A newcomer to the London Fashion Week scene, having presented her designs on-schedule for the first time during the Spring/Summer 2019 shows, Denmark-born and London-based designer, Malene Oddershede Bach, is on the rise.
Favouring tradition – all fabric is crafted on the banks of Lake Como, Italy – and taking cues both from floral textiles and figure-focused shapes, the designer’s experimental nature has positioned her as a future contemporary design hero. Her juxtaposition of the delicate natural world with bold, tomboyish details is a brand signature.
Get to know Malene and learn how she works her creative magic…
"Lately I’ve had a tendency to automatically wake up at 6am. I normally lie in bed checking everything from the news to social media while also replying to any emails received overnight; before feeding the animals, preparing some breakfast for myself and watching the news. I have a large living and work space in South Tottenham, so my morning route doesn’t take me far. However, we have a separate office for another business on the next corner, so often I go there with the dog first – to run through everything and then return to the studio in time for the rest of the team's arrival."
"For AW19 I was inspired by nature and the forest next to my family’s farm in Denmark. I spent lots of time there when I was a child and knew all of the routes like the back of my hand. You don’t really appreciate the beauty of something so obvious, until you no longer live there. We transformed our venue for LFW into this magical indoor forest with trees and the floor was entirely covered in dried leaves."
"We normally start with the textiles. These are usually created from a mix of techniques and fabrications created by our mill, but re-designed by us or from ideas and techniques entirely created by ourselves. Once the story of textiles, accessories and the knitwear has been completed we start the full design process. Often the spark is a mood or an image in my head, that has presumably come from a mixture of dreams and extensive research. I often struggle to work out exactly where it all originated from, but a lot is from my childhood and growing up among nature in the countryside of Denmark."
"Once the whole story comes together, and it all makes sense, it is the most pleasurable moment of every collection. Seeing your designs come to life in toiles and then later at the show in the setting that you have had in mind all along the way is a huge privilege. I have a great team around me both in the studio, but also our florist, stylist, photographers and my forever understanding partner and his team of builders, who all support my often very crazy ideas and help materialise them into reality.
"I’ve kind of given up on music and tend to just have the radio on in the studio as background noise. However, lately I’ve been listening to some old 90s R&B classics in the mornings and while in Paris for showroom."
"I do what I do, because I truly enjoy the creative processes and the way you can express yourself through it... I fear sitting in a chair, old and wrinkly, and regretting not doing so!"
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