Romantic dresses in the Rococo Room at the Grand Hotel, performance art among the beer glasses at Café Sara and Norwegian wool in Stensparken. Oslo Runway wrapped up its official programme in exactly the way we’d hoped.
After three days of shows, presentations, surprises and Norwegian fashion at its best, Wednesday was the last day of Oslo Runway’s official programme.
And if the previous days had proved one thing, it was that Oslo Runway has outgrown the traditional catwalk.
The last day took us from morning sunshine and elegant silhouettes to some of the city’s most iconic locations, while showing just how different Norwegian fashion can look right now.
Here are the moments we’re taking with us from the last official day.AKS LABEL started the day as freshly crowned winner
It’s not every day you walk into a fashion show as the brand-new winner of “Brand of the Year”.
Just the day before, AKS LABEL had been able to celebrate securing Oslo Runway’s Tribute Award: Brand of the Year 2026, a prize that has previously gone to names such as Livid, Tom Wood, Envelope1976, Norwegian Rain and Pearl Octopuss.y.
So there was already a certain expectation in the air when AKS LABEL showed its latest collection in the soft morning sun. The brand, founded by Christian Aks and Anita Søberg, has in recent years established a distinct universe built around feminine silhouettes, carefully crafted details and garments that balance the romantic with the modern.
It therefore felt rather fitting that AKS LABEL of all brands should open this day. After Wednesday’s award ceremony, this was in many ways the brand’s victory lap – and a very elegant one at that.
Romance at the Grand Hotel
Next, we headed to one of Wednesday’s most magnificent stops. Murlong Cres had hand-picked the Rococo Room at the Grand Hotel as the backdrop for its show. And what we experienced here was almost cinematic.
The models moved through the opulent room wearing romantic dresses that almost floated through the space. Against the historic surroundings, the collection took on a drama all of its own, while the whole thing felt surprisingly light.
It was one of those shows where location and clothes merged into a single whole, and a good example of why Oslo Runway’s use of the city has become such an important part of fashion week.
Anna Ringstad turned Café Sara into a catwalk
Then came perhaps Wednesday’s most unpredictable show. At Café Sara, it was hard to know exactly where the show began and where an ordinary Wednesday at the pub ended.
Designer Anna Ringstad, who this year is part of the talent programme Oslo Runway NEXT, had invited actors to present her collection right in the middle of the guests.
They ran between the tables, suddenly stopped to pose, danced a little awkwardly alone in a corner or with each other, while some of those around them carried on drinking as if this were the most natural thing in the world.
And that was exactly the point.
Ringstad’s universe sits somewhere between fashion, performance and a commentary on how we construct identity. Ahead of Oslo Runway, the designer herself said she had looked back at the 2010s and explored how femininity is expressed differently in Eastern and Western Europe.
The result at Café Sara was confusing, funny, charming and very hard to look away from.
In a week full of grand and beautiful catwalks, it was almost a little liberating to experience something that deliberately felt slightly out of control. The live concert also came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the show, and we still don’t know whether that was planned.
ESP took fashion out into the neighbourhood
From the pub, we moved on to Stensparken.
Here, Elisabeth Stray Pedersen had chosen a long outdoor staircase as the catwalk for ESP, the brand she founded in 2015 after taking over a historic garment factory in Oslo with decades of craftsmanship history.
And if there’s one material associated with ESP, it’s of course wool. This time, the signature wool garments were joined by a far more unpredictable cast of characters.
A dog turned up. A small child came along. Art was given a place in the show. And at one point, a local cat apparently also decided that Oslo Runway needed one more model. It could easily have become gimmicky, but instead worked as a reminder of what ESP is particularly good at: placing fashion in an actual everyday life.
Among the trees, the neighbours and the life around Stensparken, the clothes got to exist outside the perfect fashion week bubble. And that’s why we liked it so much.
Ella&il went for power dressing
From Stensparken’s relaxed neighbourhood vibe, we moved on to Marmorsalen (the Marble Hall), where Ella&il turned up the glamour. On the catwalk we got body-hugging silhouettes, defined shoulders and soft knitwear, with burgundy as one of the collection’s most prominent colours.
The brand, started by sisters-in-law Lene Holmen-Jensen and Rikke Holmen-Jensen in 2014, is known for a feminine and versatile wardrobe, but this time the look was sharper.
And the opening came with a little surprise.
Track and field star Amalie Iuel swapped the running track for the catwalk and opened the show in a grey, slightly oversized look, while Moby’s “Porcelain” filled the room. A sporty cameo on a day when Oslo Runway had already proved that models are by no means the only ones who belong on the catwalk.
Three days that showed what Norwegian fashion can be
And with that, the three days of Oslo Runway’s official programme were over. This year’s programme did continue with events and activities through the rest of the week, but for us Wednesday marked the end of three packed days of Norwegian fashion.
If we’re to take away one thing from this year’s Oslo Runway, it has to be the breadth.
Because in the space of just a few hours, we could sit in a Rococo room at the Grand Hotel watching romantic dresses glide by, stand between the tables at Café Sara while actors turned fashion into performance, and later find ourselves in a park as Norwegian wool, children, dogs and a random cat took over the catwalk.
This is where Oslo Runway is at its best. Not when Norwegian fashion tries to look like Paris, Milan or Copenhagen, but when Oslo gets to be Oslo.
And after three days of fashion all over the city, one thing is certain: we’re already looking forward to next year.