In her three-season run, previous VFS ‘One
to Watch’, and Paris-exhibitor, Anne Sofie Madsen has established an aesthetic
inherently dark at it’s core- roots embedded in the history of mythical tribes,
and indigenous peoples- yet opposed in it’s lightness; diaphanous chiffon a
fixed composite of each season.
This season, the latter-“lightness” took
center, showing skin through sheer bodies, and delicate, pleat-skirted dresses-
but there was the same spirit in the eyes of Madsen’s girl. The same socketed,
furrowed glare more conspicuously mirrored by previous season’s barbuous cut-outs. Spring/ Summer saw Anne Sofie add literal depth to her aggressive
skeletal cut-out- featuring it more regularly, but lifting it from leather, to three-dimensional
bone-chip pailettes- more integrated into designs, as opposed to appearing
distinctly separate.
Perhaps that’s the crux of Madsen’s Spring/
Summer- be it for marketability, or just the fact that it’s Summer, and we’re
stripping off; “lighter” on the whole (in theory). Given the heavy-duty
baseball sweaters, with their whipstitch wrists- more catered to changeable
weather- we’d think the former, with the introduction of “street-wear” jackets
a wearable extension of the Madsen girl’s established ‘tude.
It ties in with the designer-illustrator’s
printed, scenic tees- and now, skirts: a microcosm of the “Anne Sofie”
aesthetic. It’s an aesthetic with scope, whose source has as much depth as the
new season’s dimensions, and layered, embellished, sculptural dresses and
skirts.
There's skill beyond craft; every decision is calculated; inspirations manifested by way of subtle tokens. It's that considered approach to embedding wearability beneath a statement that had us call her out as "One-to-Watch".