Ann-Sofie Back Atelje S/S 2013 Paris

[vickileekx]

credit: style.com

 

[MulletProof]

Wow.. it's so.. sharp for Ann-Sofie. I'm missing a bit of the rawness/wild side of her work.. the kind that almost made you feel uncomfortable. This isn't bad by any means, the jackets and military touches look amazing.. it just looks ready to sell in a bit of an obvious way.

 

[Scott]

it's definitely very tough for ann-sofie....but at the same time like you said,it shows of a lot of her technical attributes very obviously. it carries on that sort of uniform theme she did last season. but i actually prefer last season's. it was just a bit more complex.

you know,since she's started this atelje line she's re-configured her original aesthetic into her BACK line. she did a presentation in sweden a few weeks ago for that one. i'll see if she got that one posted on her site yet.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

I like the literal subversions, like those glasses, and having pockets nearly at the ankles instead of the waist. Fun to look at this.

 

[Tentacl Ventricl]

I do love Ann-Sofie's approach to design. And somehow she kinda seems to be ahead of the curve. See those gathered tops/smocks we've seen at Prada, RickOwens, MiuMiu - Ann-Sofie's SS11 had those gathers albeit in a different guise -as the lips of functionless (save for peekaboo) garmentiary apertures on the round.

Anyway, this collection is rather short (a point Maya Singer at Style makes too much of) but it bangs loads of existant/upcoming trends = the gathered 'smock' neck/hemlines; highblackliquidshine; military; utility cargoish envelope pockets; geishas; knots; all-things-japonisme;

Apparently the inspiration this time up is 'violent sports'; boys and their, not toys, but wars. (Same thing though really - see Lacan, Deleuze.)

The stripe - Americana? Running brand text through it - Irony?

Ann-Sofie, like Miuccia is the thinking fashionista's goto. But she remains massively under the radar. Relative to her talent. Fashion marketing is a cruel game without much justice oftentimes it seems. Observe the percentage of posts/views this thread will stumble to compared with those behemoth hypedramamachines @ Dior and @ (Y)SL.

(freeflow and strictly off point but please permit - just realised taking the Y out of YSL to Just SL. SLimane. Slimey Man. He knows not Y) aCTUALLY not off point as ASBA = anti man - well that bit of man that does violentsports/violence. Is PR a violent sport? In the hands of some it sure seems it can be.

 

[Scott]

to be honest,i think ann-sofie prefers it this way. she's always maintained her ambivalence toward fashion and mainly the fashion system. she's really one of the last remaining truly anti-fashion createurs. when others from her generation have either changed their approach or have gone away,her work much like that of boudicca designers zowie and brian has largely remained uninfluenced and uncompromised by the pressures of fashion of today.

 

[Tentacl Ventricl]

to be honest,i think ann-sofie prefers it this way. she's always maintained her ambivalence toward fashion and mainly the fashion system. she's really one of the last remaining truly anti-fashion createurs. when others from her generation have either changed their approach or have gone away,her work much like that of boudicca designers zowie and brian has largely remained uninfluenced and uncompromised by the pressures of fashion of today.

I love all your posts Scott - an education and a pleasure. And I agree. But what I dared to say about pulling trends - I know - arrrgghh - don;t kill the anti-fashion goose by wrapping it trendsaying - but it is kinda true. It's a departure. But she's in dialogue. And I think she does it well. It's a deconstructive play with trends. She is known for a bit of irony moreso perhaps with earlier work before say 2011. But 'p*rn' 'god' 'violence' - the recent themes themselves are ironic. In a way.Though also eanest. It's that same thing Prada does with encountering elements she finds disquieting. In a strong sense a trend is a violence? Against free expression. Which also a tribe can be

 

[Scott]

even further than that,personally,i've always felt ann-sofie was more the female equivalent of margiela. the real margiela,that is. when i think back to his doll clothes,garment bag and his wonderful dress-form ticking days,i see a lot of that kind of irony and play with unconventional ideas in ann-sofie too.

 

[Tentacl Ventricl]

So perhaps we're agreed Scott - through her explorations and play with a twisted back in on itself irony (which she could be said to share with Prada (methodologically), she arrives aesthetically (and on other bases) closer to Margiela? I want to say she shares his deconstructed minimalism. I like both on the fade, when they do quietitude of palette if I'm honest. And when they're soft boxy and drape. This was harder from Ann Sofie but I allow her that - she's exploring hard because it doesn't sit with her. The clasping the bullet, the brandtext - Irony.