Astrid Andersen’s Androgynous Blend of Bling Bling,Hoodies and Lace
When the revered andlegendary maestro in vogue Simon Foxton styles your graduation collection, itmight just be a hunch you’re onto something big. For Astrid Andersen thisbecame a real life fact, when she was about to graduate from the prestigiousRoyal College of Art in London.
Since then, things movedfast for the bright men’s wear designer. In one and the same year, Andersen wonthe Brioni Creativity and Innovation Award, was an announced finalist in theInternational Talent Support (ITS) and was nominated as Talent 2010 by ItalianVogue.
Shortly after, she wasgranted her first independent show in Copenhagen, displaying her refined yetextravagant, mega-lavish athletic aesthetic for the first time to an internationalaudience. She wowed the crowd with her muscle-bound, audacious mixtures ofleopard print, pink sheepskin and intricate beadwork.
It gave her huge acclaimfrom the industry and ever since, she has been leading the charge in upping theanti on the luxe performance wear movement.
Andersen originally hailsfrom Vejle, a small, inconspicuous town in Denmark. At the age of 19, she movedto London, but returned to Denmark to complete her BA in Fashion. Still,London’s intrinsic creative vibrations kept luring and soon after finishing hertailpiece, she decided to switch her residence back to her former habitat.
Using the best of bothworlds, she now shuttles back and forth between Copenhagen and London, thelatter being her “inspiration haven”, while Copenhagen functions as her refugeto craft. It is here that she ultimately spends most of her time to work andmanufacture from her studio, a former tailor’s shop. Yet, specifically inLondon more than in any other city, her collections have garnered a rattlingsuccess.
For Andersen it is allabout creating fashion that is surrealistically masculine. In so doing, shemakes overwhelming use of street attitude and hip-hop references, whilstplaying on more feminine, delicate materials and colours, throwing in sugarysweet pink nylon, lace and organza. On a similar note, she crafts sexy andpowerful looks with neon athletics that collide with full-on furs andscattering chromium hardware. As such, she mixes her technical precision withsweltering silhouettes dramatising volume, while acidic tones are intermixedwith paisley prints and snakeskin patterns to create a maverick layering. Beyondcompare, she has identified the unfathomable psyche of a particulartwenty-something male and given it her own singular, unrivalled twist.
Her ability to transform duringrunway shows is similarly unconventional, if not bordering on the eccentric, allowingthe viewer to traverse to otherworldly, imaginary macrocosms. Whether it is thug-likemodels lifting weights in an actual gym, clutching basketballs in chains embodyinggang mentality, or “Golden Lightning Minx” with a chip of gothic romance ashead theme for the show, the quaint but fashion-forward aesthetic of hercollections always permeates through.
In juxtaposing themasculinity of her loosely cuts and muscle emphasizing contours with herextensive use of womanly fabrics, Andersen can be considered the infamous queenof “gender-bending”, converging in a tongue and cheek way, the outdated high-lowbrow ethos like no other.
http://www.astridandersen.com
When the revered andlegendary maestro in vogue Simon Foxton styles your graduation collection, itmight just be a hunch you’re onto something big. For Astrid Andersen thisbecame a real life fact, when she was about to graduate from the prestigiousRoyal College of Art in London.
Since then, things movedfast for the bright men’s wear designer. In one and the same year, Andersen wonthe Brioni Creativity and Innovation Award, was an announced finalist in theInternational Talent Support (ITS) and was nominated as Talent 2010 by ItalianVogue.
Shortly after, she wasgranted her first independent show in Copenhagen, displaying her refined yetextravagant, mega-lavish athletic aesthetic for the first time to an internationalaudience. She wowed the crowd with her muscle-bound, audacious mixtures ofleopard print, pink sheepskin and intricate beadwork.
It gave her huge acclaimfrom the industry and ever since, she has been leading the charge in upping theanti on the luxe performance wear movement.
Andersen originally hailsfrom Vejle, a small, inconspicuous town in Denmark. At the age of 19, she movedto London, but returned to Denmark to complete her BA in Fashion. Still,London’s intrinsic creative vibrations kept luring and soon after finishing hertailpiece, she decided to switch her residence back to her former habitat.
Using the best of bothworlds, she now shuttles back and forth between Copenhagen and London, thelatter being her “inspiration haven”, while Copenhagen functions as her refugeto craft. It is here that she ultimately spends most of her time to work andmanufacture from her studio, a former tailor’s shop. Yet, specifically inLondon more than in any other city, her collections have garnered a rattlingsuccess.
For Andersen it is allabout creating fashion that is surrealistically masculine. In so doing, shemakes overwhelming use of street attitude and hip-hop references, whilstplaying on more feminine, delicate materials and colours, throwing in sugarysweet pink nylon, lace and organza. On a similar note, she crafts sexy andpowerful looks with neon athletics that collide with full-on furs andscattering chromium hardware. As such, she mixes her technical precision withsweltering silhouettes dramatising volume, while acidic tones are intermixedwith paisley prints and snakeskin patterns to create a maverick layering. Beyondcompare, she has identified the unfathomable psyche of a particulartwenty-something male and given it her own singular, unrivalled twist.
Her ability to transform duringrunway shows is similarly unconventional, if not bordering on the eccentric, allowingthe viewer to traverse to otherworldly, imaginary macrocosms. Whether it is thug-likemodels lifting weights in an actual gym, clutching basketballs in chains embodyinggang mentality, or “Golden Lightning Minx” with a chip of gothic romance ashead theme for the show, the quaint but fashion-forward aesthetic of hercollections always permeates through.
In juxtaposing themasculinity of her loosely cuts and muscle emphasizing contours with herextensive use of womanly fabrics, Andersen can be considered the infamous queenof “gender-bending”, converging in a tongue and cheek way, the outdated high-lowbrow ethos like no other.
http://www.astridandersen.com
http://www.ilovefakemagazine.com/174
