Erlendur Fashion Week Iceland | Iceland, Europe
Last updated: July 30, 2026
Erlendur Fashion Week Iceland (EFWI) is an independent event founded in 2024, built around cultural diversity and creative exchange rather than a traditional trade format. Erlendur Talent Agency organizes it each September at the Whales of Iceland Museum in Reykjavík.
History
Three women founded EFWI: Carlotta Tate-Olason, a health psychologist and founder of Erlendur Magazine; Barbara Nyakinyua, designer of Ituura bags and an international fashion model; and Bianca Hallveig Sigurðardóttir, a New York Fashion Week billboard model and stylist. Their agency, Erlendur Talent Agency, aims to promote cultural diversity in front of and behind the camera.
The first edition ran September 18–22, 2024, with runway shows staged at the Whales of Iceland Museum. Nineteen designers took part, alongside panel discussions on cultural diversity in fashion and fashion’s relationship with technology.
The second edition, held September 3–7, 2025, expanded internationally, with designers from Lithuania, Norway, and beyond joining Icelandic talent. That year’s theme, “Source,” centered sustainability, including a debut jewelry collection made from bicycle reflectors and car paint.
Next Event
Erlendur Fashion Week Iceland’s third edition is confirmed for September 3–6, 2026, again at the Whales of Iceland Museum. A detailed designer lineup hasn’t been published yet — check the official site closer to the date.
A Story Worth Telling
EFWI’s choice of venue is deliberate, not incidental. Runway shows take place inside the Whales of Iceland Museum, and organizers have said the location is meant to draw attention to Iceland’s controversial whaling industry, not simply provide a scenic backdrop.
It’s an unusual move for a fashion week: using the runway to point at an uncomfortable domestic issue, rather than avoiding it. Between that choice and 2025’s jewelry collection built from bicycle reflectors and car paint, EFWI has built its short identity around exactly this instinct, using fashion to say something the host country would rather not always talk about.
Photo: Robert Arnar
Erlendur Fashion Week Iceland
erlendurfashionweekiceland.com