Anne-Sofie Madsen : Maori Collection

This tribal inspired "Tiki-Mania-Maori" Collection, by Danish Design School 2009 graduate Anne-Sofie Madsen, incorporates a wealth of next season's trends, including tassels (created with shoe laces), see-through tulle, leather patches and tattooed skin. And as for her fashion illustration - WOW!

"In traditional Maori art the most dominant, mythical motif is the 'avianised man' or 'bird-women'. The most important visual art forms are plaiting, relief carving and tattoo. My idea in this collection was to combine (and confront) this with classic, European clothing - in order to express the contrasts and borders between what we see as primitive/civilianized, exotic/classic and barbaric/elegant." Madsen also states that "My idea was not to create birdsuits or folk costumes and I decided not to use feathers in the garments and to translate the traditional materials of the Maori. I used shoelaces instead of flax strips and exchanged tattooed skin with leather applied on invisible tulle".