Drawn to the point where fashion replaces the body with something abstract – an idea or ideal instead of an organism, Anne Sofie Madsen’s designs are built on contrasts and ambivalence.
The woman is both inviting and out of reach. She is streetwise yet salient, boyish and feminine, at the same time. Resulting in designs that straddle between male and female accomplished thru her body snug fits yet striking imagery; moreover, fanciful fun and a serious intricacy of detail are revealed and relished.
“I like to challenge and push the boundaries for every day wear and at the same time it is really important to me that the garments are in their own way functional and wearable. It’s not about garments for princesses in a fantasy world, but I do wish to bring magic into reality and preciousness into fashion," she comments.
I love her collections. And her exploration of the Girl as trope and a cultural deity is spot on. By the Girl, i mean “ the Girl,” a modern day symbol, goddess and vehicle, the girl is the one you see on the cover of magazines - our modern Mother. SHE APPEARS TO BE LIKE US BUT SHE IS NOT. The girl is an image. She is not human. Superficially, magazines airbrush images to the point of abstraction; moreover, what is meant to look real is in fact a complete fabrication and illusion. Could the Girl be an symbol of capitalism in our post-modern era? I think Anne Sophie Madsen is exploring this in her collection subconsciously. A skeleton printed on a dress makes us question what lies beneath the Surface.
Anne Sofie Madsen graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and trained under John Galliano in Paris, before moving to London to work for Alexander McQueen as a Junior Designer. In 2011, she started her own label and presented her first collection at London Fashion Week in February. The following season she opened Copenhagen Fashion Week and has been showing there ever since.
Madsen won Danish Fashion Award and GenArt’s Fresh Faces in 2012 and was chosen to exhibit with Italian Vogue during Milan Fashion Week the same year. In 2013, she won the prestigious DANSK Design Talent prize. In 2014, the brand presented its first fashion show at Paris Ready-to-Wear Fashion Week.
Images and biographical information from here.