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PARIS, France — There is always some kind of autobiographic sub-plot to the Acne Studios collections. This season, Jonny Johansson was looking even closer to home.
"There is a college near where I live, and I am invariably captivated by the students, by the way they use clothing and its codes. I wanted to capture that energy and that freedom".
And so he did. It made for one of Acne's freshest collections in recent memory: a bit messy in the styling at some points but nonetheless focused and filled with meaningful, if not properly commercial, pieces. The college students Johannson sent down the makeshift runway in the Maison de la Radio were probably of the art school kind: aspiring artists with a thing for plastic and textured jacquard fabrics with a crafty feel. That was actually the main theme of the whole endeavour: natural versus artificial, industrial versus artisanal. Think tweed blazers with PVC lapels, a brocade parka with a plastic overlayer and lots of iridescent PVC neckties. Mixed all together, it made for a slightly techno-hippie effect, the result enforced by the lanky kids bringing it all to life. It is hard to figure how this will translate into a sellable offer, but that is another story altogether.
