First all my friends and colleagues moved from Manhattan to Brooklyn – including HUGO designer Eyan Allen, who has totally fallen in love with his new neighbourhood. Whenever I booked a hotel in Manhattan my friends would tell me that the real buzz is across the bridge. Fair enough. But now everybody seems to be moving on to a new hipster neighbourhood – Williamsburg. Seriously??? I was sceptic, but take a walk up Bedford Avenue on a Saturday afternoon and you will know why this is the new spot to hang out and to go people watching and trend spotting.

I am no A-student when it comes to new computer driven technologies within the retail business and frankly I am not sure they always make a big difference. But I could not help being very fascinated when I heard about London based firm Body metrics new ideas. This just might be one of those rare retail revolutions that are actually going to chance the way we shop forever – especially when we shop online, where the rate of turn backs is simply too high. Body metrics new technology is all about the science of the perfect fit for you and I when we go shopping for clothes. So far the firm has developed a body mapping system that scans your body within only five seconds and gives you all your precise measurements. Good and helpful so far. But imagine this little scanner put up in a department store. Here the system will automatically tell you exactly what styles in the store will fit your body perfectly and what you should try on. Department stores Selfridges in London and Bloomingdales in Los Angeles are currently testing the equipment in their jeans departments with great success. So no more weeping in the changing rooms.

As I told you, there are at least two good things about spring! I love my city Copenhagen, people are coming outside, and so many things are going on. But the best thing is that I can wear all my super cool HUGO Summer 2012 outfits. I present you now “My week in HUGO” - Part 2.

Wednesday.

Whenever I can I wear shorts from April to October – I seize the opportunity. After all I am a Viking!!

Black colorless jacket (Fall 2012 collection)

White shirt (Summer 2012 collection)

Black shoes (Fall 2012 collection)

Thursday.

Even though Copenhagen is a small city, so many things are going on in fashion, art and culture. Here I am looking very intellectual in my favourite gallery. It is not summer without a pair of wide, white trousers!

Blue nit with mess details on shoulders (Summer 2012 collection)

White trousers (Summer 2012 collection)

Friday.

Waiting for a taxi in front of the office after work. Always wear a sexy suit on a Friday – then you are ready to go straight out for drinks and dinner.

Navy blue soft tuxedo (Summer 2012 collection)

There are at least two good things about spring! I love my city Copenhagen, people are coming outside, and so many things are going on. But the best thing is that I can wear all my super cool HUGO Summer 2012 outfits. I present you “My week in HUGO” – Part 1.

Monday.

I bring my dog Agnes (named after my grand-mom) to the office every day. I like the combination of a collarless shirt and a a canvas jacket for a casual, but still well-dressed look.

Light blue double-breasted jacket (Summer 2012 collection)

Dark blue colorless shirt (Summer 2012 collection)

Jeans (Summer 2012 collection)

Gray suede boots (Summer 2012 collection)

Tuesday.

We have a super cosy courtyard at the office. In Spring/Summer time we have lunch and meetings out there. When I wear multi-coloured shoes I fell like tapping!

Cardigan with herringbone nit (Summer 2012 collection)

Ultra blue trousers (Summer 2012 collection)

Blue, gray and white shoes (Summer 2012 collection)

Stay tuned for the second part of  “My week in HUGO”.

The question that really tricked all of the fashion pack at the latest international fashion shows was this: How does a real modern woman of 2012 really want to dress…? This should be quite simple, but still so many of the collections we saw were obviously dedicated to women without real jobs who lunch and shop – c’est très demode! Real women of today have careers, look after their own kids and have a busy schedule – and they need to dress accordingly. That means practical, cool and stylish. But a new awakening has started amongst a bunch of designers leading the way. HUGO have surely asked themselves how women of today need to dress to be in front. I am loving their simple vision for the future of real women.

Look what happens when I take Swedish top photographer Magnus Reed backstage while I do the styling at the HUGO Spring/Summer 2012 Fashion Show staged in Berlin last July… He starts shooting the gorgeous cast of international models ready to go on stage and makes the main pieces from the collection look like little pieces of art. I was so thrilled with these simple and strong black/white photos – especially the one of Chinese topmodel duo Liu Wen and Fei Fei Sun in the futuristically printed outfits – that I decided to run a few of the pictures as a little backstage fashion story in my magazine DANSK. And I have had great feedback. Check it out.

Photos courtesy of DANSK Magazine

It’s been a couple of weeks since the whirlwind tour of Milan and Paris for the bi-annual menswear shows, and even though all of the spring collections have yet to arrive in shops I’m already thinking about shopping the autumn/winter 2012 runways… (Maybe it’s not such a bad idea actually, what with the sub-zero temperatures currently gripping Europe.) Some of the key trends I jotted down in my notebook during the shows were extreme layering, statement jumpers with quirky animal motifs (foxes, dinosaurs or fish – take your pick!) and lots of Victorian dandy formalwear – think Gary Oldman in Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula. The hot topics of conversation? British newcomer model Jake Shortall, whose short red hair and striking features lit up runways all over town, and the new trend for soundtracks that featured people speaking rather than singing. Coming soon to an iPod near you!

Image courtesy of Damien Neva.

There is nothing quite so epic as a campaign shoot, and the HUGO Spring 2012 campaign has definitely gone down in my books as one of the best ever, thanks to our amazing campaign girl, the effortlessly cool Miss Freja Beha Erichsen. (I’m extra biased on how gorgeous Freja is since she’s Danish like me!) Freja was on top form on the day of our shoot, cracking jokes and entertaining everyone with her very Danish sense of humour, and I think that really comes across in the cool yet playful images. One of my favourite looks from the campaign is Freja in the black and white dress with the plunging v-shaped neckline and razor-sharp shoulders. Graphic and almost futuristic in its slickness, it’s such a key piece from the collection – inspired by the Empire State Building in New York, where HUGO’s creative director Eyan Allen has recently moved.

I love the colour red. It signifies true passion and it’s everywhere in the collections these days. And oh… it also happens to be HUGO’s signature colour, of course! Increasingly, I see fashion trends moving into the interiors sphere, and that is exactly what has happened at the 136-year-old Opera de Paris Garnier in the city of lights. The great architect Odile Decq has transformed part of the old theatre into a huge futuristic-inspired restaurant with organic shapes, lots of glass and more red than I’ve seen in one place for a long time. Is this an ode to HUGO-ism…? I don’t really have a passion for opera, but I have a passion for red and surely you don’t have to be an opera lover to go to this amazing restaurant.

Images courtesy of L’Opera Restatuant http://www.opera-restaurant.fr/en /