Forget the Hot Girl Summer – this year is set for a cool Scandi girl summer. Hygge is back, but this time it is heatwave-friendly. Oversized soft blazers and chunky sandals, white jeans and a logo-free, egalitarian take on style have made “Scandi chic” a fashion phenomenon. Max Mara – a brand so Italian that it shares a home town, Reggio Emilia, with parmesan cheese – held its most lavish catwalk show of 2023 in Stockholm city hall, as Scandi style challenges French girl chic as the aspirational look of the 21st century. Touring shows that take brands out of the comfort zone of their domestic market now dominate the fashion industry calendar. Generation Z consumers view the traditional four-city fashion week carousel of Paris, Milan, New York and London as an increasingly irrelevant relic of an outdated order. And with London and Paris currently sweltering in a stormy heatwave, the decision by an Italian giant of the industry to hold its most glamorous show of the year in Scandinavia instead of the Mediterranean may signal a shift in the zeitgeist that extends beyond clothes to other lifestyle choices.