Henrik Vibskov SS26: “Everything Cracks Eventually – I’ll Be Gentle”
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By PAGE Editor
Henrik Vibskov’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection, Everything Cracks Eventually – I’ll Be Gentle, is a surreal and deeply poetic exploration of protection — not as something forceful or defensive, but as a gesture of trust, softness, and sustained presence. Inspired by Vibskov’s recent project in New York titled The Bank Is Dead, the collection probes the complexities of what we choose to protect, why we value certain things over others, and how vulnerability might actually be the most powerful space of all.
Rather than armoring up, Vibskov offers a gentler approach. The runway becomes an alien landscape dotted with enigmatic black eggs — strange, fragile orbs that pulse with symbolic weight. These eggs, at once vulnerable and potent, are shepherded by towering yellow structures resembling both futuristic incubators and minimalist shelters. Guided slowly by mystical caretakers, these rolling cradles enact a dreamlike choreography of care. The performance feels sacred — a live metaphor for protection not as ownership or control, but as proximity, patience, and deep observation.
At the heart of the collection is a clever, tender pun: “prot-egg-tion.” It captures the emotional logic of the collection — part fierce maternal instinct, part delicate stewardship. Garments follow suit with silhouettes derived from the cases we use to protect what we cherish: suit bags, instrument cases, furniture covers. Vibskov translates these everyday objects of safekeeping into voluminous shirts, enveloping coats, and sculptural dresses shaped like double-bass housings.
Prints and materials continue the narrative. Instrument case outlines are subtly stamped onto denim; woven jacquards depict fierce hens cradling eggs; tangled root vegetables evoke the hidden, fertile world beneath the soil’s surface. There are also spiritual symbols at play — protective amulets screen-printed on wrinkled cotton, and territorial dog markings turned into abstract motifs, a reminder that protection is often as instinctual as it is intellectual.
Sustainability is never an afterthought for Vibskov, and here, it becomes integral to the storytelling. The set design is entirely repurposed, sourced from past exhibitions in New York and Guangzhou. The black eggs are made from isomalt — a sugar substitute with low hygroscopicity that can be remelted and reused. Even the carpet is destined for future reuse by Tunnel Arena. Nothing is wasted. Everything is in transition.
In Everything Cracks Eventually – I’ll Be Gentle, Vibskov challenges traditional narratives of strength and security. His vision reimagines protection as something slow, tender, and radically hopeful — a quiet, continuous offering of care, even when the outcome is unknown. In nurturing the fragile, we make space for transformation. And perhaps, as Vibskov suggests, that is the truest form of power.
See the full runway here:
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