We all reach a certain age at which birthdays become as much an occasion to reflect on the past as to feel giddy about the future. This collection, the first in Acne Studios’ 30th anniversary year, contained several backward glance archive pieces whose adapted reissue here will excite Acne-philes of a certain vintage.
Jeans with rectangular, kind-of workwear patches in either striped denim or bomber jacket nylon were pulled from Jonny Johansson’s 1998 sketchbook. There was an MA1 in aircraft carrier gray that looked the absolute quintessence of OG Acne; denim detailing flanking the zipper and super-subtle sunbleached finishing on the nylon were affectionately intimate brand gestures towards this house paragon. Jean styles with intensely worked artificial repairs or layers of both real and trompe l’oeil tape patching communicated both experience and endurance. The silhouette in look 1, Johansson mused, was also a throwback to the period when his brand was more emerging hustler than established radical in the fashion scene.
The Piaggio Ciao motor scooter alongside that look was there to evoke a moment of ugly duckling transition: “when you go from being geeky to being cool.” Nerds were part of the original Acne acronym, and here what the designer called “dad check” pants, coated check sets, check shirts, and loafers with faux Tipp-ex tassels represented the geek. A full-look tank top and jeans in indigo silicon coated denim with beautifully weathered suede round-toed rocker boots exemplified to transition to cutting-edge.
Next month Acne Studios is opening a big new store in Aoyama, so Japan has been on Johansson’s mind. A mesh top with the brand name in Japanese script, a zip-up jacket in maroon/brown silk patterned with stylized cranes, and a hoodie embroidered with two gold elk dragons reflected that. This was an Acne collection you could see both cool Gen Z sons and has-been Gen X dads geeking out over in cross-generational harmony.