The Stockholm-based fashion house presented their Women’s Spring-Summer 2022 collection during Paris Fashion Week on September 29th. The label’s return to fashion runways since the beginning of the pandemic was marked by its classic experimenting touch. Filled with historic and futuristic references, the show was a youthful, effortless fashion presentation.

On September 29th, Acne Studios, a Swedish fashion house founded by and under the Creative Direction of Jonny Johansson, showcased their Women’s Spring-Summer collection for 2022. Last week’ show, presented during Paris Fashion Week, marked the maison’s return to physical runways since January 2020 – when the current Covid-19 pandemic first struck. Through Acne Studios’ multidisciplinary approach, as well as guided by its traditional experimentation trait, the collection featured pieces that perfectly represent the juxtaposing of both historic and futuristic references. According to Acne’s Creative Director, they “approached every piece with the feeling of experimentation, which has always been at the heart of Acne Studios from the very beginning”.

Acne Studios’ collection showcased pieces such as chained mini skirts, wider shoulder coats, elongated sleeves tops, wooden clogs, lace boots, flower-embellished platform sandals, traditional corsets, skin-baring knitwear garments, and crochet tops. The brand worked with couture corset makers in order to design a number of pieces for this line as corsets were reimagined and deconstructed, and were used as an expression of freedom, instead of restriction. Knitted and beaded bags, three-quarter length trousers, lots of sheer, unusual cuts in tops, and alien-like shades were also spotted in this collection. A western influence could also be noticed in looks with corsets, patchwork leather, lace suspenders, skirts and tops with buckled belts, plaid pieces, and sheer bonnets. The colour palette used in this collection includes lots of browns, beige and black, with pops of colour like green, yellow, and blue.

To the sound of “Smokebending”, Arca’s original composition specially created for the show, models crossed the runway dressed in classic handcrafted garments seen through modern lens and added by a futuristic twist. Describing the new line, Jonny Johansson said that “we live in the age of self-identity, of instinct and experimentation. The look is provocative, and hard, yet is grounded in handcrafts that are then subverted”. The collection was all about finding strength in contrast, with opposing ideas, materials, and techniques underlying four main themes: chiffon and leather, plaid and lingerie, touched up knits, and boundary-pushing corsets. This mixture resulted in an effortless cool aesthetic given by the blend of different and contrasting reference points. Celebrating self-identity, instinct, and Acne’s core vision of experimenting through clothing, this Spring-Summer 2022 collection is a “clash between handcrafted historical pieces with a hyper futuristic attitude”. 

Moreover, Jonny Johansson wanted this collection to portray a sense of occasion. He affirms that “the feeling of performance is in clothes too. People perform more and more, every day, in the way they dress. They perform for their social media, for how they broadcast themselves to the world”. Johansson also believes that “the biggest change in fashion from the pandemic is not sweatpants and hoodies, but how much we all perform for our own cameras”.

Published by HOLR Magazine.