built world is never neutralFrom department stores to shop windows, he describes how cities teach us, early on, that design encodes power, values, and social difference.


Curiosity as a lifelong engineRaised by a family deeply invested in culture, music, books, and dance, Asad traces how being encouraged to ask questions shaped his editorial and intellectual instincts.


Why architectural history unlocked everythingStudying architectural history at Columbia gave him context and language for instincts formed in childhood, connecting design to authority, religion, economics, and social structures.


A career guided by sustainability of curiosityMoving between journalism, design studios, digital media, and business wasn’t about restlessness, but about building an intellectually sustainable life around design.


Context over aestheticsAs an editor, Asad emphasizes that interiors don’t exist in a vacuum, they are social, political, and emotional artifacts shaped by history, access, and intention.


Access versus upward mobilityHe challenges the idea that design is about “upward mobility,” reframing it instead as access, self-knowledge, and environments that reflect inner growth rather than status alone.


Italy as a culture of makersLiving in Milan has sharpened his appreciation for Italian design’s deep respect for craft, family-run production, and material knowledge passed down through generations.


What’s contemporary now: the human touchIn a digital, accelerated world, Asad argues that the most contemporary thing is work shaped by human skill, physical effort, and deep commitment to craft, things technology cannot replicate.

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