Head of Womenswear Design at H&M Ann-Sofie Johansson has come a long way, from stables to the halls of power in the fashion industry. She claims that she spent her entire childhood in the stables in Sweden, riding and tending to the horses. "Although I didn't have the grades for it, I wanted to be a veterinarian. At the same time, I was interested in fashion," she laughs. I completed a lot of designs and made a lot of sketches. My mother, who was a seamstress, sewed them for me, reported The Hindu.
Ann, then 25 years old, started working for H&M in 1987 as a sales representative at a Stockholm location. She could have joined other brands, of course, but H&M was "this magical place" where she could always find the perfect outfit. They had mental reading skills. "I felt that being a designer at H&M had to be the most incredible thing," the woman explains. She therefore enrolled in evening design and pattern-making programs. After a while, Ann assembled a portfolio and fearlessly forwarded it to Margareta van den Bosch, the head of Design at the time. She quickly began working as a designer's assistant.
Ann has worked at H&M for 37 years. She advises creatively as well. "I'm expanding alongside the business. Six nations carried the brand at the time: Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Holland. However, it is currently available in more than 70 markets, she continues during a video chat from Delhi, where she was visiting as part of her worldwide inspiration tour.
She has witnessed and participated in a great deal of change over the past thirty years. "Modern fashion is both more difficult and more enjoyable. There was just one trend when I first started, for example, and it was determined by the Paris fashion runways. There are a ton of trends and fashions available today. There is no right or wrong in anything. It all comes down to combining different styles and looks to express and communicate through clothing. It is therefore more freeing.
Ann thinks that, for the most part, what is happening in the world is reflected in fashion. Which takes us to the subject of sustainability, landfills, and the sustainability of quick fashion brands like H&M. She reiterates, "H&M is not a fast fashion brand," adding that the company started working toward sustainability 25 years ago. | BGNES