North Fashion: Acne Studios
- Posted by: angeli.krohmal
In recent years, the fashion space and trends of the Nordic countries have been gaining more and more attention. If earlier people were primarily interested in the interior design and general lifestyle of Sweden, Norway or Denmark, then today, when talking about extraordinary trends, styles, streetstyle and the like, Scandinavia is remembered almost first and foremost. What is the appeal of the Acne Studios brand and what are the ideas and concepts of various kinds of art embodied in luxury clothing?
Acne Studios will certainly not tell us the classic story of the founding of the fashion house, because the business began not with clothes, but with Internet technologies. In 1996 Jonny Johansson founded the company "Associated Computer Nerd Enterprises", which almost switched to the creation of products in the field of music, movies, advertising and other - such were the ideas and hobbies of young talents. So out of the computer nerds community came the "Ambition to Create Novel Expressions".
Almost immediately, the participants liked the idea of creating something simple for everyday use, but within their vision. The choice fell on jeans - a must-have for anyone, even those who don't follow fashion. And it was this creation that became a huge success: in the turbulent 90s, a laconic model of jeans with a single accent - red stitching - became a breath of fresh air in the vortex of sports suits of wild neon colors, outrageous mini skirts and plastic jewelry. This is how the clothing brand Acne Studios came into being. Initially, the founder and the team did not think that the abbreviation of their slogan sounds somewhat unattractive, but then they began to receive opinions and feedback and decided to make adjustments. This step allowed for segmentation (Acne Films, Acne Advertising etc.),and then to separate and become an independent company. In addition, the unpleasant influence of associating the name with a disease was reduced.
Seeing that the audience liked the denim solution, the team began to develop various denim collections, which are now one of the most recognizable features of the brand, and by the beginning of the new millennium had become a kind of trendsetter. The established style direction and the desire to move away from high fashion templates has pushed the brand to collaborate with other colleagues in the industry. One would think that these would be brands with similar positioning, but even here Acne Studios surprised the public by releasing a denim collection based on the iconic silhouettes of the romantic Lanvin. In general, in addition to such creative steps, the brand has a desire to demonstrate its collection not only with the help of supermodels, but also to cooperate with various artists from different industries. So we can trace the global trend of the brand's collaborations with artists, sculptors and cartoonists. In addition, like Maison Margiela and some other trendsetters, Acne Studios is happy to involve ordinary people and sometimes even animals.
With all the variety of sources of inspiration, the brand never forgets about clarity of thought. So any advertising campaign becomes not just a photo-demonstration of a new collection, but a whole performance or an unspoken visualization of any message that is considered important to the public at the moment. It is this approach that allows the brand to express itself as much as possible, without following the classic rules of attracting customers, earning the love of its fans in an "organic way".
The independent positioning of the brand is also reflected in the refusal to commercialize advertising with celebrities. If any celebrity (and there are many: from Rihanna and Tilda Swinton to David Lynch, Mario Testino, Hilary Duff) chooses the brand, it is purely out of love.
Top clothing items
Knitwear
One of the most recognizable and popular accessories of recent seasons has become the brand's scarf, with the giant model, about 2 meters long, becoming a favorite of both fashion bloggers and lovers of quality clothing. Soft natural shades in very successful and almost classic combinations are now an absolute must-have in the fall and winter seasons. In addition to scarves, sweaters also deserve special attention: from longsleeves and cardigans to coarse-knit turtlenecks, they are indispensable stylish tools for keeping warm - the Swedes know a lot about warm clothing.
Outerwear
Speaking of the cold season, one cannot help but think of the trend for voluminous puffer coats, which Acne Studios was one of the first to pay attention to and bring to the catwalks. For the authors of the brand it is important that these clothes really protect from wind, cold and frost, that's why maximum natural materials are used in items, and the filling is always made of down or feathers.
Footwear
Surprisingly, it was this Nordic brand that introduced the trend for cowboy boots. Like everything in the brand, this footwear also underwent some changes: taking authentic western footwear as a basis, designers combined the best of American cowboy boots, biker boots and some accents of jockey boots in one model. Acne Studios Pistol model has become one of the most copied types of shoes.
Functionality and complexly composed visuals
At Acne Studios, the deep concept of each creation plays a major role. Founder Jonny Johansson is self-taught (originally the young man was a musician) and this fact allows the brand to follow an experimental path, introducing familiar things with a different twist. As Jonny himself says, Scandinavian fashion is not as minimalistic as many people imagine it to be, which is why the brand has quite a lot of colorful accents - it's worth remembering at least the unique bag in pastel pink, which has now become a signature color for Acne Studios.
With all the variety of visual approaches, the Swedish brand's clothes or accessories cannot be called just art objects: they are always functional items to fill your wardrobe and which will be easily combined with most of the things you already have.
Sustainable fashion
Acne Studios can be called one of the trendsetters of the movement towards conscious consumption of both resources and labor. The brand attaches great importance to standardized labor and compliance with standards. This is helped by their collaboration with the Fair Wear Foundation.
Every year the company increases the proportion of natural materials selected according to ecological standards and with the possibility of replenishment. Already today the use of organic cotton and linen in the brand reaches almost 30%. The brand is against fast fashion, so many basic classic collections are made of natural leather, cotton blends, wool with an emphasis on strength and durability.
Not just clothing
Before the brand fully focused on creating clothes, shoes and accessories there was a lot of experimentation, including themes typical of the Scandinavian country. At the end of the noughties the world saw furniture by Jonny Johansson - unusual for the consumer, but very typical for the brand. Hypertrophied elongated lines, as if reflected in a crooked mirror, yet extremely ergonomic - these chairs, small sofas and armchairs became a source of pride for the creator.
Until 2014, the brand had a journalistic project with the participation of various artists - Acne Paper. It was not just a magazine about fashion, but also a kind of guide to various types of art and related pressing topics of concern to society at any given time. As with everything the brand creates, it was a fundamental-looking magazine with excellent premium paper with content worth its weight in gold.
The Acne Studios branded boutiques, now located in more than 20 cities around the world, deserve special attention. For designers it is very important to create an unbreakable cycle, in which the impression of cut and style of clothes smoothly flows into every detail of the interior. Each store is unlike the previous one, except for the brand's fundamental DNA - the signage, the signature shade of pink and unusual shapes. In one city you can find Acne Studios in a former bank building that has inherited a grand space, and in another place it will be an already modernized garage that you would never recognize.
Acne Studios is this example of intelligent fashion where the main idea remains quality, tolerance, usability and relaxedness. It is a visual embodiment of that very Swedish well-being, harmony, comfort and balance together with a pinch of calibrated creativity. Without striving to please absolutely everyone, without restricting itself in self-expression and without looking back at anyone else's successful solutions, the Swedish brand has won millions of fashion hearts all over the world.
Swedish innovative fashion brand Acne Studios gained fame with its first jeans collections and later expanded into all pieces of clothing. The brand is interested in and promotes ideas not only in fashionable clothes, but also in art, advertising and environmental issues. Today we know them by their gorgeous scarves, but Acne can be fully dressed. Let's pick up a new closet from them for the cold season.
